When I was in my early twenties I spent the majority of my time with my head shoved into a romance novel. Roberts and Steele were my constant companions. I devoured everything they ever wrote, and then spent months waiting (not so patiently) for their next novel, but then one day my need for romance dropped off, and my constant need for action and mystery kicked into gear. It was not until I finished “Go Small or Go Home” that I realized I missed the complexities of broken hearts and the journeys people encounter to repair them.
Tess is a therapeutic masseuse, or at least she used to be until the clinic she worked for perished. On the hunt for a paycheck she decides to apply for a position with the Toronto Hogs hockey team, but what she doesn’t know is that her professional fate lays less in the hands of the owner that’s about to interview her, and more in the hands of the mysterious man she just gave an impromptu massage to in the waiting room. Forrest is hurt. Being a freshly traded hockey star and signing a multi-million dollar contract this poses a little bit of a problem, but not as much as his deflated self confidence will. Hoping to reign in all of her dreams and keep her clients healthy at the same time Tess does what anyone else would do…she starts to breakdown. Can Tess juggle her busy schedule and keep her sanity? Will Forrest ever be able able to pull himself out of his rut and play again? And will either or them ever understand that sometimes the only way to heal yourself is to admit they need to be healed?
“Heather Wardell” did such a magnificent job crafting her story that it made it almost impossible to put down. The 2 main characters (though painfully damaged) were so like-able I found myself wanting to reach through the pages and give them hugs. The plot is the smoothest I have read in quite some time (I know you have noticed all of the 4 ratings lately) and in the end was so surprisingly sweet that I could feel my heart getting heavy with pure joy. The interaction between Tess and Forrest was raw and honest, and the push/pull was artfully crafted leaving the reader guessing around every corner. I have made it known that I generally dislike epilogues (I feel that more often than not they drag down the end of a novel) but in this instance it only added to the novel and made the enjoyment I felt in reading it even more adamant.
Simply put…
Do I think you should read it? Yes…
Do I think you will enjoy it? Yes…
Why? Because it’s just plain good.
Happy reading my fellow hockey fans and remember: beauty is in the eye of the art holder.
[Rating:5/5]
