Tijan's Hockey With Benefit's Review!

Hockey With Benefits

By: Tijan

Release Date: March 7, 2023

Publisher: Tijan

Author Website: http://www.tijansbooks.com/

5 Stars

Tijan takes readers back to the Fallen Crest Universe with Hockey With Benefits for an emotional read.

Student Mara Daniels hid a lifetime of pain in her self-inflicted isolation. Her strategy of no emotional connections worked for a while until she met someone who got her pain by hiding a massive amount of his own, college hockey star Cruz Styles. An arrangement of no personal exchanges and sex seemed to satisfy both Mara and Cruz but ultimately was unsustainable. Their unexpected feelings for each and struggle with wanting more from the other complicated their well-contained worlds.

There is something that resonates with a tough exterior and vulnerable interior, both traits possessed by Mara and Cruz. Tijan captures and hones in on extraordinary circumstances and the strength this couple displayed in navigating them. The compassion and understanding Mara and Cruz showed to each other was well conveyed by Tijan whose ability to see new adult challenges from a unique view point is a rare skill. The challenges of mental health issues were addressed sensitively and age appropriately by Tijan giving readers an intimate and realistic take on them. To be expected from this author there was lots of angst and events that kept this work moving quickly.

Tijan has such a beautiful and distinctive writing voice it is hard not to be totally captivated by her stories. Her perceptive take on her characters spans across backgrounds and circumstances for intriguing and richly devised portrayals that are always memorable. Hockey With Benefits was everything that makes a Tijan book stand in a league of its own!

*I was given an advanced copy. All opinions expressed are my own.*