just wants to open her mind. For fans of Toni Aleo and Sawyer Bennett, the
debut of Sophia Henry’s red-hot Detroit Pilots series introduces a hockey team
full of complicated men who fight for love.
people: her father, her mother, her first love. Now, just
when she believes those childhood wounds are finally healing, she loses
something else: the soccer scholarship that was her ticket to college.
Scrambling to earn tuition money, she’s relieved to find a gig translating for
a Russian minor-league hockey player—until she realizes that he’s the same
dangerously sexy jerk who propositioned her at the bar the night before.
Aleksandr Varenkov knows about trauma. Maybe that’s what draws him to Auden. He
also lost his family too young, and he channeled the pain into his passions:
first hockey, then vodka and women. But all that seems to just melt away the
instant he kisses Auden and feels a jolt of desire as sudden and surprising as
a hard check on the ice.
Auden can’t bring herself to trust any man, let alone a hot-headed puck jockey
with a bad reputation. Aleksandr just hopes she’ll give him a chance—long
enough to prove he’s finally met the one who makes him want to change.
I’m pretty sure there were only two ways Crazy Hair could have looked better than he had at O’Callaghan’s. The first was as he did right now: sitting on a bench in the locker room wearing nothing but the lower half of his uniform, including his skates, sweat rolling over his sinewy pecs and creating a happy trail all the way into his hockey pants.
The second way—I can only assume—would be if he were completely naked.
“Aleksandr, this is Auden Berezin. She will be your translator.”
“I don’t need a translator.”
I almost laughed, because he’d said he didn’t need a translator in Russian.
“You must talk with the media at some point, Sasha. They’re riding my ass to get better answers from you than ‘was good game.’ ”
Aleksandr Varenkov, hot Russian hockey god, laughed, showing the perfect set of white teeth I’d noticed at the bar.
“You have your teeth in, but you haven’t even showered yet?” Orlenko asked.
Was Orlenko a mind reader? I sure hope not, because I would be fired for thinking about my client naked.
“I wanted to look good for pictures.” Aleksandr winked at me. Then he stood, and drops of sweat raced down the hard planes of his chest.
I’d never been so envious of perspiration in my life.
“Sometimes I talk in the shower. Will she translate for me in there?”
My cheeks began to burn, so I averted my eyes, lowering them to the black Cyrillic script tattooed down his sides, then thought better of that line of sight and studied the soiled beige carpet below my feet.
“Aleks—” Orlenko sighed, rubbing his forehead.
“Zhenya,” Aleksandr began. “You know I’m kidding, yes?” He shoved a towel onto the shelf above his nameplate and walked away without waiting for an answer.
“Yes,” Orlenko hissed. He’d said it under his breath, but I heard him and wondered what my grandpa had gotten me into. “Well, that was Aleksandr Varenkov, your client. He’s a talented player and a good man. But he can be a little—”
“Douchey?” I offered in English. I shouldn’t have said it, considering Grandpa’s professional reputation was in my hands. Then again, Evgeny Orlenko was Grandpa’s friend first, so maybe he wouldn’t be too hard on me. Besides, Grandpa knew what kind of mouth I had, and he’d sent me for the job anyway.
Orlenko laughed, and continued in Russian. “Wild was the word I was looking for, but your adjective may not be that far off.”
“I’ve got it, Mr. Orlenko.”
“Are you sure?” He inspected me through thick black-rimmed glasses that were too small for his puffy face.
“As a college student with an active social life, I’ve learned how to handle arrogant douche bags.” This time I was being paid to handle one.
“I shouldn’t be having this conversation about one of my clients,” Mr. Orlenko said, his lips quirking up, then back into a tight line. At least he was trying to keep a straight face. “You’re like a breath of fresh air, Audushka. I hope you stay that way even with his off-ice antics.”
Off-ice antics? What the hell did that mean and why would I have to deal with them? “Will I have to hang out with him outside of the arena? I thought I was here to translate for media interviews after games and some practices.”
“Aleksandr speaks very little English. He’ll need your assistance in all aspects of his career; interviews, community service. At least, until he gets acclimated. Vitya said you were here for the month, is that correct?”
“Yep. All of winter break.”
“You’ll be putting in a lot of hours.”
“I’m a hard worker. And I need the cash. Got cut from the soccer team, and I have to replace the scholarship money I lost.” I was running my mouth again. Maybe I did need to tone it down.
“Well, I’m sorry to hear that. The being-cut part.” He cleared his throat. “Here’s my card. I wrote my cell number on the back. If you have any trouble or if Aleksandr makes you uncomfortable in any way, please give me a call.”
“Thanks.” I scanned the card wondering if I should try to memorize his number now, since I wasn’t sure how stable this client sounded.
After Orlenko left the locker room, I realized I hadn’t asked him what I should do next, and he hadn’t given me instructions as to where I should wait while Aleksandr showered. Since I wasn’t part of the media, I was extremely aware of being the intruder standing in a room of half-naked men. A shower shouldn’t take very long, so I dug my e-reader out of my messenger bag and sat down on the stool that Aleksandr had just vacated.
“Ewww.” I jumped up and skimmed my palm against my damp backside. Hadn’t even thought about any runaway sweat that might’ve dripped from Aleksandr’s lean, hard body onto the stool.
Stop. Just stop thinking about the shiny, wet flesh covering his impeccably carved frame.
Michel’s Review
Delayed Penalty by Sophia Henry is the first book in the dynamic New Adult Hockey Series, the Pilots Hockey. Sophia Henry is a new author to the New Adult and Sports Romance genres. She has made an excellent debut with Delayed Penalty.
I am not going to say too much about the story itself because it would leave too many spoilers for the reader. What I will say is this is a really good book even though I did not give it 5 stars. The plot was solid, the pacing of the story was good, the characters were interesting enough to stay invested in the book, and the technical writing was well executed. There were some things that held me back from giving a higher rating. These things are the typical “new author” weaknesses that become stronger with experience, time, and investment in their series.
I really liked this story. It was a fresh and unique in both genres. This story also brings another interesting aspect that I think readers are going to love. Both of the characters are of Russian decent. The reader will get to experience the American Russian culture as well as authentic Russian culture.
I really liked both of the leading characters. They were both solid people with very real issues. They were both strong but also had flaws that made them more vulnerable. The only problem I had with them is that they just seemed a bit flat. These two people were dynamic and I wished the author would of brought them to life. I wanted to become deeply invested in them. I wanted to live their story with them rather than being told their story. I wanted to experience their emotions, their highs and lows, and their romance. I think if the author would of injected a little bit more emotion and personality these two characters would of stole the readers hearts. The chemistry between the two would of exploded off the pages.
The secondary characters were just okay. They didn’t seem to support the story enough. The reader did not get to know any of them personally or get a sense of their relationships with the leading characters. Because of the reader did not really get to know much about these characters, it doesn’t leave the reader “dying” for the next book in the series. I’m afraid that this series will be put on the back burner in the readers minds and could get lost amongst all the other sports romances and new adult romances.
The readers expect more lively, emotional, and larger than life personalities in new adult romances as well as sports romances. They want to see their fun carefree spirits as well as their issues. They want to feel their youthfulness. Readers also want to see the comaraderie among the teammates and the tight friendship bonds that come along with it.
This book could of stood a little more focus on the sport as well. It would of made the leading male character more credible with his talented playing abilities.
Readers like to be told a story but what they love more is becoming a part of the story and experiencing it right along with the characters.
Sophia Henry told an excellent story. I hope the next book in the series, Power Play, the characters will come to life and let me experience their story.
I would still highly recommend Delayed Penalty in spite of the things I found lacking. It is a good story and a good start to a new series.
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native, fell in love with reading, writing, and hockey all before she became a
teenager. She did not, however, fall in love with snow. So after graduating
with an English degree from Central Michigan University, she moved to North
Carolina, where she spends her time writing books featuring hockey-playing
heroes, chasing her two high-energy sons, watching her beloved Detroit Red
Wings, and rocking out at concerts with her husband.
Saucy Southern Readers 
Thank you so much for reading & reviewing Delayed Penalty and for having me on your blog! I truly appreciate it! And thank you for giving a new author like me a try! 🙂
Thank you for hosting DELAYED PENALTY