Unsportsmanlike Conduct

Pilot Hockey Series – Book 4

By Sophia Henry

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Synopsis

Kristen Katsaros wants a life full of adventure and laughter. After a difficult childhood, her motto is to live each day like it’s her last—because it just might be. So when Kristen’s parents send her on a post-grad singles cruise in the Caribbean to meet a Greek husband, she promptly hooks up with the hottest guy she’s ever met. Pasha’s decidedly not Greek, but Kristen gives him a pass because he’s got fun written all over his rock-hard abs.

Pavel Gribov, the cocky playboy of the Detroit Pilots hockey team, can score any girl he wants. But when a teammate drags him on a singles cruise, he can’t resist the chance to help out a drop-dead gorgeous damsel in distress by pretending to be her boyfriend. Before long, the fake fling turns intimate, fueled by something much deeper than lust.

Kristen and Pasha both agree to walk away once the cruise is over, but reality hits like a slap shot when Kristen finds out Pasha lied about everything. Just when she’s ready to start living again, the two stubborn survivors must decide if they can bear to lose the best thing that ever happened to either of them.

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Michel’s Review

After having read all the previous books in The Pilot Hockey Series by Sophia Henry, I can honestly say I did not see this book coming.  Like the previous books, this book had a unique, emotional storyline that steps outside of the typical sports themed romance genre. Reader’s were introduced to both the leading characters in the first book, Delayed Penalty. Although they were secondary characters, they each had interesting dynamics to their personalities.  Readers were left with some distinct impressions that were definitely misleading once their true personalities are exposed in Unsportsmanlike Conduct.  I walked away with a bad impression of Pavel in the first book and fell for him in this book.  I didn’t have a lasting impression of Kristen in the first book but walked away from this book with a lot of respect, compassion, and admiration of her character.  I admired her inner strength and honest outlook of her life.

Kristen Katsaros has a mantra of making every moment worthwhile.  She lives every day like it is her last.  She has very validating reasons for living life the way she does.  She has dealt with a debilitating disease all of her life.  She has to manage her health every moment and be prepared for the worst.  Those good moments are the ones that count.

A gift of a cruise from her parents is just what she needed until she finds out that the guy they want her to marry is also on the cruise.  She doesn’t need a husband, she needs the freedom to explore all the possibilities her life has to offer.  When a gorgeous guy pretends to be her boyfriend throughout the cruise, it makes it a vacation of a lifetime.

What happens on vacation quickly bleeds into the everyday realities of life.  Pavel/Pasha and Kristen are connected in more ways than a vacation romance.  The realities of Kristen’s life are not going to change Pavel/Pasha’s course.  He knows what it takes to go all the way, he’s determined to win Kristen’s complete heart, and will do everything within his power including Unsportsmanlike Conduct.

Although this book had some heavy subject matter, it was still a charming romance.  I walked away with a different perspective of the characters.  I also walked away with more compassion of those who suffer from CF.

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The Pilot Hockey Series

Delayed Penalty – Book 1

Auden Berezin is used to losing 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.

Equal parts muscle and scar tissue, 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.

After everything she’s been through, 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.

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Power Play – Book 2

Beneath her innocent facade, Gabriella Bertucci has her reasons to be standoffish with guys. Especially guys like Landon Taylor, a star defenseman on the minor-league Detroit Pilots and the object of a serious crush since he first walked into her family’s market. But when Landon comes through for her in a moment of crisis, Gaby starts to wonder if there might be more to Landon than hard muscles and fast skates.

Landon isn’t afraid of telling Gaby that he’s got it for her bad. The problem is, she seems unwilling to believe it. And though Landon enjoys his reputation as a cool-headed athlete, he hates losing—both on the rink and off. It’s his competitiveness that makes him so damn good at what he does . . . but it also makes him just a little bit complicated.

One minute Gaby’s tempted to give in; the next, she’s getting cold feet. How can she trust a guy who’s destined for bigger and better things to stick around? Then again, when Landon pulls her close with those powerful arms, the only thing that matters is right now.

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Interference – Book 3

Linden Meadows doesn’t back down from anyone, especially if her family’s involved. So when her little brother’s new hockey coach benches him in the middle of a game, Linden lets him have it. She also notices that the coach is way hotter than she expects, but Linden won’t let herself get burned by another athlete. Been there, done that—and had a kid at seventeen to show for it.

When Jason Taylor isn’t taking abuse from hockey moms, he’s patrolling the streets as a member of the Bridgeland PD. After Jason pulls Linden over for speeding, he begins to see that there’s more to her than a big mouth . . . or a lead foot. Their chemistry leads to good company, intense conversation, and an intimacy that pushes beyond the boundaries of friendship. And yet Linden’s decision to keep her now three-year-old son, Holden, is a painful reminder to Jason that his own mother gave him up for adoption.

Linden’s sure she’s found the man to round out their family. But when Holden’s deadbeat dad forces his way back into the picture, Jason starts to back off. He needs time—to heal, to grow, and to love with all his heart.

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About the Author

Sophia Henry, a proud Detroit 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 a BS in English from Central Michigan University, she moved to the warmth of North Carolina for the remainder of her winters.

She spends her days writing books featuring hot, hockey-playing heroes. When she’s not writing, she’s chasing her two high-energy sons, reading, watching her beloved Detroit Red Wings and rocking out at concerts with her husband.

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