Meet Your Match

I’m convinced Kandi puts drugs in her books that keep you absolutely hooked until the very end. Another perfect sports romance written by one of the queens of sports romance novels🫶🏼

Blurb: Maven has recently joined a strong group of women known as the Tampa Bay Babes- a PR firm that covers all of the latest and greatest in the area. But Maven’s focus is on those who give back to the community in the most humble and well thought out ways. There’s a reason she doesn’t buy into the elite upper class who claim to support the marginalized of society just for bragging rites. She has her qualms about the wealthy and famous. She’s been burned in the past by an ex who promised her the world: marriage, a white picket fence, and the happily ever after. But he cut her loose when his parents decided that she didn’t fit in with their upper class socialite lifestyle. Now, Maven has nothing but distain and scorn for the upper echelon of society. As she finds herself attending a charity event, she looks around her to see some of Tampa‘s wealthiest people. One of those people includes the newest hockey rookie, a hot sensation, Vince freaking Tanev. She knows exactly what he’s like - just like the rest of the stuck up rich population. She wants absolutely nothing to do with him. But what happens when her PR firm decides that the next best thing is to strike a deal with the general manager of the Tampa Bay Osprey hockey team - an all access pass to the exclusive life events of Tanev. Working with Vince should make her detest him even more, right? However, as they spend more time together, Maven quickly realizes there is more to this hotshot, NHL hockey player. When the lines of professionalism blur, she begins to realize she just might have him pegged wrong.

Oof this book had me on a rollercoaster of emotions. I loved the fiery chemistry between Vince and maven. Mavens quick wittedness had me screaming “yasss girl” throughout the book. The only part that made me a little annoyed was how they tried to make each other jealous. There was that small bit of toxicity to their relationship that had me cringing.

Tropes: 🏒sports romance 📱workplace romance 🏒he falls first 📱enemies to lovers 🏒forced proximity 📱spice 🏒HEA

Whenever Ms.Steiner announces a new book i cannot contain my excitement! When i found out that a hockey series was coming our way i freaked out! Hockey + Kandi?! I'm ALL IN! This book immediately became one of my most anticipated reads of the year and i stopped everything i was doing to dive into this beauty and get right into the Kings of the Ice world! Once i did, there was no way i wasn't finishing this in one sitting because i couldn't put it down! I absolutely loved it!

Maven and Vince's journey hooked me and this heart of mine from beginning to end! Maven is part of the Tampa Bae Babes who focus on showing love to things in the area. Vince is a rookie on the Tampa Bay Ospreys hockey team and is focused on making the team better. When an opportunity arises for Maven to spend a month with Vince highlighting his rookie season and everything it entails should be easy, right? Maybe, but their first meeting at the all-star gala didn't end well.

I loved the way Maven and Vince were brought together and getting to see how they'd handle being around one another for so long. The way Maven and Vince got under each other's skin and gave as good as they got was absolutely EVERYTHING! The back and forth and the sparks igniting between them was every bit addictive. There was so much more to both Vince and Maven than meets the eye and peeling back their layers was something i so enjoyed.

Maven wanting to help others and the world was beautiful to me. I related to her in so many ways, especially when it came to matters of the heart and caring which i felt so connected. Vince surprised me in the best of ways! His passion for hockey and his love for a certain art had me going all heart eyes! 😍 The chemistry Vince and Maven shared was undeniable and lit my kindle up! 🥵 The journey of seeing these two clash and click was so special for me.

Opening your heart after it's been through so much can be one of the most terrifying things, but doing so can lead to the best kind of gift, something Maven and Vince's story sure showed in spades. From the way Maven and Vince had to be in each other's lives around the clock to the hockey as well as social media aspects and the electric heat between Maven and King, this is one of the most unique hockey romances i've ever read in my life and definitely a favorite!

The friendships Vince shared with his teammates and Maven's friendship with Livia were so wonderful! Also, Break Stuff for the win!

Gah! I am already so obsessed with the Kings of the Ice / Ospreys crew! From the hockey moments to the priceless ones, I swear i just want to stay in this world with these characters forever, that's how much i adored all of them!

I highlighted so many parts of this story and here are some of my favorite quotes! -

"I'm not wearing your jersey."

"Maven hadn't taken her eyes off me. I wasn't sure i ever could take my eyes off her."

"Every waking hour, every waking minute of my life is wrecked by thoughts of you."

"You are so deep-seated in my mind, in my being. I will never be rid of you."

"Now, it's a kaleidoscope of color, Dizzying and maddening and beautiful."

With Meet Your Match, Ms.Steiner has created an utterly unique, addictive, and unforgettable hockey romance that was the best kind of hat trick! This author proves time and time again why she was born to write. I can always count on her books to hit the heart and soul with every single word. She leaves her mark and her stories consume my mind each time. This is one of my top reads of 2023 for sure! This book reminded me why i love to read! Also, forever wishing for a Vince of my own! 🧡🏒

If you haven't picked up her books yet, change that ASAP! Her stories are not to be missed, my fellow book lovers! 🧡

Vince is a rookie that needs to prove himself to keep his place on the team, sports can be tumultuous and things can change very quickly. One minute you can be a star and the next nothing. So his career is very important to him and he wants nothing to come in the way of that.

Maven is also very career oriented, she wants to make a name for herself. She's been working for sometime to curate her craft. She is in charge of the social media account for the Hockey team that Vince is on.

Now comes the fun part Vince and Maven are thrown together so that Maven can create content about the hottest new rookie on the team.

When Maven and Vince first meet she's extremely condescending and rude to him even though she knows nothing about him. She think she does because she knows about his background and she dated someone like him previously.

I can understand that but not knowing the person and completely judging them the way she did seemed a bit much. All Vince did was try to be polite and friendly with her.

Then the story progresses and Vince shows her a side of himself that many people don’t see but she continues to judge him based off of her ex. And at first I totally understood that right, like who of us haven't had a bad experience with and ex and didn’t trust men after that but I feel like she took it was too far at times.

She always took out her anger on Vince and he got the brunt of everything. She was also kind of mean to him, making fun of the traditions/superstitions he had before playing a game. I just thought this was really mean and she never apologized for treating him that way.

Vince was nothing but kind and nice to her, and he seemed to genuinely like her. He showed her his hobbies and things he did that wasn’t for the camera and she used it against him. He really opened up to her and she seemed like in the moments she understood and liked him. But right after she was back to closed off.

There were things that I did really enjoy about Maven like her spunky sassy side, her hard work to make her career successful, and the way she cared about doing things for other people. Like helping out communities in need and giving back to the people who has less, these were such great qualities that why I couldn’t understand why she was so mean to Vince.

To be honest I loved Vince in this story but Maven was a lot, at times too much. I totally get being burned by and ex, and how that can impact a persons life, I feel like we've all been there at some point and we all may lash out a bit, but it was 2 years since her break up and she was still so hurt by it.

I really like how Vince knew he was falling for her and was straight up about it, telling her she was his even though she wasn’t ready to admit it. Like you can keep playing these games all you want to but both you and I know were meant to be together and one day you'll get it too.

He was patient and waited for her to be ready to do anything with him. He also waited for her to make up her mind about their relationship even though he wasn’t happy about it.

Overall I enjoyed the book and will read the next in the series, but so far my favorite series from Kandi Steiner is the Red Zone Rivals. Clay and Gianna are still my favorite!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️💫 Spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ SPOILERS AHEAD

I generally like Kandi Steiner as an author. She writes compelling love stories with enough angst and spice to keep me interested. Personally, this book was just not for me. Between the two main characters and all their issues and (dare I say it) WAY too much spice…. I found this book lacking.

I found myself getting frustrated with the FMC and the MMC constantly. The FMC was constantly back and forth with her feelings and after the second or third time she waffled, I was beyond fed up with her. She carried quite a bit of past relationship trauma into her current relationship and was unwilling to see the MMC because of it (and don’t even get me started with him 🙄). She always got so hurt every time she pushed him away and he respected her wishes/boundaries. Girl, that is not how we communicate!

The MMC had several problems as well. Most books these days have reformed play boys and that’s fine. BUT!! This MMC was emotionally immature for a good 2/3 of the book. Whenever he became jealous, he immediately defaulted to using other women to make FMC jealous. He flip flopped from being so obsessed with her to literally gr*nding against other women in her presence because she was innocently talking to one of his teammates. Then, when she leaves, obviously upset because he’s played into all of her fears from the past relationship, he chases her down and she pretty much immediately takes him back “because the attraction to him is too strong.” He barely apologized (if he apologized at all) and it’s just glossed over like it never happened! After this scene, I just had a hard time routing for the MMC and felt like I got knocked out of the story….

Long story short, I wanted to like the book, but after the whole jealousy scene, I lost interest and had to force myself to finish it. I’m honestly surprised that more reviewers haven’t pointed this out. The book relies heavily on spice and I felt that while the characters had a physical connection, they never convinced me of an emotional connection. Overall not a terrible story but it certainly won’t be added to my re-read pile.