Bleacher Report

I’ll admit, I was skeptical when I heard the premise—another athlete/non-athlete romance with a “mistaken identity” hook? But *Bleacher Report* won me over in the first thirty minutes, thanks to Kenna King’s knack for escalating chaos without losing the emotional core. The audiobook’s real star, though, is the narration. Megan Wicks doesn’t just voice the protagonist, she *inhabits* her—every eye roll, muttered curse, and outright humiliation feels visceral, and her chemistry with Austin Stone is electric. Stone’s Hunter is equal parts infuriating and irresistible, his deep, gravelly voice dripping with the kind of arrogance that makes you want to both slap him and kiss him. The production quality is top-notch, too; the background audio (crowd noise, puck clacks, the hum of a hotel bar) immerses you so thoroughly that you’ll forget you’re not actually eavesdropping on a very messy love story. That said, the story’s middle sags slightly—the second act leans too hard on forced proximity clichés, and the hockey scenes, while fun, sometimes feel like they’re there just to justify Hunter’s job rather than serve the plot. And while Wicks’ performance is stellar, Stone’s Hunter occasionally veers into caricature territory, losing some of the nuance that the book gives him. Still, these are minor quibbles in what is ultimately a deliciously addictive listen. By the time the credits roll, you’ll be hunting for King’s other books and hoping she writes a sequel—because the unresolved tension in these two’s dynamic is criminal. If you love rom-coms that balance wit with heart and can’t resist a grumpy/sunshine dynamic, this audiobook is a slam dunk.