Today’s the day, “Wildcat” by Rebecca Jenshak is live!

What is Wildcat by Rebecca Jenshak about?

I met my dream girl.
That’s right. She’s stunning and the worst bartender I’ve ever seen.
I should have gone home and gone to sleep—dream girl or not. I had an early morning and the season was starting soon. But when she threatened me with boy band karaoke I couldn’t help myself. I went. The stars aligned.
I have never felt more alive or wanted anyone more than I want her.
When it’s time for me to head on my annual pre-season boys trip, I barely let her go.
It’s been a week and I can’t stop thinking about her.
Except there she is. Right here at the Wildcat’s kickoff party.
And as luck would have it, my dream girl is the coach’s youngest daughter.
But everyone knows the coach’s daughter is off limits. Right?

Wildcat is a full-length sports romance with a hot-as-puck hero, the coach’s daughter, and an unfortunate case of mistaken identity.

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Review:

It’s been awhile since I’ve given a book 5 stars — most are 4 or 4.5 — but even before I finished this one, I knew that it was going to be a 5 star review. I’ve read dozens of new adult romance books over the past few years, and a lot of them have been sports related — even a few ‘dating the coach’s daughter’ ones — and “Wildcat” set itself apart for all the right reasons.

The first is that Scarlett has a good relationship with both of her parents, including a close relationship with her dad, who also happens to be Leo’s NHL hockey coach. That’s not typically something that happens in books, since it’s easier for characters to make bad decisions if their parents are far away, but that wasn’t the case here. The second was that the case of mistaken identity doesn’t last long, and although it definitely messes things up between Scarlett and Leo for a bit, it’s not the dealbreaker that causes them to go on a break later on in the book, which was nice. Thirdly, and most importantly, both her and Leo were emotionally intelligent. They weren’t petty or insecure, and they had very limited miscommunications because of that, which was so refreshing to read.

Leo and Scarlett both explore different career and education paths, as well. Despite being in the NHL and earning a lot of money, Leo’s still slowly working towards his college degree, and Scarlett decides that a traditional path of getting a college education isn’t what’s best for her, and it all works out. I was a bit surprised that her parents never brought up the idea of majoring in photography, but I liked how the book didn’t put down either of their choices.

There were only two things that I would’ve liked to see explored a bit more — when Rhyse, Scarlett’s ex-boyfriend shows up, Scarlett lies about some of the details when explaining it to Leo. When that comes to light, Leo accepts her explanation and moves on, which gave me a bit of a pause, because she should’ve been upfront with him about all of the details, and I expected that to put more of a riff between the two of them, and it didn’t. The other thing I would’ve liked to have seen a scene dedicated to was a dinner between Scarlett, Leo, and Scarlett’s parents. Scarlett says she told her mom she’d bring her new boyfriend to Sunday dinner if things turned serious, and I was looking forward to seeing that dynamic, and then it never came.

There are also a lot of great friendship dynamics in this series. Scarlett’s best friend Jade is awesome, and I wonder if we’ll see her star in her own book in the series. It’s not looking like it just yet, but I’m holding out hope! Leo’s best friend Ash, and their whole friendship, is so supportive and wholesome, I loved reading about it. Whenever Ash gets his own book (as I’m assuming he will), I hope to see more of his and Leo’s dynamic, along with the dynamics of the rest of the team, who seem awesome.

Overall, this is a great new adult sports romance, and I’ve definitely found a new author whose backlog I have to read. As with all new adult books, I recommend this for 18+ due to some of the mature sexual content. Huge thanks to Valentine PR and Rebecca Jenshak for allowing me to read an early copy — the book is out now, so make sure to go get yourself a copy!

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Looking for more new adult hockey romances? Check out these reads after “Wildcat”!

“Famous Last Words” – C.W. Farnsworth

“Heartless Player” (Westfall U #1) – R.C. Stephens

“Ruthless Player” (Westfall U #2) – R.C. Stephens