[ARC REVIEW] “Against All Odds” (Holt Hockey #2) By: C.W. Farnsworth

The second book in C.W. Farnsworth’s Holt Hockey series is (finally!) here! This time, it’s Rylan and Aiden’s story (who you’ll know from the first book, “Famous Last Words”) in the spotlight.

What is Against All Odds by C.W. Farnsworth about?

Rylan Keller is dreading the start of spring semester. After choosing a college across the country and spending the past fall abroad, she’ll be a Holt University student. Worse than starting over at a new school? Starting over at a new school where your dad is the head coach of the men’s hockey team. And reluctantly agreeing to tutor a player, then coming face-to-face with the guy you thought you’d never see again.

Aidan Phillips has a reputation on campus. One he’s carefully curated to include limited reliability or responsibility. Outside of hockey, he spends his free time drinking, partying, and flirting. Often all three.

He’s a player off the ice as well as on it. Gorgeous, carefree, reckless. His one goal is to finally win Holt a championship, which he can only do if he keeps up his end of the tutoring arrangement. Hooking up with his tutor would be stupider than failing in the first place, even if the tutor in question wasn’t his coach’s daughter.

Rylan is determined to excel at Holt and make her fresh start a success. To finally have some fun, and not with a hockey player. Except, the more time they spend together, the easier it is for Rylan to look past Aidan’s facade. The harder it is to hold back.

But no matter how tempting giving in might be…the odds are stacked against them.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Review:

Even though it’s been a few years since the release of “Famous Last Words,” “Against All Odds” takes place basically right after that book, so although you can read this one as a standalone, I highly recommend going in series order, since there’s a lot of overlap and it’ll be more fun to read! “Famous Last Words” was actually the first C.W. Farnsworth book I ever read, so I had to dust off some cobwebs to remember some of that story.

I really liked both of our protagonists, Rylan and Aiden. The book is told in dual POV, so we get to see the story through each of their eyes as it unfolds. Rylan is the coach’s daughter, so it was cool to see him through her eyes and how he acted around her and her mom versus the version of him that Aiden and the other hockey guys knew. (Especially since the hockey team didn’t even know he had a daughter!) Rylan’s relationship with her dad also shows how opposite Aiden’s relationship with his is.

Most college sports romances take place at Division I schools, but Holt is a Division III. I actually went to a Division III college (that actually had/has pretty good sports teams), so getting to see some of that representation was a nice touch for me specifically. Somewhat relatedly (emphasis on the somewhat), in my experience it’s rarer to see college romances where one of the protagonists is a transfer student. What’s cool about Rylan being a transfer student is that there’s the same nervousness and getting to figure out her surroundings as there is when characters are freshman, but she’s actually a junior so it adds an extra layer of interest to the story.

Aiden is the typical ‘why would you want a girlfriend’ playboy until…he’s not. It’s explained pretty early on why he struggles with the idea of a committed relationship due to his past, which was nice because it didn’t leave me guessing for long. I liked that there’s no third act breakup, especially since their romance is kind of slow burn. Not to mention, forced proximity plus forbidden romance is always fun to read.

Overall, I think this was a nice addition to the series, and I’m looking forward to reading Hunter’s book! Special thanks to Charlotte and Valentine PR for providing me with an early copy to review. If you’re a fan of hockey romances and are looking for more reads, I highly recommend Rebecca Jenshak’s Wildcat Hockey series — the first book is one of my favorites!

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