Swoony Ice Hockey Romance

Goalie and the Girl Next Door by Elsie Woods is the story of French Ice Breakers goalie Clement and town accountant Marcy.

Marcy is someone we got to know from the earlier Love in Maple Falls novels (and from the Love on Thin Ice series) and I loved how in this book she was the main character. Her background story came as a surprise to me, as I thought she was born in Maple Falls. She got there for a reason, but that did not work out, so she stayed and you have to admire her. She loves numbers, spreadsheets and a quiet life. Enter ice hockey goalie Clement. I just loved him: he is so charming, loves flirting (after all, he is French) and a great guy. The interactions between him and Marcy made me smile a lot. And I loved how Elsie Woods made Clement not the perfect guy, he has some flaws and that made him all the more lovable.

But as we know from the earlier books all things are not well for Maple Falls and Marcy gets roped in to find something to make it all go away. She loves doing that, but as she lives on Happy Horizons ranch and they need someone to help, Clement is there very often and she finds that a real distraction. I loved how he made her smile (she is no Ice Queen anymore) and his interactions with the livestock were just very funny. As the relationship between these two blossoms, of course something is getting in the way. Near the end there is this wonderful romantic scene, perfect for movie stuff.

The writing of Goalie and the Girl Next Door is flowing, engaging and the plot and romance with banter and flirting made that I had a really hard time putting the book down. There are all sorts of humorous situations and if Maple Falls were a real town, I would love to live there. Elsie Woods describes it all so well and you can see the colouring leaves and smell the apple cider and maple syrup.

As this book is a standalone in an interconnected series you can easily read this book without having read the other ones, but it is way more fun to read the whole series. Some characters and events overlap in the books and I loved how all the authors in this series made it seem as we see all things from a different perspective, but at the same time we get a new story with each book. I am a big fan from the very first book.

Goalie and the Girl Next Door is a swoony sweet and romantic hockey romance, with a lovely and flowing writing style, filled with humour, banter, some drama and a great ending, and with two fantastic main characters. I think Clement is (for now anyway) my favourite of all the Ice Breakers hockey players. You just have to read this book!