Review: Rushing the Goal by Toni Aleo

The Assassins is one of my favorite hockey series.  Toni Aleo, with her creative magic wand, gives us such breathtaking hockey Gods that I want to spend more time at the rink in hopes of catching a glimpse of someone just like the one I read about.  Her wand was working overtime with Mr. Benji Paxton, who was the absolute best match for tough as nails Lucy Sinclair.

Benji was a lovable goof.  He was soft-spoken, shy and nerdy all rolled up into one.  He wasn’t an overly dominate male who was determined to keep his woman in her place.  Which was a good thing considering who his love interest was.  I fell for Benji from the very beginning.  He had his faults, he fought his demons and accepted them, but it was his willingness to try to find someone to create a family with that had me standing in line with my hand up.  Benji’s past isn’t pretty and all that he lost is heartbreaking.  But I loved how he didn’t let what happened keep him at rock bottom.  He dug his way out and found a way to try again.

Lucy is such a special character.  If you’ve read the Bellevue Bullies series, we were introduced to the sharp-tongued, no bullshit taking older sister to the Sinclair boys.  We knew Lucy had been through a rough divorce, but in RUSHING THE GOAL we find out just how bad things were for Lucy.  She was kinda my hero.  She ran from a bad situation (mostly of her own making…which she completely owns up to) and is determined to stand on her own two feet.  Despite not wanting to take handouts from her family, she does an amazing job of providing for her daughter and herself.  And I couldn’t honestly blame her for not wanting to dip her toe in the dating pool…regardless of how hot Benji was in his Assassin sweatpants.  But I also found myself begging her to try.  To let go and trust that Benji would be there for her and catch her if she fell.

Things aren’t easy for Lucy and Benji, but I think the rough road they had to travel made them both realize they were a sum of their pasts.  Benji could be Lucy’s rock and Lucy could lean on Benji when she needed extra strength.  When they figured that out, what they had was pretty damn special and an absolute pleasure to read.