Review: Center Ice by Cate Cameron

Author: Cate Cameron

Series: - 

Publisher: Entangled Crush

Release date: 19^th May 2015

Amazon

Synopsis – The hometown hockey hero won’t know what hit him…

Karen Webber is in small-town hell. After her mother’s death, she moved to Corrigan Falls to live with strangers—her dad and his perfect, shiny new family—and there doesn’t seem to be room for a city girl with a chip on her shoulder. The only person who makes her feel like a real human being is Tyler MacDonald.

But Karen isn’t interested in starting something with a player. And that’s all she keeps hearing about Tyler.

Corrigan Falls is a hockey town, and Tyler’s the star player. But the viselike pressure from his father and his agent are sending him dangerously close to the edge. All people see is hockey—except Karen. Now they’ve managed to find something in each other that they both desperately need. And for the first time, Tyler is playing for keeps… 

Review – 2 ½ out of 5 stars

Center Ice by Cate Cameron was a quick and easy read; it is the first book in her Corrigan Falls Raiders series. It started out quite promising but then I found myself racing through it just so I could start my next book. Unfortunately, my dislike for a majority of the characters let this book down for me.                  

Sixteen year-old Karen Webber recently lost her mother so has had to move to small town Corrigan Falls to live with her biological father – a man she doesn’t know, a step-mother and three step siblings; the transition wasn’t easy for her at all and she finds it quite difficult to adjust. Karen was just an ok character for me, I understand she felt lost and wasn’t easily accepted by her new family especially because of their situation but she was quite flat with a big attitude and didn’t really try to fit in or make the effort; there was a lot of anger and hurt, she was grieving for her lost mother and feels alone in a strange town.

The only person who seemed to understand Karen was Hockey star, Tyler MacDonald. Tyler was a likeable character but his man-whore reputation didn’t endear me to him at all. Tyler was the teams captain and hoping to make to the NHL but he began to question this dream. Tyler I felt could have been great but he lacked strength; I also wasn’t a fan of his reputation.

I enjoyed Cate Cameron’s writing style and the overall story-line, I am not a huge sports fan in books but this part was done well and wasn’t over the top too sporty. 

There were a few aspects I didn’t enjoy such as Karen’s fathers infidelity, I felt completely sorry for his wife who tolerated it time and time again. Tyler’s family was also a big issue for me, his father and his dominance and interference was over the top! I could not handle his character at all and actually found myself skimming. Last point was Tyler and his man whorish ways; one of his previous conquests was (Spoiler - highlight to show) Karen’s step-sister and this irked me a lot – I wish this part wasn’t included because I didn’t connect with the romance because of this.

While Center Stage didn’t wow me, it was enjoyable overall. We get a snippet of the next book at the ending and I’m quite curious about Chris Winslow.

Thank you to Entangled Crush via Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review Center Ice.