A Secret for a Secret

I couldn't wait for King's book because he was such an interestingly weird character, so straight laced and proper which is NOT at all what you expect from a hockey player!!!! I think this was the best book out of the 3, which is saying a lot!!!! Loved it! We met Ryan Kingston in Rook's story. He's the goalie for the Seattle NHL team, extremely straight laced, doesn't drink alcohol but milk, and had a steady girlfriend for several years. Never had a 1 night stand and was always a gentleman. All that kinda changes when his family drops a bomb of a secret on him and he meets Queenie in a bar. Queenie was such a wonderful lead female character!!! I want to be her friend and hang out! She doesn't have the best self esteem, due to a absentee mother and poor choices in men. She does have a wonderful father, but she feels like she's a burden to him. Mostly due to her selfish mother telling her she is! Really didn't like her!! She's keeping secrets of her own, which one big one comes back to bite her in the ass! These 2 together were amazing!!! Opposites in a lot of ways, but similar in so many others. Queenie brough King to life and he brought calm to her storm. Perfect!! It was great to visit with Rook, Bishop, Lainey, Stevie, and Violet. It was also a bonus to get to know Alex and Violet's kids! They were such a wonderful addition to the story! Of course, there were the characters that you love to hate - Corey Slater and Sissy!! Lord, they were just horrible humans! And King's family was interesting, to say the least. I loved this book! It was fun, made me laugh, had me swooning, had some very HOT scenes, and just the right amount of angst. I do think it was the best of the series, and that's saying a lot since the first 2 were awesome!!

Es geht weiter in der All-In-Reihe von Helena Hunting, diesmal dreht sich alles um den Eishockey-Torwart Ryan "King" Kingston der einen One Night Stand mit Queenie hat, um sein Famielendrama zu vergessen. Wie sich später rausstellt ist Queenie die Tochter des Geschäftsführer von dem Eishockey-Team in dem er spielt. Und um das Chaos quasi perfekt zu machen, fängt Queenie als Assistentin der Geschäftsführung an zu arbeiten. King und Queenie kommen sehr sympatisch rüber, King der überaus ordentliche, praktische Good-Guy und Queenie die immer etwas zerstreut ist, eher kreativ veranlagt. Beide haben mit gewissen Problemen zu kämpfen, vor allem Queenie die versucht auf eigenen Beinen zu stehen, aber immer wieder vom Schicksal Steine in den Weg gelegt bekommt und King der eine etwas unkonventielle Familiengeschichte hat, bei der seine Schwester eigentlich seine Mutter ist und quasi seine Großeltern sein ganzes Leben als Eltern agiert haben. Ich hätte mir gewünscht, wenn die Szene genauer drin gewesen wäre, wie King von dem Familiengeheimnis erfährt, so hat man es als Leser quasi nur als Hören-Sagen erzählt bekommen. Ein paar weniger Sex-Szenen zwischen Queenie und King wären auch schön gewesen, wobei viele schon "Fade-to-black" waren. Das entstandene Drama ab der Hälfte des Buches wurde solide umschifft, ohne dass die Charaktere übereilte Entscheidungen getroffen haben, oder nicht mit einander geredet, sondern sie haben vieles zusammen gelöst bzw. sich rechtzeitig Hilfe geholt, was auch mal eine nette Abwechnlung war. Irgendwie möchte man auch noch nicht loslassen von der Geschichte, es bieten sich noch einige weitere Möglichkeiten an. Auch ist es immer wieder spaßig wenn Violet aus Pucked auftaucht. Und es deutet sich ja schon an, dass Violets Tocher Lavender ihre eigene Geschichte bekommt. Somit muss ja noch kein entgültiger Abschied genommen werden.

“I see you, Queenie. Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not worthy.” I think Helena Hunting is proof that you can write a male character who is sweet, loving, and slightly nerdy and he can still be sexy as hell. I’m absolutely sick to death of these a-hole book heroes, treating their women like s**t because they think it makes them more desirable - come on!! We’re in 2020!! Let’s have our men being a little more respectful to women and have the women stand up to them! King is the absolute opposite to all these things. He’s so gentle, he doesn’t drink or sleep around and he worships the ground Queenie walks on - and I love him all the more for it. This story was everything I had hoped it would be, and yet it was so much more. Helena Hunting is an incredible author and I applaud her for creating these characters that I just adore so much. King and Queenie really are couple goals, and I would take a million milk-drinking, sensible Kings over a slutty disrespectful alpha any day. If you love the Pucked series then I highly recommended these spin-off books; these rom-coms will have you hooked in no time.

I have been anticipating this book ever since I wanted to know more about King when I was reading A Favor For A Favor earlier this year! King drew me in with his love for milk! I am not a fan of milk especially because am kind of like Violet with the sensitivity to dairy, but let me tell you something now, now I want to go to the closest grocery store or starbucks and order a bag of milk (bag, because I am canadian) or the largest cup of 2% milk (trenta; the largest size available at starbucks) Meet the King of swoon worthy romance! Ryan will sweep you off your feet and fall hard just with his deep passion and love for Queenie! Ryan Kingston (King) is such a gentleman, especially how romantic he is, the way he will be shy, how respectful he is towards everyone, kind, loyal, sweet and safe! How Ryan wants to woo Queenie and date her, win her over was the cherry to my cake! I treat her exactly as she deserves to be: like she’s my queen. I am so used to reading about the bad boys who get away with so much while he is the complete opposite and it was so nice, like a refreshing cold glass of milk and Queenie is our beloved rule breaker who likes to listen to her gut and do what she wants in the heat of the moment! She meets Ryan in the bar, they have a passionate night together after they exchange a secret for a secret! Make me yours.” She drags her fingertips down my cheek. “It’s all I want, just to be yours.” I also got to fall in love with Lavender and River and their cuteness! I love how protective River is over Lavender as little kids! I am looking forward to reading Lavender’s story! My heart melted numerous times because of how she is all quiet and shy and when she spends time with Queenie, she feels more comfortable and how they paint and colour together! The cutest introductions I have ever read is this one! “I’m River Waters. My daddy is the coach. This is my sister, ‘aveder. She’s shy.” He steps to the side, but his sister mirrors the movements, keeping herself hidden behind him So it’s safe to say I need Lavender’s book as soon as possible! I would also love to read River’s, actually all the second generations too! I HIGHLY recommend Helena’s books! The romance is so intense and so is their chemistry! A little hunch I have: Maybe Hanna and Jake will fall in love? I felt their chemistry when they met for the first time and it's something I would love to read about! I am nowhere near done with this series! I NEED more!

I just love Helena's books so freaking much! They have the perfect mix of hilarious and sexy and sweet and this one definitely did not disappoint. I've been so intrigued with King and his super laced up, milk drinking image and I couldn't wait to dive into his book. I feel even more in love with him while reading this book. He's just such a freaking sweetheart!!! I absolutely adore him!!! Queenie is his polar opposite and that made for hilarious moments, but also, really sweet moments between them. She's kind of unsure of herself and her path and Ryan just wants to help her open her eyes to her talent and everything she has to offer. I absolutely loved watching him stick by her side, even when she didn't think she deserved it. I absolute loved her relationship with her dad and Ryan's relationship with his crazy family. It was so funny to see how different he was from the rest of his family. Also, anytime you throw Violet in, I will definitely be a happy camper. I was so happy we got to see her and her kids. They are so freaking precious!!! Ryan and Queenie had some obstacles to overcome, but I loved how even when she tried to hide herself, Ryan stood by her. I loved watching her come into her own and accept herself and really start to see all she has to offer. I listened to the audiobook of this and loved it!!