The Best Friend Power Play by Ash Kelly: Book Review

 **ARC received for consideration. All opinions are my own.

The Book

After seven years of raising my younger brother and sister, my friends convince me to do something for myself and have a hot girl summer.

Being a list girl, I compile a spreadsheet of things I'd like to do and places I'd like to see.

Not on my list?

A marriage of convenience with one of the greatest defensemen in the NHL, my best friend, and the guy I'm secretly in love with—Culver Palladino.

Culver needs a wife to get his inheritance. I need someone to make sure I go through with my hot girl summer plans.

So we help each other out. Simple, right?

Wrong.

As we tick off items from my list, things begin to change. Feelings I've kept hidden for years bubble to the surface.

Except this time…it's not just a one-way thing. Culver feels it, too.

As the summer comes to an end, so will our fake marriage arrangement—and along with it, our nightly foot rubs, home-cooked meals, deep conversations, and the growing sense that something more is developing between us.

There's no denying that Culver and I love each other as friends, but after all this time, can we go from best friends to lovers?

The Best Friend Power Play is a best friends to lovers closed-door romance featuring an injured pro hockey player and a florist who puts everyone's needs ahead of her own. You can expect plenty of banter, fast-talking friends, inside jokes, too-small bathing suits, she wears his shirts, as well as some truly heartfelt and healing moments. It's the second book in the Hockeymances series, and while it can be read as a standalone, for maximum enjoyment, you may like to read book 1 first.

The Author

Ash writes sweet contemporary romances - think lovable characters + Gilmore Girls vibes - with all the 💖💖💖 without the 🌶️!

THE FAKE OUT FLEX is Ash's debut novel.

Book Review

The Best Friend Power Play is the second book in the Hockeymances series. While I think it could be enjoyed as a standalone as well, I do think you'll understand the friendship dynamics (and avoid some spoilers) if you read these in order. 

Hockey + marriage of convenience + best friends to love? Yes, please! This was a fun read that mixed some of my very favorites. Hannah and Culver were so cute together. He's an injured professional hockey player. She's a florist who has been busy raising her siblings she was eighteen years old. With her siblings grown and leaving the nest, she embarks on a 'hot girl summer' doing things just for her for the first time... and he's along for the journey as he recovers from his injury. I loved seeing Hannah getting to spread her wings a little bit, and how supportive Culver was of her throughout everything. Their friendship is just the sweetest and seeing them realize it could be more was fun. Theirs felt like a really unique relationship and one that I found I enjoyed very much. Seeing his caveman side come out a bit--- so good! 

The Best Friend Power Play is a closed-door romance but does have implied intimacy off pages and talks pretty openly about the topic of sex and virginity. It does have some minor language as well. 


You can purchase your copy here: https://amzn.to/4cR8kdQ