Review: Hawke by Sawyer Bennett

Hawke: Hawke Therrien and Vale Campbell

(Cold Fury Hockey #5)

Summary:

From Goodreads.com

The Carolina Cold Fury hockey team proves that love is a power play. As Sawyer Bennett’s New York Times bestselling series continues, the league’s most notorious party animal gets blindsided by the one that got away.

Off the ice, elite defenseman Hawke Therrien enjoys his fair share of booze and good times. And why shouldn’t he? He’s worked his way up from the minor leagues and made himself a star. The only thing Hawke misses from that life is the pierced, tattooed free spirit who broke his heart without so much as an explanation. She’s almost unrecognizable when she walks back into his life seven years later—except for the look in her eyes that feels like a punch to the gut.

Vale Campbell isn’t the same girl she was at twenty. As crazy as she was about Hawke, her reckless behavior and out-of-control drinking were starting to scare her. She had to clean up her act, and that would never happen with Hawke around. Cutting him loose was the hardest thing Vale ever had to do—until now. Because she’s still crazy about Hawke. And if he could ever learn to forgive her, they just might have a future together.

Review:

***Contains a slight spoiler***

So I’ve actually changed my rating since I originally rated it. I originally gave it a 4 star but now I’ve got to say it’s more of a 3 or 3.5 after some time and letting things sink in there were just a few things that bugged me. They mostly revolve around Vale. But before we get into that a little bit about Hawke. I liked him, he didn't seem as big of a party animal as the beginning of the book made him out to be. He was actually pretty tame.  I really liked how dedicated he is to his new team and his former coach. I also think he handled the reunion with Vale pretty well. I mean she reached into his chest and tore his heart out and he never knew why. For him, out of the blue she just dropped him, right before he was to leave for the NHL. So his lingering anger and distrust for me felt valid.

Now onto Vale… She is a dedicated daughter, uprooting her life and her job for her father. He needs her and she doesn’t hesitate to do what needs to be done. She is a good and caring person and I did like her. What I didn’t like was how she handled things with Hawke, in the past and in the present. She had some serious hostility towards him and I personally didn’t think warranted.  I totally get that she had an emotional trauma at a young age which caused her to freak out and break up with Hawke. But the way she did it was way harsh and then after SHE dumped HIM, shredding his heart, she expected him to reach out to HER.

***SPOILER*** Yes, she called him a whole whopping ONCE when he was in a different country and didn't once think that he would have gotten a new number since well, he was in a different country. So guess what, he never got the message! And sent him one email to an email address that she knew he never checked.  So for me her lingering distrust and hostility towards him for the entire book is unjustified. She even breaks up with him again, at the end because he had the audacity to want to take things slow and regain trust. Come on! I’d feel the same way if my heart was shredded by that person. ***SPOILER OVER***

So yeah, in the end after it digested, Vale left a bad taste in my mouth for this reason. After all that, it was an ok book. Overall I still enjoyed it but there was just something that I couldn’t get over. I know this will probably not bug a lot of readers and they will enjoy the hell out of this book.

**Book provided for an honest review. No other compensation was provided.