Review: Parental Guidance by Avery Flynn

Parental Guidance
(Ice Knights #1)
Avery Flynn
Release: June 17, 2019
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ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley

All I want is to play hockey on the Ice Knights, instead, I’m in a viral video for all the wrong reasons and my mom—yes, my mom—has taken over my dating apps. Then, when I think it can’t get any worse, the fates deliver Zara Ambrose, a five-feet-nothing redhead with more freckles than inches and who’d rather be anywhere other than on a date with me. 

Now a bet with her friends and my PR nightmare have us both stuck in this go-on-five-dates-with-the-same-person hell situation. But if we band together, we can get the whole thing over with and go on with our lives. It’s perfect! No feelings. No future. No fuc— *ahem* fun. No naked fun.

What could go wrong? Nothing—as long as I remember the rules. Don’t notice the way she looks in a dress. Don’t react when she does that little shivery sigh thing whenever we touch. Don’t think about the fact that she’s never had a toe-curling orgasm that wasn’t self-delivered and just how badly I want to change that.

Five dates—that’s it—and then we go our separate ways. At least, that was the plan..

Review:

I really enjoyed reading Avery Flynn's Hartigans series earlier this year so I was excited that she's starting a new series set in that world. The last book, Tomboy, introduced Caleb Stuckey and the rest of the Harbor City Ice Knights hockey team. Zach and Fallon from that book also appear in Parental Guidance, along with Lucy from Muffin Top and Mrs. Carlysle from the original Harbor City series.

I enjoyed the romance between Caleb and Zara. The Fake Relationship is one of my favorite tropes and Flynn put an interesting twist on it here. I love it when everyone except the main characters sees how they feel about each other! But the other elements of the story fell a bit short for me. I wanted more build up to the first date and explanation of the dating app plan. There's a reveal at the end that fills in some of the blanks, but I wished that more had been done with that information.

I thought Zara's career as a miniature artist was so interesting! I kept thinking of Anna Farris's character in What's Your Number even though her style is supposed to be quite different. I loved her apartment in the movie so Zara's apartment looked a lot like that too.

But mostly I'm intrigued by the guys on the hockey team. I'm looking forward to more of their stories even though this one didn't completely work for me.

    

3  stars