So here is another book I listened to that I have yet to document. I love a good Helena Hunting Series. So when I heard the third book in the All in series was focusing on Kingston… I was all about it. If you don’t know, I love goalies… they are an interesting bunch… so that also had me sold. Kingston has been portrayed in a very strait-laced light in Bishop’s book. I couldn’t wait to see what made him tick. So let’s get into it.

It was weird to see that the this story is about Ryan Kingston because it has been beat into our heads in the last books that Kingston has had a girlfriend for years. So I was intrigued to see how this played out and if it was going to go in the direction that I thought it would… Let me tell you… it did not.

Kingston is normally a pretty easy going straitlaced guy. He wears khakis & polo shirts. There is nothing he does wrong because his life is controlled down to the food he consumes, his sleep schedule, and the cleanliness of his home.  He is the kind of guy you want to take home to your family. So I was stunned to see him drinking at a bar. But when it is revealed why he is there. It makes a lot of sense. There was a lot of lying done to him by the people he cares about most. And while they did what they thought was best… it is still jarring to hear and deal with. So he does so in a way that most people would but it is very clear that he doesn’t… LOL. He meets a woman…. Queenie… that is also down about her life as well. They start flirting with each other and eventually have a one night stand after leaving the bar together. (I will say that this was jarring because it happens right away when the book starts. I was wondering if we were going to get some sort of explanation about Kingston and his girlfriend…. but I followed through.) Of course, I was thinking they would talk about it the next day… but of course not because Queenie left in the early mornings. Poor Kingston doesn’t remember much and doesn’t have a way to contact the mysterious Queenie again anyway so he goes on about his life.

However it is not long before we see the King and Queen thrown back together in the strangest of ways. Kingston is with the team for their mandatory staff meeting. They have a new GM… and everyone is getting used to some new people with the team. But what Kingston isn’t prepared for is his one night stand to not only be the daughter of the GM as well as working for the team now. They meet at the team meeting… and Bishop has to tell Kingston not to stare at the new assistants. Kingston hasn’t seen Queenie since the night they spent together. He didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to her the next day.

I felt for Queenie… Because she has some real inner demons and issues that she is trying to overcome. Many of the issues that she is dealing with stem from her mother… (There are a lot of stories I read where the parents are trash.) I am never prepared for it and I spent a lot of time being angry because her mom is such a trash parent. Queenie’s a college dropout who doesn’t know what to do with her life… (been there… done that… because sometimes it takes a while for people to figure out what to do with life. Sometimes it changes over the course of your life. ) But we have her mother to thank for that. Her mom took off when she was just a few months old but has sporadically popped back into Queenie’s life just enough to destroy her daughter’s self-esteem and undermine any confidence the girl has ever mustered. I find this to be rich because you didn’t raise her nor were you around… how do you have so much to say? Queenie wants to stop depending on her dad. (And usually I am annoyed with this take because it takes time and people always need help no matter what age.)

Her mother has convinced Queenie that her very existence was a mistake that destroyed her parents’ relationship when in fact her mother’s self-entitlement and lies were the real problem. She continues her pattern of lying and damaging everything in her path. Queenie was one semester away from graduating with dual degrees in art and psychology with the intention of becoming an art therapist for children when mom popped back into her life to tell her pursuing those degrees was a waste of time and her father’s money since her art is no good and Queenie quit school. (It stood out to me that her mother was in a weird competition with Queenie. It is very clear that her mother doesn’t want her to do well.) Now she (Queenie) bounces around between dead-end jobs, never developing the skills to excel anywhere until taking on the job as her father’s assistant. And it was odd to me that no matter what her dad… her biggest supporter… said… she listened to this woman that walked away from her.

While working with the team, Queenie in frequent contact with the Alex Waters and his family. Their daughter, Lavender, suffers from severe anxiety and crippling shyness but she easily warms to Queenie and opens up to her like no one else. Queenie decides that career in art therapy isn’t such a bad idea after all and applies to the local university, intent on finally finishing her degree.

Both Kingston and Queenie seem like they are on easy street until a mid-season trade upends their world by revealing a dark secret from Queenie’s past that will shock everyone, especially King and Jake. She’s done nothing wrong but still managed to hurt the two people she loves.

One thing that threw me…I happen to believe that I can predict where a story was going… I am going to say that was not the case for this book. I swore the story was going to be about sneaking around behind the GM’s back but there is a different twist that comes up. With the type of person that Kingston, it makes sense how the story plays out. There was zero miscommunication, one of my biggest pet peeves in romance novels, because once the drama was out in the open, they dealt with it head on which I very much enjoyed.

The bromance between King and Bishop was brilliant, their banter and advice were just what Bishop needed, and it was also so amazing to see how RJ and Bishop’s friendship became real after Bishop married Stevie.  It was nice to see Alex, Violet, Shippy, Stevie, RJ, and Lainey. I also loved the addition of Queenie’s dad and King’s crazy clan. All of these characters added something special to Queenie and King’s relationship.  

The narration for this book was alternating point of views between Queenie and King.  This book would be enjoyable if read on a page, but adding the voice of Jason Clarke as King made it even that much better and Stella Bloom was a great complement to his Kingston at Queenie. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.