Since I was on vacation last month… I did not finish reading 2 books for February. So I started out strong for March with this one. I knew I was going to love The Fake out for several reasons:

• I loved Behind the Net which is book one in this standalone series.
• Rory and Hazel are mentioned in the first book and I was wanted to know how they got together.
• Fake Dating trope. It is always a bad idea and I am here for that implosion.
• Rory is dealing with his longtime crush on Hazel.
• Cartoon Covers.

Since I was on the plane headed home from vacation… I had nothing but time on my hands. I jumped into it and enjoyed it right away. The was a big green flag for me. Usually, I have to take time and let the story unfold. But we got to the point pretty quickly. Let’s jump into it.

Hazel is the Physio for the Vancouver Storm and she also teaches Yoga at a studio. She is all about body positivity and loving the skin you are in. I love to see it. She worked with the team in the first book as well. She is the one that gets her sister, Pippa the job as an assistant with the team and by extension Jaime… She takes her job very seriously. In the last book we got to see the banter between Rory Miller and Hazel. So much so that even Jaime and Pippa enjoy watching how things play out. It continues in the Fake Out.

News of Connor Mckinnon being traded to the Storm hits Rory and Jaime like a ton of bricks. Connor is Hazel’s ex… and they did not end amicably. Connor slept around every chance he got. You get to understand why Hazel is so against dating hockey players. And of course because the world is against her… She is assigned to be Connor’s physio. Rory, for his part, has his work cut out for him. It is clear that he is into Hazel. However, Hazel wants nothing to do with him… or any hockey player. Everyone is stressed about McKinnon coming to play and have been talking Hazel about whether or not she is prepared for it. Hazel is strong and independent so she plans to face it head on, no matter what Pippa, Rory or Jaime think.

Poor Hazel… She had a dream that they would all be professional and go on about their business but none of that happens. Rory tries to get her to request that Connor be assigned to someone else…. but in Hazel’s mind she sees that as looking weak. She just wants to do her job, however all of that is out the when Connor shows up and accuses her of trying to get back together with him. (Insert the gag face… Is he joking…?)Sadly, he isn’t. So Hazel (who I cant wait to tell ‘I told you so’) is at a loss for words. She rebounds in the worst way possible by telling Connor that she is dating Rory Miller. That wipes the smug look off his face. But it sends Hazel into a tizzy. It obviously rubbed Connor the wrong way… which is a plus for her. However, what was she going to do.

Rory is no help because instead of being mortified like she thinks he will be. (Mostly because she isn’t paying attention.) Rory doesn’t seem to care that she said he was her boyfriend. (Okay Peter Kavinsky.) He likes the idea of getting under Connor’s skin and that he is the protective entity for Hazel. But here’s where shit starts going downhill. And by that I mean whatever control Hazel believes she has over the situation is going to be slowly slipping through her fingers.

There are many things Rory is but like Connor is not one of them. Hazel thinks that all hockey players are the same and are looking for one thing. It is what guards her heart. It is strange though, because Rory is not a guy she just met. They have history. They banter like an old married couple but she refuses to believe that he is serious. Because hot hockey players don’t end up with girls like her. Or so she thinks. Hazel is resistant to Rory but for the sake of the fake relationship they spend a lot of time kissing each other. Although, Hazel doesn’t want to admit that she enjoys kissing Rory as much as she does. Pippa and Jamie seem to notice that it is not as fake as they make it out to be. Pippa even points out that Hazel may not know Rory as well as she thinks. I am inclined to say that Pippa was right.

Both Rory and Hazel have different issues with their parents. This seems to be a theme in the stories I read. Rory has a controlling father which is hinted at in the first book Behind the Net. Rory’s father is a hockey legend who doesn’t know how to connect with Rory about anything other than hockey and his play on the ice at the start of the book reflects that. My one thought is that people can’t teach what they don’t know. Rory’s father has failed relationship after failed relationship and not many friends. So it was not shocking to know that it was Rory’s father that was the driving catalyst for wedge between Rory and Jamie’s friendship. Hazel relationship with her parents is more loving but not without its issues. Part of the driving force behind Hazel’s want for making people feel comfortable in the skin they’re in stem from her mother. Her mother used to be a dancer. And had a fit body. However, age and life takes a toll on everyone. We saw the kind of strain that Pippa was dealing with when her parents wanted her to have a more stable career. (Which is not the worst thing.) But it stems from the need to protect the children from the ways of the world. We get to see from Hazel’s prospective that her mother is very self flagellating from talking about her own weight and withholding food and how she can’t take classes because who would want to see some like her old and fat moving about. Hazel brings up that when her mother puts herself down it really bothers her and for the longest time it falls on deaf ears.

When Hazel and Rory are together, Hazel learns more and more about him as a person and has to reconcile her misconceptions about him. Rory for his part starts looking at his life and if he is really happy with how his life is turning out and what he can do to make changes. Change is such a hard thing to deal with especially since doing things the way Rory has done has gotten him to the top name in the league.

In the end, this story was great… if not a little too long. Very rarely do I read books in a series that are all good in their own right. The ones that I blog about are the few exceptional ones in the bunch that I read. I am so looking forward to the third book in the series. If you are looking for a sort of fun and sort of series sports romance series, this is the one for you. Do not hesitate. I have not listened to it on audible so I have no information on the narrators but you know I am an advocate of a good listen from there. I give the story a 5 out of 5. Hopefully, I will not have to wait long for the third book…