The Vancouver Storm are back and this is the one I have been waiting on for the longest time. And it came to play. I am not usually interested in enemies to lovers stories… but I am interested in the fake marriage.

Gloves Off is part of the Vancouver Storm series. The fourth book in a standalone series. We got a glimpse of Alexei and Georgia in other books and finally we get to see what their issue is with each other. Here are two people that everyone loves but can’t stand each other and I was chomping at the bit to see how these two came to be this way. I could not believe that I survived the wait but I read this in like 3 days… and then listened to it on audible. The voice actors were fantastic.

The story follows Alexei who is dealing with the impending end of his career. At 36, it is a bit much to still be in such a contact sport like hockey. Especially since he is accident prone. He is being held together with spit and k tape and has no plans to retire. But the reality is that 3 years left on the contract probably means he won’t be renewed or picked up by another team. That poses even more of a problem when Tate Ward tells him there is STILL a problem with his citizenship (AFTER 16 years… that is nuts…) because he and his parents will force deportation back to Russia.

Sports careers end abruptly all the time for various reasons and without this straightened out this could go bad on the ice and Alexei and his parents would have to kiss Canada goodbye. I keep seeing Sandra Bullock in the Proposal… another favorite of mine. His coach, Tate Ward, makes a “suggestion” that it would be great if he was married to a Canadian…. Now is this really a thing that people do or can do… I have heard this isn’t real. But no matter… for the purposes of this story… It is all we need.

Dr. Georgia Greene has a program for helping injured athletes recover. While that program is doing great work, it is not clearing the funding. Georgia learns early on that her program is heading for failure. She and her colleague Dr. Joshi are grasping at straws at where to get funding. Georgia knows she has an inheritance from her grandfather that she can only get her hands on if she gets married. It is revealed that these two need to get married ASAP.

On the surface, the plan seems efficient. Alexei and Georgia loathe each other, so there is no chance of feelings getting involved, and they both have something to gain from the arrangement. One year together and everyone gets what they want. But there are holes in the plan from the very beginning.  They’ve never spent any time together, and much of their hatred is rooted in assumptions during brief interactions. Living with a person is different. There is nothing to hide and everything is laid bare for your partner to see. And both Georgia and Alexei have misconceptions that they realize aren’t necessarily the truth. Those misconceptions may have taken shape more because both Alexei and Georgia refused to admit they really knew nothing about the other person.

Alexei is dumbfounded by the things he finds out about Georgia, the more he realizes that his hatred for her may have been somewhat misplaced. From her relationship with her family, to the work that she does for a living. In the beginning, Alexei asks Georgia what she needs the inheritance for.. and it isn’t until much later that he figures out what she actually does for a living and why she had avoided getting married for a while. One the other side of the coin, there are many assumptions that Georgia makes about Alexei, including who is parents are and what they are like, where he lives and his aversion to and his self consciousness about retiring. They both think the other is just like their ex and nothing could be further from the truth. Alexei is not intimidated by Georgia’s work nor does he make fun of it. How is this going to work if they don’t actually hate each other?

I really enjoy Archer’s writing and her handling of both characters both characters’ internal struggles. I love how Archer handled how women in the workplace have to deal with gender bias. From her struggles with her ex, to watching women in her field turn themselves inside out for family. Do women really get to have it all…? We are sure that her grandfather also has something to do with it. What kind of loser writes that his granddaughter, whom he never met, can only get their inheritance if they get married? Alexei’s “solution” that she not marry a doctor and someone who respects her seems easy to him but it is much more difficult than that. Even though he has his own past with an ex.

For Alexei, his citizenship issues shine a light on immigration issues. He has been in the league a while and when Georgia hears he is still having trouble with his application she is blown away. It shows that it is harder to become a citizen than people believe. Archer showed the vulnerability experienced by immigrants regardless of their success or contributions to their communities.

I loved it and I give it 5 stars. My favorite things being that the characters from the past books came back and were able to help the couple navigate their issues and growing attraction to one another with the help of the Alexei’s teammates and their significant others. One more it looks like in the series… and I cannot wait.