The Good Luck Charm by Helena Hunting

Standalone Contemporary Romance

*While my reviews are spoiler-free if you don’t want to know more about the book, after the first paragraph skip down to likes and dislikes and the Down & Dirty review*

I’m a big fan of Helena Hunting so I couldn’t wait to pick up her newest contemporary romance, The Good Luck Charm. I didn’t even read the blurb so I had no idea what to expect, and was a bit surprised to find out it was another Hockey Romance, but not part of the Pucked Series.

Ethan and Delilah are childhood friends-turned-lovers in high school. They had a fantastic first love until he left to focus on his professional hockey career and cut off all communication. When Ethan gets traded back to Minnesota and his dad gets ill, he’s back, and he wants Lilah back too.

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself, or let the superstitions rule me, but all of this—the good and the bad—seems like fate is throwing us back together again.”

———–

“What I do know is a conversation or an apology isn’t going to change anything. He can never unbreak my heart.”

She tries to resist.

“My heart remembers that he broke it, but the rest of me seems to have forgotten.”

But he isn’t going to give up.

“I taste penance in his gentleness. I feel his regret in the tender way his palm curves along my jaw, and I sense his need for forgiveness in the tentative stroke of his tongue.”

She didn’t make him work very hard to get back in there.

“His touch could calm me and excite me simultaneously. Like being given a sedative and a shot of caffeine at the same time. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this kind of intense draw to another person.”

But once they were together, I found the relationship to be pretty unhealthy for both of them.

“I was trying to be logical, because God knows nothing about the way I loved you was rational…”

Back together, his playing was the best ever. Could their relationship handle the pressure of her being his Good Luck Charm?

It was kind of strange reading a Hockey novel from Helena that didn’t have the raunchy OTT humor I come to expect from her Hockey books. This was a light and fluffy, easy read, but it just fell a little flat for me and moved pretty slowly at times. I never really rooted for the couple because I was never really sure they were together for the right reasons.

“Nothing you say is going to change the past.” “It could change the future, though.”

Likes:

A sweet and light read.
Likable characters and side characters.
Low angst.
Good beach read.
Well written.

Dislikes:

As much as I like a low-angst book, it was all a little too easy.
I felt like they had a very unhealthy relationship.
Moved a little slow for me at times.
I felt like there was absolutely nothing memorable or unique—it was just a sweet second chance hockey romance.

The Down & Dirty:

I love Helena Hunting. I was SO EXCITED to read The Good Luck Charm. I enjoyed it, but it never felt unputdownable. It took almost a week to read, and as I review this a few days after reading, I have to go back through the book to refresh my memory about the storyline. When I described it to a friend, I said it’s “Just a sweet, light, 2nd chance Hockey Romance.” I liked it, I really did, but I was never wowed.