The quick verdict
Pucking Wild is a reverse age gap hockey romance, and it is a completely different book to the one before it.
I read this straight after Pucking Around, which was my own mistake. I went in expecting more of the same and got one couple instead of the whole situation, with noticeably less spice. It took me a lot longer to get through as a result.
I still really liked it. Four stars, no hesitation. It just was not the book I had lined up in my head.
The rundown
Tess is thirty-three, walking away from a controlling soon-to-be ex-husband and trying to get a new business off the ground at the same time.
Ryan is twenty-two, plays for the Jacksonville Rays, and decides more or less immediately that Tess is the one. There is a ten-year gap, a lifestyle gap and a confidence gap, and he does not care about a single one of them.
Unlike the reverse harem dynamics elsewhere in the Jacksonville Rays series, this one is strictly a monogamous couple. The book one crew still turn up regularly, which is exactly why the reading order matters.
Real talk
Tess and Ryan worked for me completely. All of it. Her experience against his inexperience is the engine of the whole thing, and it never once tipped into the territory where the age gap feels uncomfortable.
Tess is the standout. Her self-confidence is amazing. She is thirty-three, she has just extracted herself from a marriage that was doing her no favours, and she is not written as fragile or as a project for someone to fix. I never once wanted to shake her, which is not something I can say about most heroines in her situation.
And Ryan is the rare book boyfriend I would actually survive. He could come to a family dinner. He would help with the dishes and my mother would love him.
The honest criticism is the comparison, and it is only a criticism because of how I read it. Pucking Around had higher and more frequent spice. Reading them back to back set up an expectation that this book was never trying to meet. If I had left a gap between them I suspect this would have landed higher.
Tropes & vibes
- Reverse age gap (she is 33, he is 22)
- Hockey romance
- Forced proximity
- He falls first
- Golden retriever hero
- Opposites attract
- Divorcee heroine escaping a toxic marriage
- Starting over / new business
- Found family
- Monogamous M/F (in a series otherwise known for why-choose)
The tiny details that did the damage
- Tess having her own confidence rather than borrowing his
- A twenty-two year old who is not remotely embarrassed about how obsessed he is
- The experience gap running the other way for once
- Book one characters wandering through like they still live here
Read this if…
Pick this up if you want a reverse age gap where the younger man is the devoted one, a heroine in her thirties with genuine self-possession, and a hero who falls first and falls embarrassingly hard.
Skip it, or at least leave a gap, if you have just closed Pucking Around and you are expecting the same spice frequency and the same group dynamic. It is a different book and back to back the contrast is loud.
EmberSas ratings
- Story: 4 / 5
- Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ / 5. Good scenes, just fewer of them than book one.
- Emotional damage: 💀 (1 skull). Cosy and emotional rather than devastating.
- Series: Jacksonville Rays, Book 2
- Format: Kindle
- Reading order tip: read Pucking Around first. The book one cast appear constantly and it is better for it.
- Would I survive him: Yes. Absolutely. He could be taken to family dinner.
- Public-reading safety: Proceed with caution
- Final vibe: A thirty-three year old starting over and a twenty-two year old who never once played it cool.
Group chat verdict
Okay so, Pucking Wild. I liked it. Tess is thirty-three, Ryan is twenty-two, and he is so far gone for her it is embarrassing, in the best way. Her confidence is unreal.
But I read it straight after Pucking Around and that was a mistake, because it is just a completely different book. Way less spice, one couple instead of the whole situation. Took me a lot longer to get through.
Still a four, still read it. I am just having a little lie down before Pucking Sweet.
Comfort-level note
This is an open-door reverse age gap sports romance with explicit sexual content, and a heroine leaving a controlling marriage. Check the author’s full content warnings and your own comfort level before reading.
What to pair it with
If you are building a hockey romance reading night around it, the Puck Bunny Pink Lemonade and the Rink-Side Loaded Nachos are already waiting for you.
Final vibe
One woman rebuilding her whole life and one very young man absolutely certain he is part of the plan.
