Richland Renegades: Book 1
Publication Date: March 12, 2024
A year ago, I slammed into the boards for my first concussion. Fast recovery, no big deal. A month ago, I slammed into the car dash and earned my second. Along with a broken ankle and a wrecked play-off run.
Now I’m every Renegades fan’s Enemy Number One and doing time in a ritzy physical rehab facility. I’ve pretended I don’t care. That I’ll recover and reclaim my place on the team. But one more night in this joint, and I might add murder and mayhem to my list of troubles.
Then she walked in.
I’m all about stepping up for my friends, but playing chaperone to a grumpy hockey player might just be one ask too many.
I knew who he was the minute I caught sight of the devastatingly handsome man having a raging meltdown in the middle of the lobby.
Who would think a harmless, I-know-who-you-are wink would awaken a monster? Much less one who decided I was the solution to his problems. But my roller derby team would be homeless in another month and he made an offer we couldn’t refuse.
Now I’m sleeping down the hall from my favorite Renegade and learning he’s more than just an abrasive jerk good on a pair of skates. Between his obsession with K-dramas he thinks I don’t know about, his possessive kisses, and the way he’s turned into my biggest derby fan, he might be just about perfect.
When he gets cleared by the team physicians, I’m ready to celebrate. He’s got his wish. He’s back in the game. He no longer needs a babysitter. But before I can blink, he’s showing me the door.
How did I read him so wrong?
I’ve been watching this trend of hockey romances being the new “it” thing in the genre, and since I’m a hockey fan, I’m all in. I saw a request to review Any Other Day by Jenna McCall and decided to give this new-to-me author a chance. And now I’m hooked.
Any Other Day is the first book in the Richland Renegades series. It sounds like a spin-off of another series, but I hadn’t read it and didn’t really feel like I was missing out on anything. The book follows Boh, a hockey player who is in recovery after a car crash, leaving him with a concussion and cast. And then there’s Novy, a dietician and roller derby player who, through some crazy turn of events, ends up being Boh’s babysitter.
Boh and Novy are both interesting characters. The author bills this as a grumpy-sunshine romance, and she’s not wrong. Boh is all kinds of grumpy as he’s dealing with concussion protocols and is worried his career might be at an end. He also doesn’t want to deal with a relationship, but there are sparks with Novy, and she’s not a one-night-stand kind of girl. Also, being in the hockey team’s circle and besties with the owner’s granddaughter makes her off-limits. He was fun to watch with all the conflicts going on inside his head.
Novy is sunshine personified. She’s very much anti-conflict and will do everything she can to smooth things over—except on the roller derby ring. Watching her deal with Boh’s swinging emotions was interesting and made me root for them to find their happily ever after. I also really enjoyed the derby subplot, especially when it was so much about who Novy was, and I wish it had been explored more.
Any Other Day was a wonderful read. I appreciated the concussion aspect of the book as it’s so important in contact sports these days, and exploring the ramifications, especially after a player’s playing days are over, is critical. I was sucked into the story and couldn’t put it down since I had to see Novy and Boh find their happily ever after. This was my first Jenna McCall book, and it won’t be my last.
In an effort to maintain her sanity during the pandemic, Jenna took up the important role of Avid Bruins Fan. This, from the warm southern climes of Georgia. And before she’d ever even watched a game. When she finally did see her first game, she was well and truly hooked. Well and truly obsessed. Black and gold, baby! Black and gold!
Add in a heart-felt love for romantic K-dramas and you have the magic mix that creates a Jenna McCall book.
From small town eccentrics to hockey studs to decadent billionaires, readers can expect character-driven stories with a hint of fantasy fulfillment, a dash of alpha male, and a delicious dose of the naughty bits. Real characters in typical and wacky scenarios, but always with a happily ever after.
She lives in Georgia with the most lovable goof of a mastiff named Joe and the divine being in corporeal form, Chloe the cat. We, and the rest of the world, too, exist solely to do her bidding.
