Any Other Day

  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.