Should've Known Better by Cassandra Carr

Should've Known Better by Cassandra Carr

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



As a fan of Ms. Carr’s writing and a lover of sports romances, I was all over this one. That the female lead was a math geek who had just gotten a job working with a hockey team, well my excitement knew no bounds because even though I’ve never actually watched a hockey game, hockey romances are probably my favorite type of sports romance. For the icing on the cake – a strapping young hockey player as the male lead. Having read and loved Ms. Carr’s Safe Harbor series, I couldn’t wait to see what she had in store for Sara and Sebastian. While I found Should’ve Known Better to be an enjoyable read, it didn’t pack quite the same punch as her Safe Harbor series.

Sara is a woman working in a male-dominated organization – the Buffalo Storm hockey team – and the author does a nice job of realistically illustrating many of the barriers that she faced. I liked that Sara had to prove that her analytical skills had value and did so over time rather than her gaining her male colleagues’ respect after just one or two successes. The obstacles she faced made it easy for me to understand why she fought her attraction to Sebastian for so long and then why she wanted to keep their relationship a secret when she finally gave into his constant pursuit.

As much as I liked Sara, I found her preoccupation with the age difference to be annoying, but not nearly as annoying as when her boss chastised her for her relationship with Sebastian telling her that at her age she should’ve known better than to get involved with him. It was only a 10 year difference between them and we’re talking about a 24 year-old man NOT an 18 year-old boy. I haven’t read a hockey romance yet that didn’t talk about puck bunnies (this one included), so for her boss to suggest that she took advantage of Sebastian’s youth when the man had his choice of puck bunnies just rubbed me the wrong way. Despite my indignation of Sara’s behalf and my fondness for her character, I found myself in a cycle of connecting and disconnecting with her character. As times there seemed to be a subtle shift in the way in which the story was told that would leave me feeling distanced from Sara and Sebastian. I found this happening throughout the book, including during sex scenes – which meant that there were some scorching sex scenes and some that were not. I hate to say it, but I find that for me, Ms. Carr’s MF romances fall into my “good read” category while her MM romances have a level of steam that usually lands them directly on my reread list. Should’ve Known Better was an enjoyable read but I doubt I’ll read more from the Storm series, unless she writes a MM installment.

I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewed by Angela at Crystal's Many Reviewers!

Check out the #Throwback: Should've Known Better blog post on Crystal's Many Reviewers.


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