Review: Release by Brenda Rothert

NHL player Orion Caldwell protects his own. He’s an enforcer to his core, but he was the one left defenseless when his longtime girlfriend broke his heart. Now he’s all about his game, but spending the offseason in his hometown forces him to confront painful issues –both old and new.

Samara Cross just wants to be invisible. After living a nightmare, she came back to her hometown seeking solace. But her quiet new life is upturned by the hot, charismatic hockey player who’s taken a sudden interest in her.

Orion and Samara find something unexpected in each other, but when the hockey offseason ends, so does their time together. They struggle with their separation, confronted by ghosts of the past and an uncertain future, discovering that sometimes the only way to hold on to something precious is to let go.

4.5 Star Review by Jennifer Skewes

Brenda Rothert has done it again.  I am a huge fan of the Fire on Ice Series.  And I will admit that while I love them all, Ryke has always been my favorite.  But Release is a very, very close second.  Orion Caldwell captured me from the very beginning.  Oh My God did I love him. 

Orion is a hockey player in the NHL and his season has just ended.  He has decided to go home for the summer and spend some time with his mother, sister and his niece and nephew.  His mother has been having a hard time since his father passed away and his sister is struggling with school, work and being a single mom.  So being home and helping out with his family is where he needs to be.  While home he runs into a girl that he went to high school with.  While they may not have been friends or ran in the same circle he knew exactly who Samara was.    Samara also knew exactly who Orion is and knows that he is a famous hockey player.  But that honestly doesn’t even phase her.  There is something different about Samara that he is drawn to.  She isn’t like most of the girls he meet, who wants something from him because he is famous.  And she sure as hell is nothing like his ex girlfriend.  He wants to get to know her but he sees the walls that she has up. He wants to break through those walls and find out why they are up in the first place.  But getting Samara to go out with him is going to be a challenge.

Samara had a tough childhood growing up and and even harder time after high school.  She is back in her hometown but she basically works and keeps to herself.  Something happened to her not so long ago that has caused these walls to be up.  She walks around with this fear, always looking over her shoulder.  She is shy and very reserved but that does not mean that she does not notice how hot Orion is.  But she knows that she cannot go there with him.  He’s a famous hockey player who can have any woman he wants so why her? 

Samara comes to realize that Orion is nothing like the man that she thought he would be.  He is sweet, kind, considerate and overall a complete gentleman.  And it doesn’t hurt that he is very sexy and very charming.  Samara cannot resist him for much longer and decides to give him a chance.  The more time they spend together the harder she starts to fall.  But Samara has a secret that she’s afraid will ruin things with Orion if he found out.  She is afraid of what he will think of her.  They only have a few months together before Orion has to go back to training camp and the start of the new season.   Is this just a summer romance between the two of them that will end when Orion is ready to leave or is it more? 

I LOVED this book. First of all I loved both of these characters so much. Orion is one of the most loving, sweetest, considerate men. He knew from the moment he laid eyes on her that Samara was the one for him.  He also knew that she had walls up and therefore needed to be patient with her.  And he was.  He never wanted or asked her for more than she could give him.  He wanted to protect her in every way possible.  He knew she was hiding some things from her but didn’t push her.  There was a moment towards the end where you just see how selfless Orion Caldwell is and it just made my heart full.  To see how much his family meant to him and the sacrifices he made for the people that he loved spoke volumes about the person he was.  There was also a really touching moment between him and Niko, his best friend that melted my heart and caused tears to form in my eyes.

Samara, oh I just loved her.  She has been through so much but is still so strong.  She never wanted Orion for any reason other than she liked him for him.  She had issues trying to understand why he wanted her but she didn’t let it consume her and she did not let his past get in the way of their future.  She was strong and independent and I loved her. 

Once again Ms. Rothert  has written another beautiful and emotional love story.  She knows how to create these sexy, charming swoon worthy hockey players who have hearts.  And I think Orion has the biggest one of them all.  Ryke is still my #1 but Orion had me from the start.  I love the emotions that you feel throughout this story.  There are the swoon worthy moments, the sexy moments and those moments where your eyes swelled with tears.  And let’s not forget the ones that made you smile.  Samara and Orion were so good together. Samara didn’t really know what love was until Orion came along and I don’t think he knew it could feel as good as it did either until he met her.  I am sad to see this series end.  But I must say that it certainly ended with a bang.  Another fantastic job by Brenda Rothert.  

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