Double Shot

The ice is cold but these love stories are blazin'. We’re pouring drinks, pulling on jerseys and diving into two hockey romances that deliver big feelings, bigger chemistry and the kind of character growth that lingers after the final buzzer. First up:  One Shot by A.C. Wonderland. It's a slow-burn college romance where a PR hopeful and the youngest team captain in program history find more than spark — they find a way to hold space for grief, ambition and healing. We unpack how trauma is handled with care, why scent and sensory detail elevate intimacy, and what it means to love someone without asking them to shrink their dreams.

Then we skate into Stay by Elle Kennedy and Sarina Bowen, where a discreet concierge owner discovers her anonymous client might be her favorite Toronto forward. We loved the texting-on-the-couch moment that respects nerves; the opera “date” that turns confusion into chemistry; and the grounded realities of co-parenting, packed schedules and finding joy after divorce. Expect thoughtful spice talk — habanero vs jalapeño — plus playful digs at penalty boxes, Midwest winter bravado and the eternal excellence of ordering too many nachos.

Along the way, we explore why hockey romance is surging:  discipline on the ice, tenderness off it and a team-first mindset that makes for memorable partnerships. You’ll hear our favorite lines, the language choices that split readers and the quiet green flags that make relationships feel safe and thrilling all at once. If you’re into sports romance, contemporary love stories, or simply crave banter with heart, this one’s for you.

If you enjoyed the show, tap follow, share it with a romance-loving friend, and drop a quick review. What romance novels should we read next? We’re building our TBR stacks and would love your picks.

*** BE SURE TO GET CHECK OUT OUR DRINKING GAME FOR THIS EPISODE***  Click here.

Meghan's Book & Beverage:  Stay by Elle Kennedy and Sarina Bowen with Dailey's Frozen Cocktail Strawberry Daiquiri in her beloved Unicorn Cup (which met a tragic end in the dishwasher after we recorded this episode)

Nicole's Book & Beverage:  One Shot by A.C. Wonderland with Leinenkugel's White Mocha Stout Beer

Transcript

Nicole:

I'm Nicole Danielle.

Meghan:

And I'm Meghan Leigh. And this is Romance on the Rocks, where two bookish biddies imbibe and talk about romance novels. Specifically, this time around, we are talking about hockey romance. 

Nicole:

Indeed. It's quite the trend these days, the hockey romance is. 

Meghan:

It is. 

Nicole:

It is. 

Meghan:

And for those of you who can't see me right now, I am wearing a hockey jersey. I don't know anything about this team. It is some sort of youth league. And it's the North Northbrook Bluehawks. I don't know. I found it at the Goodwill Bins and rescued it, and now I am wearing it tonight. 

Nicole:

I love it. It's totally on theme. 

Meghan:

Thank you.

Nicole:

And what are you drinking in your jersey this evening?

Meghan:

Yeah, so I am drinking a Dailies pre-made daiquiri. 

Nicole:

Oh my god, that looks a-maze-balls. And you have it in your unicorn mug/cup. 

Meghan:

I don't have very many fancy cups. So, the unicorn cup is where it's at when I'm trying to be super fancy. But yeah, there's a scene in the book where my leading lady Haley is attending a hockey game and she's in one of the special boxes, and the security guard warns her when he's like, “Oh, you're going to that particular box?” He's like, “Uh, careful. The ladies make a really strong strawberry daiquiri.”

Nicole:

Oh. 

Meghan:

So, she has, yeah, so she has the heads up before she gets in there. So, if she doesn't want to get totally blitzed, she needs to avoid the daiquiri. So, I am not avoiding the daiquiri tonight. I am drinking the daiquiri.

Nicole:

Yay. I wish I was drinking a daiquiri with you. 

Meghan:

What do you have? 

Nicole:

Well, I struggled what to go with for this evening. At one point, they talk about the main character drinking prosecco. You know I love me some prosecco, but I was like, “meh.” And then there's a lot of beer drinking. Throughout the book, she drinks Bud Light. And Meghan, I could not bring myself to suck down a Bud Light. 

Meghan:

Come on, girl, you can do it. 

NIcole:

But I was like, beer, I can do a beer. I got plenty of beer around. And at various points in the book, they constantly go to this cute little coffee shop to meet up for planning meetings for her little school group that she's in. And so, I thought, what better way to meld the coffee drinks and lattes than with a beer? And so, I have for you, Meghan, a white mocha stout from Leinenkugels. This is a new flavor. I have not encountered this in Leine’s before. 

Meghan:

I don't remember seeing that before ever. 

Nicole:

I don't either. I love the vanilla snowdrift porter that they typically bring out in the later months of the year, but it has not been found yet by the husband unit when he was up north. So, he found the white mocha. I'm doing it. I don't know how it's gonna taste because sometimes white chocolate can't always get me there, but you know, I'm gonna give it a little whirl. Let's see.

Meghan:

Ooh, yes.

Nicole:

Yeah.  Delightful. I like it. 

Meghan:

I'm gonna say I this daiquiri is very sweet, and you know that I do not often do overly sweet things, and the package said it was 65% of my daily sugar. Which is this one drink. So, I'm gonna maybe have a few bites of this because it's not even really drinkable. It's so frozen. I'm gonna have a few bites. And then I might have to run out and get a different mixed drink and just use this as like a base for mixing other things. Because 65% of my daily sugar for this one cup is a lot of sugar. 

Nicole:

That is a lot, my lady. 

Meghan:

Yeah. 

Nicole:

Yeah.

Anyway, I believe I go first this time.

Meghan:

I think you do as well.

Nicole:

Okay. Well, I read “One Shot” by AC Wonderland, who I am excited to report to our listeners will be a podcast guest on our next regular episode of the cast. 

Meghan:

Yep, yep, yep. 

Nicole:

This was published freshly this year in March. So, we got another freshie. 

Meghan:

Nice. This obviously falls into the hockey romance genre. And I'll also throw it into the sports romance, sports, sports, sports. We love some sports ball. And the contemporary romance. We are kind of doing away with our spoilers and trigger warnings. I do not want to spoil this book, but there are a couple of items I want to talk about and bring up that were actually a little triggering for me, even though I was not at all expecting it to be. But I'll get to that during my review in a hot second. 

So, I'm going to try to be intentionally vague, but I think some of our listeners will probably be able to piece some things together, and it just is what it is. All right. 

Meghan:

Well, I'm interested to see what we're talking about. 

Nicole:

I don't have a hot take for this episode. I know you're super disappointed in me. 

Meghan:

So disappointed. 

Nicole:

I couldn't think of anything controversial to say. But our main characters are, oh, bear with me on this one, Lauren, who also goes by the nickname Lore, L-A-U-R, or alternatively, Chip, which is a nickname given to her by her brother, and her last name is Bellinger. Then we have Lucas Donato.  

The plotline: Lauren comes from a hockey family. Her dad was a bit of a hockey legend, and so was her brother. And she used to have dreams of becoming essentially a sports reporter. As a young girl, she would follow her brother around and take his picture and write up articles and do little interviews with him. And while her brother started attending West Michigan University, she started out at a community college with plans to transfer to his same school and work on the Wyvern's, and that's the mascot of the hockey team, the Wyvern's hockey team's PR and marketing team, as she would finish her degree. It's unclear to me, Meghan, if she's going for a public relations degree or a journalism degree, but my best guess would be it would be one of those two. 

Meghan:

Mm-hmm. 

Nicole:

All right. Sadly, Laura's goals and plans come to a screeching halt after a series of awful events. And she enters a pretty deep alcohol-aided depression for about a year. Then suddenly she receives a letter from West Michigan telling her she's been accepted to the Wyvern's PR and marketing team, just as she had planned on doing. The weird thing is, though, Meghan, that she didn't apply for this position, uh, because she's been struggling with life. So, there's a little bit of mystery there as to how the heck that came about, but she and her parents decide to seize the opportunity, and Laura is off to school again. There, she runs into a lot of old friends and even her cousin, and she tries to get back into the swing of things. She also meets super hunky up-and-coming hockey star and Wyvern's captain Lucas, and they have instant chemistry for each other. 

But of course, there's a lot of trauma, clouding over Lore, being able to move forward with a potential romantic relationship and with her career path and even her position on the PR and marketing team. Meanwhile, Lucas Donato is having some of his own challenges. He's the youngest Wyvern's captain in history after Lore's brother, and he's a junior. He really wants to go pro and he takes his position as the team captain and as a hockey player who wants to go pro very seriously. There's scouts that are regularly appearing at games, so that's always on his mind, and they're trying to get to the frozen four finales, finales, finals. What we call it. And Lucas's ex-girlfriend was not at all supportive of his hockey goals and dreams. So, Lucas isn't really sure that having a girlfriend is gonna fit into his life right now, but he does know that he definitely has some feelings in certain parts of his body for lore. That's where I'm gonna leave it. 

Things I love:. There are many colloquialisms that you and I absolutely have in our vernacular, for example, “Lady Bits”, and I greatly appreciated seeing those pop up in characters' thoughts and dialogue. They had some beer Olympics, Meghan, with games like Flippy Cup, Quarters, Dizzy Bat, and Beer Pong. I love these salt bar Olympics. Bring it on.

Meghan:

That sounds very Midwestern.

Nicole:

Yes. And Laura's terms of endearment for Lucas always include “captain”, like captain boyfriend, or even just captain. I enjoyed this immensely because my husband, Bob, has had a running joke for years that he is Captain Awesome. 

Meghan:

Very nice. 

Nicole:

My favorite quotes, I think you'll appreciate this one. “My cheeks grow hot as my lady bits start to hum with desire.”

Meghan:

Hmmmm (humming). Desire. 

Nicole:

Yes. I just wish they had maybe thrummed, but you know, well, maybe that's in the future.

Meghan:

I'll take, I'll take humming. That's fine.

Nicole:

Yeah. We've been talking about scents lately, specifically in relation to some of our creature feature books that we covered last month in October. You had some interesting ones in a couple of your books.

Meghan:

Yeah. In fact, the last book, which was my werewolf zombie book, she referred to him as smelling like licorice. And I thought that was that was an interesting one. And I know that there were a lot of different aromas in the swamp monster one as well. And it was a lot of earthiness and, you know, things smelling like wood and, you know, lemon balm and things like that.

Nicole:

Yeah. And we've actually talked about potentially incorporating the sense of our characters next year because it seems to be happening a lot, or maybe we're just noticing it more. I don't know. But Lucas in this book frequently notes that Lauren has a floral vibe going on. And then there was this quote from Lauren about Lucas. I close my eyes, taking in subtle hints of his woodsy, warm cologne mixed with the fresh smell of clean linens that lingers on his clothes. The blend of these two scents is uniquely him. And I totally thought about you when I read that, and how you were talking about how your husband, Adam - Adam, makes his own custom scents. And I was like, when she says these two scents are uniquely him.

Meghan:

Yeah. Okay, I get it. Yep. 

Nicole:

Yep, exactly. Uh, something else I think you'll find interesting, Meghan, is how much the communications field and classes have changed since you and I pursued our broadcast journalism BAs so very many years ago. Like everything has changed, really. You and I had to learn on things like three-quarter inch tape and how to actually splice radio tape and wipe an audio cartridge with a magnet to record over it. And those were things that were already well on their way out and becoming obsolete. 

Meghan:

But that's how old we are. 

Nicole:

Right. Well, Laura is taking classes on social media marketing and online content and using her phone in addition to cameras, etc., for recording interviews. And I was just like, wow, what a difference 25 years makes in an industry. 

Meghan:

I mean, all of the difference. 

Nicole:

And if Henry Lippold could see us now, Meghan. 

Meghan:

Oh man. Henry. 

Nicole:

Oh, Henry. 

So, some challenges with this book. There are some typos and spelling errors sprinkled here and there throughout the book, but I'm gonna give some grace and space because this is a fresh book and publication. It was also challenged by the level of maturity and ages of Lucas and Lauren. I think I personally am just getting too old for college romances because I found myself getting impatient with certain scenes and situations. And I was like, oh, just talk to each other.

Meghan:

It really is all about like what, you know, what season of life we're in. You know, we're so far past the college stuff that yeah, it can be really hard to relate to those kinds of situations.

Nicole:

That being said, I do think these scenes and situations are authentic to the college experience and characters, so it worked. I was just getting annoyed by it.

Meghan:

Valid. 

Nicole:

This book was also, as mentioned, triggering for me. One of the characters has experienced domestic violence, both verbal/emotional and physical, from an ex who was a narcissist, and that just really affected me because of my own life experiences in a major previous relationship. So that really pulled me in and made me feel some feels that I wasn't quite expecting or prepared for. Um, but I don't have a problem with that. I just wasn't expecting it, so it was triggering for me. 

Meghan:

Sure.

Which, you know, everybody has a thing that is very specific to them that you get into that part in the book and you're like, oh. 

Nicole:

Yeah.

Meghan:

Oof. Yeah. 

Nicole:

Yeah. 

Finally, I'm gonna get real petty for a second. And focus on one particular scene that had me scoffing and pulling my Wisconsin and Gen X cards at the same time. 

Meghan:

Oh boy. 

Nicole:

Lore and the ladies are about to go out for NYE, and here's the book passage. “We call an Uber for once. It's December 31st, and we live in Michigan. None of us would dare walk even half a mile in a dress and heels.” 

Um, maybe it's just us University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire girls or our age or living too long in Wisco, but I scoff, ladies, and I call you weak. We used to schlep around Water Street in heels and skirts and no jackets, because we didn't want to carry jackets in the middle of winter all the damn time. 

Meghan:

We also did not have Ubers. 

Nicole:

Yeah, I've even done that shit in my 30s in downtown Wausau, Wisconsin. So, it's only now that I'm an old woman and acclimatized to North Carolina that I refuse to do it anymore.

But I was doing that shit all through my 20s and 30s. 

Meghan:

I mean, I will admit I'm still doing that stuff. Not the small, tiny outfits in the cold, but I'm still out there schlepping around in the cold. Like uh, you're not gonna stop me.

Nicole:

Right. So, I just feel that these Michigan girls need to girl up and uh put their big girl undies on.

Meghan:

Well, especially if you're gonna be hanging out with hockey players.

You're in the cold all the time, ladies. Come on, let's work on this. 

Nicole:

Right.

There is a sequel to this book following Laura and Luke into their senior year of college, because this took place during their junior year, and that one is called Summer Shot. 

My final thoughts if you're down for a slow burn college hockey romance and an incredible emotional journey and are looking for a fresh new author and a new series, this is a great read. 

Meghan:

Nice. 

Nicole:

Yeah. So, spice level for one shot. I was wiffle-waffling between Jalapeno and Habanero. I feel like my spice levels are changing the further along we get into this podcast. And this is something you and I have discussed, and I've also discussed it with my cul-de-sac ladies. So, I feel like the reading for this book really boils down to location, location, location, i.e., the hockey rink, which includes various benches and the penalty box. I mean…

Meghan:

Interesting. 

Nicole: 

…it's called a sin bin for a reason. 

It also boils down to the vocabulary, which included some of my very least favorite words that begin with P and go and this see you next Tuesday. So, I'm gonna put this on a habanero. 

Meghan:

Nice. 

Nicole:

So, what did you read for our hockey episode?

Meghan:

So, I read a book called “Stay” by Elle Kennedy and Serena Bowen. 

And this one was published in 2017, although my particular copy is a 2024 uh reprint, because when they originally did it, it was uh an indie book. And then it was re-released in 2024. 

Premise: Our leading lady, Haley Taylor Emery, is recently divorced and is the co-owner of a personal service company called Fetch. Basically, they run errands for people, make appointments, reservations, track down hard-to-find items, etc. They have some fairly high-profile clientele because they also offer a lot of privacy and anonymity with their services. 

As an aside, as I mentioned earlier, the company is called Fetch. The cover of this book has a cute couple holding each other, and then behind them is like a black lab type dog. Because the company is Fetch, because there's a dog on the cover, and the tagline here says “A Wags Novel.” I had initially assumed that “Wags” had to do with dogs. And obviously, I knew that this was a hockey book. There's a hockey player on the front, but I kind of just assumed that the series in general was maybe involving dog walkers or something like that. 

Nicole:

I kind of assumed that too. 

Meghan:

Nope. Nope. Wags actually stands for Wives And Girlfriends. And I didn't find that out until page 158. So, it's like wives and girlfriends of the hockey players. And this is not the first book in the series. So, had I read any of the other ones, I would have known that already. 

Nicole:

Okay. Okay. 

Meghan:

Yeah. But I still felt a little silly when I finally figured it out on page 158. And I was like, “oh”. 

Nicole:

I would have had the exact same response. 

Meghan:

Anyway, Haley Taylor Emery is co-owner of the Fetch Company. She oversees the highest profile accounts, like including those anonymous ones. Even she doesn't know the identifying details of anybody who's indicated that they want to remain anonymous. So, because of this, she has been providing services for a client whose username is just Sniper87. She doesn't know who he actually is. 

Context has clued her into the fact that he may be Toronto hockey forward Matt Erickson. 

Nicole:

Okay. 

Meghan:

Who just happens to be someone she has crushed on for years. 

Nicole:

Gotcha. So along with the regular business messages like, “could you have somebody pick up my dry cleaning? I need someone to water my plants when I'm out of town.” You know, “could you track down this specialty orchid for my mom's birthday,” et cetera? So, along with those messages, Haley and the mysterious Sniper87 have been sharing friendly messages in a way that feels like they know each other at this point. 

Due to a snafu with a negative dog walking experience, Haley gets roped into personally showing up to Sniper87's apartment to take over the dog walking schedule. And she finds out very quickly that yes, he is indeed the Matt Erickson hockey player she thought he was. 

Nicole:

And then crushing on. 

Meghan:

Yeah. And been crushing on from afar as a fan. 

Nicole:

Right, right, right, right. 

Meghan:

Yeah. Because the book is written from both the perspective of our FMC and our MMC, we get the inside scoop on how Matt is feeling. We find out he has also been divorced for a little over a year. He's mostly been focusing on getting his life together as a single father, and has really just not thrown himself back into the dating world. In fact, the messages he's shared with Haley are really the only quote unquote flirting he's done. And even that is more just friendly chit-chat. But after Haley begins stopping by to walk his dog, he decides it's time to see if they can move from this friendly online banter to real life conversation and connections. 

Their first date is actually with other members of his team and their significant other. They attend an opera as part of a community outreach event that none of the players ever look forward to. They're like forced into it every year because one of their higher profile supporters basically invites the team and they feel like they have to go and show up. 

I kind of found it fun watching this interaction because unless you know that specific opera or that specific language that the opera is being sung in, you don't really know what's going on, right? And so, it was kind of fun because they started whispering to each other and just making up the plot and talking about what was going on. And it was actually very, very funny. So, I thought it was a fun first date, even though they hadn't anticipated thinking it was going to be great, but I thought it was fun. 

So, between Matt trying to reconcile any animosity between himself and his ex-wife, fostering a positive relationship with his daughters, trying to balance hectic and unpredictable work schedule, and then Haley trying to juggle her growing business, which is very successful, keeping a cordial relationship with her ex-husband, who, by the way, is the other co-owner of Fetch.

Nicole:

Ugh, I don't think I could do that. 

Meghan:

Yeah, it has complications. And then dealing with her feelings of inadequacy as a romantic partner. This book was chalk full of realistic struggles that a lot of us face, just real-world things. I thought they all handled their situations with a lot of maturity and grace. And in general, I liked both of them and was happy to see them work toward a match. 

There was also this fun little side quest with Haley's business, and another there was another anonymous client that Haley and her best friend/co-worker Jenny. They had nicknamed this guy Mr. Dick because of his penchant for um sending not just odd requests, but each of these odd requests was accompanied with kind of a suggestive picture. Like he requests to have a silk kimono delivered and then would attach a picture of just like his kind of like crotchal and thigh region with a measuring tape, like with a measuring tape showing like where the kimono should land on his thigh. It was just stuff like that where they were all pictures. And so anytime a request would come in, she and Jenny would like get together, be like, oh my God, I can't wait to see what stupid picture he sends now. That was just like a fun kind of side thing. And at the end, you do find out who this dude is. And I just kept trying to guess through the book. I was not even close, but it was just fun. 

Nicole:

Okay. 

Meghan:

So yeah, this book was just fun, decent banter and humor with friends and exes and current lovers all treating each other with respect. 

Nicole:

Oh, yay. 

Meghan:

Yeah. Yeah. So that's about what I've got with that. I just have a few quotes. 

Nicole:

Yeah. 

Meghan:

So, Haley at one point was staring at Matt from afar before they were together. And she says, “the way his broad shoulders move with each stride makes me strangely hungry. Is it weird to have a shoulder fetish?” I was like, that's a first for me, but I get it because I think arms are absolutely beautiful. And you don't hear a lot of people being like, it was his arms. His arms brought me in. So, I love the fact that she's into shoulders. 

Nicole:

I'm into shoulders and arms. 

Meghan:

There you go. Uh, Matt was trying to figure out how to finagle a second or third date, maybe at this point, out of Haley. And he sets up this whole scenario and then says to his himself, “Is that romantic as fuck? Or a total dick move? Could go either way, I guess.” Again, also true. There are things that you look at and you're like, oh, that's so romantic. And somebody else would find it just absolutely horrifying, right?

Nicole:

Right, right.

 Meghan:

And then I think I told you while I was reading this book, I think you would really identify with some of the things that were going on here, just given, you know, how your romantic history was. Haley's first relationship with her ex-husband Jackson was kind of the only relationship she'd had. They had been friends since she was six years old. They started dating in high school. She really didn't have anything else. And so, she says at one point in time, “I don't have experience with men. I have experience with man, as in one man.”

Nicole:

One man, yeah. Girl, I relate.

Meghan:

Yeah. Yeah. And then going back to uh again, meow. Uh I thought you would like this one. And by like, I don't mean actually want to use this. Just like it because it is not something I remember hearing in previous ones. Her “slick paradise.”

Nicole:

Oh okay. I have not heard that one before. 

Meghan:

Yeah, I didn't think I had heard it either. So that's what I got for you here. I thought it was a good read, I would recommend. And then I would say probably a jalapeno on this one…

Nicole:

Okay. 

Meghan:

…is what I would give it. I feel like jalapeno is kind of my comfort zone. I don't really get too many things that pop too far outside of that. Not on purpose. It's just kind of where I think a lot of these books seem to fall. 

Nicole:

Yeah.

And there is a little bit of a history with this book.

Meghan:

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Let's talk about that history. We were gifted this book by a friend of the podcast. Some of you have heard this story before, but I will try and be brief. She received this book as a donation for an event that she was part of, and they needed copies of books. Unfortunately, this donation was unable to be used because this event involved children. And this book has phrases like “slick heat.” So, the person donating didn't understand the assignment, and the person receiving could not redact enough of this book to make it appropriate for said event.

Nicole:

And she had tried.  She was blacking out lines.

Meghan:

She did. She did. But given that, I actually thought it was going to be a lot more racy than it ended up being. 

Nicole:

Okay. 

Meghan:

If that makes sense. If this is way too racy for elementary school children, but not too racy for Nicole. So, like there wouldn't have been that much redacting…

Nicole:

Okay. 

Meghan:

…you know. But I would like to thank her for passing this book on, because I really did enjoy it. So, I do, like I said, I recommend. 

Nicole:

Yeah.

Uh, and for our listeners, if you if you have a fun book that you want us to read, feel free to uh DM us, reach out to us, message us, email us, and uh get that to us because we love getting books from people. I have thus far received some very fabulous Fabio books from you and one of our devoted listeners, Meredith, she sent me one as well. So, my Fabio collection is quickly growing. And we got our other book for this episode, one shot, sent to us from the author AC Wonderland, too. So we are here for the books, people. Feel free to send them to us. We'll get you the sending info.

Meghan:

I am also looking for a recommendation for a good classic romance novel, something probably late 70s, early 80s. I already have something picked out for a future episode, but I am looking for a second classic. So, if anybody has a suggestion, let me know. I'm keeping my eyes peeled as well, but I would love to have some recommendations.

Nicole:

For sure. We always love those as well. 

Nicole:

Meghan, did you glean any romantic reminders from your novel?

Meghan:

I will say “alternative communication methods”. And what I mean by that is there's a point in here where Haley is very clearly having a hard time figuring out how to be comfortable on this first and/or second date or hangout session. And Matt basically says to her, “Hey, you still have my phone number, right?” And she's like, “Yeah.” And he said, “Okay, why don't you text me just so we make sure that I have your phone number in my phone?” So, she does, and they're sitting on the couch together, but she's uh very kind of stiff and not really sure what to do or say. So, she texts him and says, “Hi, this is Haley.” Uh, and he immediately just starts texting her instead. And it starts to get her more relaxed because she's used to their conversations being written. They did most of their conversing over email and messaging, and that's where he decides to meet her. So, they sat on the couch next to each other and texted each other for a while. And I thought it was so sweet because they're saying the things that that they want to say in a way that's making her start to relax. And I just thought that was really lovely, just meeting your partner where they need to be met and trying to communicate in a way that they can actually hear you.

Nicole:

I really, really love that actually. 

Meghan:

How about you? Anything great? 

Nicole:

Dream your dreams. I know that sounds really simple, but it really hones in for the theme I feel in one shot. Lauren and Lucas absolutely support each other in their individual endeavors and careers, which I think is so crucial in any relationship. And this is a quote from the book to ask someone to give up their dreams for you is selfish. When you're with someone you still chase your own dream, but you just support your person's dream too. This is so important. I see so many movies where women particularly give up their dreams for the men in their lives. And I have to say my husband, Bob, has always supported my career and dreams without question. And I have always supported his. It's never been about sacrificing our individual dreams or prioritizing one or the other. It's always been about building our dream and our individual goals are not mutually exclusive. They're in tandem. So, I felt like that was a really good message in this book. 

Meghan:

Absolutely. 

How about some boobies?

Nicole:

Oh, Meghan I'm questioning if I maybe missed a reference but I don't think I did really well I will say I had a hard time finding my reference as well I that probably took me the most time of anything I had to do for our show notes. 

Meghan:

So, you got nothing?

Nicole:

I do. I just don't know what my problem is lately when I'm reading, I used to when we would read be like boobies, boobies, boobies where are they? And now I'm like I'm just reading I'm just reading I'm just reading and I'm like shit I think I missed the boobs.

Meghan:

I feel the same way though I think that we've gotten so comfortable with just getting into these books that you start to forget that you're supposed to be also looking for other things.

Nicole:

Yeah. So, boobie reference for me is page 81.  Quote: “It's taking all my focus to fight my heart on while she's looking at me with those baby blues. I could get lost in them for hours, but I'd do almost anything to get lost in that cleavage too.”

Meghan:

Nice.

Well, the first one that I can find and again perhaps I missed something yeah page 129. So…”You got me on this one that is nothing short of a miracle right all right my mouth goes dry at the thought of kissing and licking those soft sweet breasts.”

Nicole:

Well hey there you go. That's a scrumptious one.

Any food references since we're still doing food references for this year. 

Meghan:

Nachos.

Nicole:

Nachos. Oh my god okay when we do our year end book feast I am here for the effing nachos 

Meghan:

This is Haley hanging out with one of Matt's coworkers and the coworker's girlfriend.

“Let's order nachos Blake announces reaching for a stack of menus at the center of the booth I'm thinking eight orders.”  “Eight?” Jess squawks. ”There's only four of us here.”  “I'll eat at least four.” Blake assures her. “You guys can battle it out for the rest.”

Nicole:

I mean that sounds perfectly fair and reasonable. 

Meghan:

Yeah and the nachos were mentioned twice in this book.  And after you had said bucket of nachos for one of your last books, I was like, “absolutely now nachos are on the menu for feast”. Because I've got it in one of my books you got it in one of your.

Nicole:

Yeah, nachos must happen.

Meghan:

Yeah, it's essential now.  Eight orders for four people. I'm like “yes.” 

How about you, any uh any food?

Nicole:

Not so much on the food mostly beverages like uh beers and Proseccos and shots.

I mean they're in college they're out they're out just celebrating hockey games and whatnot uh there was some bacon at one point, but it was it was a moment where somebody's revealing some hard passed items and she is like I just need to eat all this bacon the whole package by myself and cry as I tell you about my history.  And I was like I guess that could be pretty cathartic.

Meghan:

You know what when I'm sad you can make bacon for me; I'll take it.

Nicole:

Okay.  Noted.

Meghan:

Thanks.

Nicole:

Ad crispy hash browns.  They must be crispy.

So, on the next episode of the podcast we have an interview with the author of my hockey book AC Wonderland. Uh very fun interview when we chatted with her very down to earth and I'm loving that she is just churning out these hockey books and has so many ideas right behind that and ready to go on the pages. So, I really think she's an up and comer. And so, I think you all will enjoy the interview with her. And then after that in the month of December our two regular episodes focus on the holidays.

Meghan:

Yes, they do.

And you actually found the first holiday book for me. So, I'm excited to uh to get into that.

Nicole:

Yeah, I'm excited too and then we'll be getting together on my next venture up north and we'll be doing our year-end book feast with food inspired by the books that we've read this year and we'll be doing some wrapping up stuff and, on the queue, we've been curating our TBR stacks to be read stacks for the beginning of the year we're gonna do a pick a number. We've got stacks we've numbered them we're gonna randomly draw them they may or may not match we don't give a shit we're just gonna dive right in and hit our stack.

Meghan:

Yeah well, it's books we've been excited about and for whatever reason they just either haven't really fit in with one of our themes yet or we just picked them up so recently that they would have missed whatever theme we had a good match for maybe months previous. So yeah, I'm kind of excited, because I think mine's a good mix between things that have been sitting around for a while and then some of the newer picks that we got when we were in Milwaukee.

Nicole:

Yeah. And we will still have some themes next year but we're gonna we're gonna kick off the first few months of the year with some pick a number books, because like Meghan just said we really want to hit some things that have been in our queue that we recently just picked up and we just thought what fun it would be to just have some randomness.

Meghan:

Mm-hmm. Let's do it.  Roulette.  Some roulette romance.

Nicole:

Roulette.  Love it.  I have some real interesting books in my stack to be possibly picked. 

Meghan:

I mean same at least I think they're gonna be interesting. Sometimes things shock you and you're like, “aww that wasn't as smexy as I thought it would be.” 

Nicole:

The journey right.

Meghan:

It is it is.  I like the surprises though, where I'm not expecting a whole lot out of a book and then it just it just hits right, and you're like “whoa I didn't know I needed to read about zombies and werewolves”. Bring it.

Nicole:

For real though. Well Meghan, do you want to sign us out for this episode? 

Meghan:

I can do that. Thanks for joining us today for Romance on the Rocks. Please like subscribe and follow and if you are a hopelessly romantic bookish biddie like us, think about giving us a review on Apple iTunes Spotify YouTube wherever you catch your podcasts. Until next time, just know that your support really means the world to us.  Stay safe and know that you are loved.