Most heroes in romance novels are described as attractive or good-looking or handsome. But not Big Apple Atonement. In fact, the heroine thinks he’s ugly (if he was ever handsome, the hockey scars and missing teeth mean he isn’t any more).
An ugly hero is unusual, and it got me hooked from the first line.
Emma Moritello comes from a hockey-loving family so she’s familiar with many of the players, including bad boy TJ Woletsky. Emma works at Hopetoun Children’s Home, a temporary home for children who’ve experienced trauma while they wait to be matched with a foster family.
TJ Woletsky is the bad boy of ice hockey, the one who gets too many fines and suspensions for penalties and rough play … including one move that put one of Emma’s old school friends in hospital. After one hit too many and a lecture about his bad attitude, TJ finds himself traded to New York. It’s his last chance to redeem himself to the team, the critics, and the fans.
And that brings him into contact with Emma via her co-worker and friend, Laura, who is married to TJ’s new team captain. Tim challenges him to up his game both personally and professionally and brings him to the home where he meets Emma.
As TJ changes, Emma’s attitude towards him also changes and a relationship develops.
I loved this plotline, and thought it was handled brilliantly. Often, the two characters in an enemies-to-more plot won’t have any good reason to be enemies. In Big Apple Atonement, there is every reason why Emma doesn’t like TJ. It’s about his character, attitude, actions, and lack of faith, not the way he looks. But as TJ gets serious about changing his attitudes and puts his newfound faith into practice, Emma’s attitudes also change.
The bad-boy-turned-good plot that brought TJ from a reckless player who didn’t take responsibility for his actions to a growing Christian who wants to make things right was both compelling and convincing. It took time, and it wasn’t easy … just like in real life. I appreciated the realism, and the fact there were no quick and easy answers.
Big Apple Atonement is the fifth novel in Carolyn Miller’s Original Six series, about ice hockey players finding love. Each story is a standalone in that they all feature different couples, but they are also linked into that the characters know each other, so we do get to find out more about some of the characters in the earlier stories. You don’t have to read all the novels, but it would probably pay to read them in order.
Recommended for contemporary Christian romance fans, especially those who like sports stories … or redemption stories.
Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review.
About Carolyn Miller
Carolyn Miller lives in the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. She is married, with four gorgeous children, who all love to read (and write!).
A longtime lover of Regency romance, Carolyn’s novels have won a number of Romance Writers of American (RWA) and American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) contests. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Australasian Christian Writers. Her favourite authors are classics like Jane Austen (of course!), Georgette Heyer, and Agatha Christie, but she also enjoys contemporary authors like Susan May Warren and Becky Wade.
Her stories are fun and witty, yet also deal with real issues, such as dealing with forgiveness, the nature of really loving versus ‘true love’, and other challenges we all face at different times.
Find Carolyn Miller online at:
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About Big Apple Atonement
She’s the saint with a secret. He’s the sinner with a heart of gold.
For Emma Moritello, giving abandoned and rejected children a safe home is her life’s purpose, but pressures at work means her dream may be coming to a close. And just when she thought life couldn’t get more challenging, along comes hockey’s bad boy, keen to make amends. God might want her to love her enemies, but it doesn’t mean she has to like them. Especially this hockey enforcer, who has the nerve to try to stir her heart.
TJ Woletsky has never tried to hide his sins—his exploits are tabloid fodder, and hockey teams love to hate him. Including his own. When a trade takes him to New York he’s confronted with the repercussions of his past, and time spent with the unfortunate helps ignite his desire to turn his life around. Until an incident in a nightclub makes everyone question whether this sinner can ever really change.
This story of second chances is the fifth book in the Original Six Christian hockey romance series, a sweet and swoony, slightly sporty, Christian contemporary romance series from bestselling author Carolyn Miller.
You can find Big Apple Atonement online at:
Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads | Koorong
