Skip to main content

Review: The Game She Hates - Healing Kind of Love #1

The Game She Hates book cover on blue background

Ella Marie is a new-to-me author, so I appreciated the opportunity to read The Game She Hates, which adds to my little Christian hockey romance collection. I would say this book is a great choice for the Clearly Christian Readathon!

Many thanks to the author for providing a complimentary copy of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Book Synopsis

Zane has had his fair share of a tumultuous childhood, and on the ice as the center of the Glaciers, he releases pent-up anger and frustrations from the relentless blows life has dealt him.

Off the ice, he avoids his teammates and dismisses anyone who tries to show him affection, especially women who are only drawn to his fame. But everything changes when he meets Pearl. Instantly captivated, he sets aside all his reservations and pursues her relentlessly, despite her clear rejections and disdain for hockey.

Pearl desperately wants marriage, commitment, and a man who shares her faith—definitely not a handsome, charming athlete like Zane who doesn’t believe in God and has women all over town swooning over him.

She is done using dating as a mission to convert guys to Christ, only to end up hurt.

As Zane persists in trying to maintain a 'just friends' relationship with her, he begins to question whether healing and grace can be his portion too?

Source: Amazon

Book Thoughts

I really enjoyed this book because of how in-depth it got in terms of the emotional and spiritual development of Zane and Pearl. It's easy to see why this is the author's favourite couple as they are both winsome characters who are going through tough issues while trying to understand the role of God in their lives. I appreciate that both characters want to do what is right for the other person, even when their hearts might not feel like it at the time. Instead of giving in and compromising on their beliefs, I thought it was helpful to see Zane and Pearl both work on themselves instead of just jumping into a relationship together. Pearl's work as a therapist brought a level of maturity to the story, and it was endearing to see her grow over time as well.

This book is faith-filled and points to Jesus' love and redemption. Pearl's prayers are vulnerable yet striking, and I found myself relating to some of her concerns and fears. At the same time, Zane is a bold character, and seeing him heal from past wounds is most gratifying. It's wonderful to have Ella Marie's voice in the Christian fiction world as she offers both tenderness and conviction in a compelling manner. This was a gentle story that imparted some powerful truths alongside a sweet romance. Readers who enjoy hockey romances will cheer Zane and Pearl on in this heartwarming book that honours its characters who in turn strive to honour God.

Book Summary

  • Format of book: 📱
  • Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Recommendation: 👍
Labels:

Comments

  1. Ella MarieJuly 13, 2024 at 6:16 AM

    Thank you so much for writing this beautiful review! I am so happy to hear that you enjoyed this book 🙏🏽♥️ Thanks for sharing and recommending too 🫶🏽

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Christian ShelvesJuly 15, 2024 at 4:53 PM

      It's my pleasure! I truly enjoyed getting to know your characters and their lovely story :)

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Wes and Addie Had Their Chance - Adelaide Springs #3

After visiting Colorado, I can see why this series has won a Colorado Book Award in the romance category. It's a celebration of all things small-town and Americana with a charming cast of characters.  Wes and Addie Had Their Chance  by  Bethany Turner  is the third book in the Adelaide Springs series and it's helpful to read the first two books as they culminate in this story. This book releases July 15, 2025, so there's time to catch up on the previous titles if this clean book series is of interest to you. This is a disclaimer that although this book is published by a Christian publisher, this book falls along the lines of clean fiction, so expectations should be set accordingly. I shared the following when I reviewed  Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other  and Cole and Laila are Just Friends , and as this book follows those two, I'll adopt the same refrain again: This is more of a crossover title that fits the genre of what the author terms "pop culture-i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Palate Cleansers

Partially inspired by summer and partially because I like eating, I was thinking about the role of palate cleansers between courses of food, notably sorbet. I really enjoy the reset that the palate cleansers provide, allowing for a richer sense of taste to come with the next dish. In terms of reading, I admit that I have had a lot of ARCs to read this year. I've read close to 30 ARCs so far and have another 20 or so to go. I'm by no means complaining as I really enjoy reading; however, I can attest to a bit of fatigue from trying to get in as much reading as possible to meet release deadlines. It doesn't quite feel like work yet, but I will admit that when the ARCs are back-to-back, it can be a little hard to continually be motivated. As a result, I've been looking forward to setting aside a month to take a break from ARC commitments and to just enjoy whatever titles come my way and to make more of a dent in my TBR pile. While I will continue to try to meet a few upcomi...
2 comments
Read more

2025 Clearly Christian Readathon

Welcome to another year of the  2025 Clearly Christian Readathon ! Updated materials have now been shared with new graphics for this upcoming year. Christian Books and Coffee , Devoted to Hope , and I are so grateful to be able to continue this Readathon so that we can keep featuring Christian authors writing clearly Christian books. There are plenty of resources available in the Clearly Christian Readathon Goodreads Group if you'd like to check it out! Thanks for journeying with us for the second year of the Readathon. We can't wait to see what God has in store with such incredible stories to be told 😀
Post a Comment
Read more