E-galley Review: Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Sara Ney

I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Sara Ney
on March 10, 2025
Genres: Adult Sports Romance
Pages: 376
Source: the author
Format: E-galley
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My Rating:

Blurb:

USA Today bestselling author Sara Ney sizzles with a fast-paced, sexy romp about a sassy fan-girl and flailing hockey star in this hilarious stand-alone…

I didn’t mean to roast Gio Montagalo, goalie and crown jewel of The Houston Baddies hockey team. Honestly, I was screaming at the TV in a sports bar like any self-respecting sports junkie does when their team is on a losing streak! So when his twin sister sidles up on the stool beside me, laughing at my commentary, I figured I’d made a fan, too. What I didn’t expect? For her brother—the guy I called “a flashy ice peacock with the reflexes of a sloth”—to hear about it.

Yikes. What were the odds?!
Next thing I know, Gio is in my DMs with a challenge: “Hold up a sassy sign at my game and hit me with your best shot. Roast me in front of everyone.” For him, it’s fun. For me, it’s humiliating. But I did it. Glitter included. And because the universe thrives on chaos, the Baddies won.

Now Gio thinks I’m his good luck charm, begging me to show up with more signs. He also wants to see me—off the ice.

What does a hot, hockey hunk want with a bookish girlie like me?

I try to keep my distance. Mostly.
Soon, Gio is showing up at my job for swoony kisses and trying to charm my dog—also named Gio—and failing because my dog hates him at first sight. I wonder if this whole “lucky charm” thing has less to do with hockey and more to do with the overwhelming, undeniable pull I feel toward him. Or maybe it’s fate’s way of showing me that sometimes, the guy you roast on national TV can be the one you accidentally fall for.

Fast-paced and hilarious, Hit Me With Your Best Shot is full of electric chemistry—and tons of spice. Austin Adam’s life just went from shouting at the TV screen—to becoming part of the show.

My Review

Once again Sara Ney just swept me into her book from the very start! I couldn’t put it down and was so happy that the day I started I actually had a lot of different times I got to pick it up and read. As usual, the author had me laughing constantly. Between the banter, the fun texting, and the craziness, it was all so good! Gio was a sweetie, and of course I fell in love with him. And I loved how Austin was just all there in your face, honest about it all, especially about her favorite hockey team. And even her favorite player didn’t escape her brutal honesty when he wasn’t playing his best.

Oh my gosh, the way Gio convinced her to roast him at the game before she realized that she was actually talking to Gio, that whole scene was hilarious! When Gio saw Austin’s chinese crested dog in the background of their FaceTime call, oh my gosh, that whol bit was hilarious! He was so scared and calling the dog a demon. My sister had a chinese crested Maltese mix, so her dog had hair, but they are cuties even with their “ugliness”.

There was a bit of a twist towards the end that led to the final dramatic act of the story. One that I didn’t see coming because the author didn’t leave some of the usual breadcrumbs that make it obvious that is what is coming. But again, the way that ended up being shared with Gio, and how it was handled, another sign at the hockey rink, loved it!

I did have one bone to pick with Austin’s professor character, as a librarian who teaches research. Wikipedia is not a source, no, but it is a great place to jump off and actually find sources in the links at the bottom of the pages. Most teachers/professors know that these days and do tell their students about it. Sorry, had to get it out there because that bugged me, lol.

One other teeny tiny negative I had is that some of the things with Austin’s job, her not listening at a staff meeting, I feel like it was foreshadowing something else that would have led to more with the story towards the end. So I feel like nothing ever came from that, and it seemed like it was out of place for me a bit that it had some of the emphasis it did at that point.

In the end though, I loved this story. I loved the characters, especially hoping with that epilogue that we will get Nova’s story with Gio’s teammate Luca in a future book!

About the Author

Sara Ney is the USA Today Bestselling Author of the How to Date a Douchebag series, and is best known for her sexy, laugh-out-loud New Adult romances. Among her favorite vices, she includes: iced latte’s, historical architecture and well-placed sarcasm. She lives colorfully, collects vintage books, art, loves flea markets, and fancies herself British.

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