A review by cinnamonfox
Fated Shot : A Coach's Daughter Hockey Romance by Katherine Elle

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I think I’ve been lucky recently with romance books because this was an absolutely wonderful find. Fated Shot by Katherine Elle is a novel that follows a professional hockey player and the coach’s daughter. Normally, I don’t care about the Coach’s Daughter trope, but the approach here was top-notch.

We meet Jack Broody, a young man playing for the Toronto Tundra team who, although he loves what he does, isn’t obsessed with his hockey star status. One summer, which he mostly spends at a café, he keeps noticing a young woman who intrigues him immensely, but he doesn’t have the courage to approach her. When the season starts and he steps onto the ice, he discovers that the mysterious stranger is the coach’s daughter, which complicates everything.

After finishing college, Mia decides to return to the small town where her family home is to be closer to her parents. During this time, she runs her small business—baking cookies with all kinds of quirky flavors and selling them (in large quantities) online. When she finds out that the mysterious man who always took her favorite booth at the café is one of the players her father coaches, she tells herself it’s not worth getting involved. But, of course, the laws of attraction follow their own rules.

Fated Shot is the kind of romance that focuses not only on the development of the relationship between the protagonists but also on the growth of the characters themselves. Jack is the kind of man who is decisive and fair—he may be intense on the ice, but never with the people he loves. Although he’s a towering figure, he’s not the classic alpha male, and I loved following this kind of MMC. He isn’t perfect and has his own dilemmas, traumas, and moments of insecurity, but he’s easy to empathize with, and his caring nature feels genuine. Mia, on the other hand, is an FMC who isn’t just beautiful—she has a dream, works toward it, and isn’t included in the story just to fill the “female lead” role.

What I didn’t like about her, though, was her indecisiveness when it came to her ex-boyfriend. There were plenty of situations where she didn’t act like an adult. Her naivety went to extremes at times, and that made me dock a star from the story because otherwise, it would have easily been a five-star read.

The chemistry between the two is palpable, and their relationship develops realistically. There are no dramatic scenes included just to shock the reader—it’s a light romance, free of exaggerated violence or extreme miscommunication, with complex characters far from being clichés. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series, which will follow Jack’s best friend or brother.