Dirty Deal by Mira Lyn Kelly

Dirty Deal by Mira Lyn Kelly
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

I’m not exactly “Daddy” material…

Fatherhood blindsided me.

There I am, working to get a rise out of my cranky little rule-following, fun-wrecking, soon-to-be ex-neighbor when my one-night stand from last season shows up… in labor.

Next thing, I’m a single-dad begging for a crash course in caring for this tiny miracle from the neighbor who loves to hate me.

Turns out, Nora raised half her siblings.

She knows things.

And I know my son needs her.

Unfortunately, she’s not impressed by my NHL career, my legendary charm, or the rumors surrounding the size of my stick (all true btw).

But I’m not trying to impress her. Not anymore. I can’t.

I’m asking her to help me out, because my son deserves better than some player who hasn’t even had a chance to read the manual yet.

Which means no matter how hot I find her spitfire mouth and those rules she doesn’t break… Nora is off-limits.

Axel is a star player on the Slayers Ice Hockey team and loves his carefree life. Until the day a one night stand from the previous season literally goes into labor on his front doorstep and Axel’s life is turned upside down. With a brand new son and zero knowledge, Axel turns to his neighbor Nora in desperation. The situation is far from idea for them both – but with tiny baby Otto acting as the glue, can these two find a way forwards?

Having never read anything previously by this author I was a little uncertain whether it would enjoy this first-for-me ice hockey romance novel. I was pleased that while Axel’s work on the hockey team has a good amount of time in the book – the sport and team itself doesn’t overshadow either the plot of Axel as a new father nor of the slow blossoming romance between Axel and Nora. I really felt the author did a good job with both the pacing and layout of the plot here and this made the book really enjoyable to me.

I found this book to be modern and somewhat light. I could easily see myself reading plenty more of them with a fun drink and a long weekend ahead of me. These are the story of steamy romance books where the relationship builds and grows at a logical, realistic and enjoyable slow pace and then finally culminates in a wonderful spicy series of sparks. More than the romance though I found this to be a strongly emotional and supportive book. Both Axel and Nora have their baggage and drama, and each have their own hang-ups and issues. Neither are perfect and I found them both so much more engaging and relatable because of this.

If you’re wanting an emotional and heartwarming slow build for a romance book, one with an adorable newborn baby front and center and a fun set of secondary characters in the side lines this is absolutely an excellent book. While it’s mid-way through the series I haven’t read anything previous to this and found it easily pick upable and I had no problems following along and I got strongly invested in Otto, Axel and Nora. A wonderful book and a great read. I’ll be looking into more of these.