{"id":72229,"date":"2023-11-07T08:00:44","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T13:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=72229"},"modified":"2023-11-07T06:04:02","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T11:04:02","slug":"release-arc-review-waiting-to-win-lake-spark-off-season-2-by-evey-lyon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=72229","title":{"rendered":"Release & ARC Review: Waiting to Win (Lake Spark Off-Season #2) by Evey Lyon"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Waiting to Win by Evey Lyon is live!<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Oh, I love this book! A fun, flirty, beautifully romantic story with childhood frenemies, a cocky hockey player, unrequited love, a fake marriage and an absolutely gorgeous love story.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Apple Books<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 B&N<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Books2Read<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Special Edition Paperback<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n

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Blurb<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Connor Spears is hockey royalty who most definitely never planned to accidentally marry his childhood irritation Hadley Crews.<\/b><\/p>\n

Connor is smug, grew up destined for his hockey career, and he\u2019s irritatingly good-looking. He was also my next-door neighbor growing up. He wouldn\u2019t give me the time of day and made it clear he would never be friends with me, the ballerina and daughter of a baseball legend. Except for that one time. Years later, one hazy night, and now he\u2019s apparently my husband according to the paper next to his bed in a Vegas hotel room. You would think we would have it annulled, but he needs to clean up his image, and I\u2019m a sucker for his occasional glances.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, we agree to stay married.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rumor spreads fast in Lake Spark, and the responses of our parents, who are best friends, well, uh\u2026 they\u2019re mixed. But the problem with marrying for convenience is that you discover secrets about each other. You learn things too, like how he is by far more protective of you than you thought, or how sharing a bed brings out his dominant side. The thing is, it turns out that I may mean more to Connor than he\u2019ll ever admit. When life throws me another twist, I need a real husband to support me. And it turns out that Connor may have always been offside, waiting to win\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

Connor and Hadley bring heartwarming steam to this marriage-of-convenience romance with a hint of enemies-to-lovers and a dash of unrequited love. Waiting to Win can be read as a complete standalone and is the second book in the interconnected Lake Spark Off-Season series which is a spin-off of the Lake Spark series that includes their parents\u2019 stories. For lovers of small-town romance with a touch of hockey.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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Add to Goodreads<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Review<\/b><\/h4>\n

4.5 stars<\/b><\/p>\n

Oh, I love this book! A fun, flirty, beautifully romantic story with childhood frenemies, a cocky hockey player, unrequited love, a fake marriage and an absolutely gorgeous love story. It\u2019s a second generation from Evey Lyon\u2019s Lake Spark<\/i> series, but can easily standalone, and it\u2019s such a great read!<\/p>\n

Hadley and Connor were introduced as children in the Lake Spark<\/i> series. Hadley is Spencer\u2019s daughter (from Worth the Chance<\/a>) and Connor is Ford and Brielle\u2019s son (from Worth the Wait<\/a>). They grew up next to each other, and Hadley crushed on Connor for pretty much her entire life. Connor was well aware of her crush, and either teased or outright dismissed Hadley, and their relationship is now pure snark, in each other\u2019s lives only because they are neighbors and their parents are best friends.<\/p>\n

Everything changes when they go away to Vegas for an overnight trip with mutual friends and after a drunken night out, they wake up married. Already treading on thin ice due to his party boy reputation, Connor proposes that they stay married until things settle down, and then they\u2019ll go their separate ways. Hadley is curious enough to agree. So back home to Lake Spark they go, declaring their \u2018love\u2019 to their parents, moving in together and pretending to be husband and wife.<\/p>\n

But from the very beginning, their situation is complicated by their complex feelings for each other. While Hadley has always worn her heart on her sleeve, Connor has been more closed off and hasn\u2019t shown the feelings he\u2019s been secretly been harboring. Their past is a murky, but seeing Connor\u2019s fierce protectiveness and the care he takes with Hadley, you can see that there is something more<\/i> there.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not just anyone. You were always going to be more than something to me.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It doesn\u2019t take long before the sexual tension becomes irresistible, and everything sort of snowballs from there. It\u2019s passionate and intense, full of chemistry, and so, so hot. And though they maintain their bickering and bantering, there\u2019s an easy comfort between them, and the change in their dynamic is so much fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cI swear the only reason I\u2019m here is because orgasms are essential for living and tequila made you my husband.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Their emotional connection develops slowly and naturally. They build a friendship, and start to trust in each other, and the change between them is so easy. Their feelings for each other effortlessly deepen, and they just allow it to happen, talking, opening up to each other and following their hearts, and I loved watching it happen! The love between them was always there, watching them come together and embrace it so openly stole my heart!<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been waiting for you, you\u2019re my end game.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The parents are a fun addition to the story. They all knew there was something between Hadley and Connor, but none of them were expecting it to unfold the way it did, and their reactions are so freaking funny.<\/p>\n

\u201cI warned you that your hockey-playing son should stay away from my little girl,\u201d he seethes to his friend.
\nFord rolls his eyes. \u201cYeah, when they were teenagers! They are legal adults now who drink and know how to sign their name on a marriage certificate. We need to focus on the now. They\u2019re married.\u201d
\n\u201cYeah, and your son didn\u2019t have the respect to speak to me before he made my daughter his bride!\u201d My father is furious.
\n\u201cI would have. It\u2019s just\u2026passion and love caught us in a moment,\u201d Connor explains.
\nMy dad rubs his temples. \u201cDo. Not. Speak of passion and my daughter to me. If it weren\u2019t for the fact that you are Ford\u2019s son, then I swear I would kill you right now.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s a fun and romantic story, and a great addition to the series, and I loved this story so much.<\/p>\n

4.5 stars.<\/p>\n

An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.<\/i><\/p>\n

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Lake Spark Off-Season<\/strong><\/h4>\n

This is a spin-off of the Lake Spark<\/a> series<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Waiting to Score (#1)<\/strong> (Declan & Violet)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

Waiting to Win (#2)<\/strong> (Connor & Hadley)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

Waiting to Play (#3) <\/strong>(Vaughn & Isla)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

See the spin-off series Lake Spark Inn<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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About Evey Lyon<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Evey loves to write heartwarming feel-good romance that may just make you blush. The pages of her books are filled with swoon, wit, and steamy moments. An American from the Midwest, she now lives in Europe where she drinks way too much coffee, types away on a laptop with music on repeat, and stares at her yoga mat that she should probably use\u00a0again\u2026<\/p>\n

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Facebook Group<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Facebook Page<\/a>\u00a0 | \u00a0Instagram\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0| \u00a0Amazon\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Bookbub<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Goodreads<\/a>\u00a0 | \u00a0Website<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0TikTok<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Newsletter<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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  Waiting to Win by Evey Lyon is live! Oh, I love this book! A fun, flirty, beautifully romantic story with childhood frenemies, a cocky hockey player, unrequited love, a fake marriage and an absolutely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70832,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":4.5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[86,1132,9,58,29],"tags":[59,1423,1505,48],"class_list":["post-72229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-enemies-to-lovers","category-fake-relationship","category-romance","category-sports-star","category-steamy","tag-arc","tag-evey-lyon","tag-lake-spark-off-season","tag-review"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Waiting-to-Win.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-iMZ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=72229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/70832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=72229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=72229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=72229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}