Dirty Deal by Mira Lyn Kelly

I love a hockey romance and was excited when we got the release date for Dirty Deal.  I wasn’t sure how Mira Lyn Kelly was going to top Wade and Harlow.  And in a way she didn’t.  Axel and Nora are two people who had an instant connection when they first met, but moments happened, and things didn’t move forward in a way that Axel wanted them to. 

What follows, is him being unable to cope with these unknown feelings for his neighbor and acts like a kid on the playground doing things to get her attention, but they aren’t always in the best ways.  Nora is known as the “fun wrecker” by Axel’s teammates because she doesn’t like living next door to the chaos that they sometimes bring.  There are miscommunications and misconceptions that Axel hasn’t cleared up and isn’t really willing to clear up because of this idea of his that he has to “pull her pigtails” to get her to notice him.

When life throws a wrench in both of their plans, and each of them have huge changes thrown at them unwillingly is when they truly start to see the truth and reality behind the person.  I didn’t love this story because of the way in which the two of them interacted and the frustration behind Axels’ behaviors.  There is a lot of growth in the characters both apart and together.  This secret baby was done well in the sense that Axel is all in once he finds out, and while the baby is a huge part of the storyline, he doesn’t overtake the story.  I really enjoy the fact that these two characters do lot of self-discoveries along with way, but the story just fell a little flat for me.  I am excited to see more Slayers Hockey in the future.