Review Detail
Young Adult Fiction
134
Easy YA Read
(Updated: June 26, 2026)
Overall rating
3.7
Plot
4.0
Characters
3.0
Writing Style
4.0
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
N/A
Heart Check is a cute hockey romance and I just love a good hockey romance and bonus points for everything Michigan in this book.
I have mixed feelings about the plot. Told in dual POV, you get a lot more detail and obviously perspective of what is going on. It was entertaining and believable most times, even after the big reveal, even if I feel like the embezzlement scandal was glossed over too much.
However, the romance part could have had more.. substance? There just wasn't a lot of build up for it, in my opinion. The enemies to lovers trope was great, Harper and Dawson [Luke] were enemies of a sort. I'm glad that they both realized that they were sort of dumb and judgmental for harboring this resentment and anger towards each other without knowing who the other person was, based off of a miscommunication and misunderstandings.
Being a YA read, I expected some cussing and innuendos, but thought that maybe there were too many "f-bombs." Other than that, it was a clean romance.
I started off disliking Harper, the FMC. She just seemed to always rag on the sports steams, more specifically the hockey team. I totally get the things she was trying to do and the way she felt.. mostly. Coming from a place where the football team had more funding than almost everything else and they cut funding to the arts, I get where she is coming from. I just felt like her animosity towards the players themselves was uncalled for. I did like her character growth, once she got over her issues and opened up to others, Harper was a lot more likeable.
Dawson was a decent MMC. He was very sweet, even for being a jock. He didn't act like the typical jock in most YA novels, but 100% spoke hockey. I loved that, it isn't something you see very often. Actually, the author did a fantastic job with all the hockey elements.
The side characters, while not totally supporting characters were great in my opinion. Especially Dawson's friends, Alex and Ryan. They were a hoot.
The ending was well done and overall it was a good book. I look forward to the next book her Charlotte's Varsity series.
Content Warnings
Mild violence between players
Some Swearing
I have mixed feelings about the plot. Told in dual POV, you get a lot more detail and obviously perspective of what is going on. It was entertaining and believable most times, even after the big reveal, even if I feel like the embezzlement scandal was glossed over too much.
However, the romance part could have had more.. substance? There just wasn't a lot of build up for it, in my opinion. The enemies to lovers trope was great, Harper and Dawson [Luke] were enemies of a sort. I'm glad that they both realized that they were sort of dumb and judgmental for harboring this resentment and anger towards each other without knowing who the other person was, based off of a miscommunication and misunderstandings.
Being a YA read, I expected some cussing and innuendos, but thought that maybe there were too many "f-bombs." Other than that, it was a clean romance.
I started off disliking Harper, the FMC. She just seemed to always rag on the sports steams, more specifically the hockey team. I totally get the things she was trying to do and the way she felt.. mostly. Coming from a place where the football team had more funding than almost everything else and they cut funding to the arts, I get where she is coming from. I just felt like her animosity towards the players themselves was uncalled for. I did like her character growth, once she got over her issues and opened up to others, Harper was a lot more likeable.
Dawson was a decent MMC. He was very sweet, even for being a jock. He didn't act like the typical jock in most YA novels, but 100% spoke hockey. I loved that, it isn't something you see very often. Actually, the author did a fantastic job with all the hockey elements.
The side characters, while not totally supporting characters were great in my opinion. Especially Dawson's friends, Alex and Ryan. They were a hoot.
The ending was well done and overall it was a good book. I look forward to the next book her Charlotte's Varsity series.
Content Warnings
Mild violence between players
Some Swearing
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