Christina (A Reader of Fictions)'s Reviews > Pipe Dreams

Rounds out the series really well, I think, with another story that's sweet and emotional, without the edginess that you might expect from hockey romances.

Pipe Dreams is a second chance romance, and mostly it worked for me. Due to his ex-wife's cancer and its impact on his daughter, Mike Beacon ghosted on the love of his life, his girlfriend Lauren, breaking her heart. While I do understand and sympathize with his decision, I did struggle a little bit with believability here. I can see why he didn't want to be talked out of what he'd planned, but ghosting is such a shitty thing to do. I also don't know why it took him a year to talk to Lauren again after his wife passed.

Setting that aside, they're a pretty good couple. Admittedly, this isn't as much my sort of romance, because Lauren's very eager to have a baby, and that's never my jam. But they're on the same page, so that's nice. I did actually like Mike's daughter, Elsa, and their nanny/violin teacher Hans (I wish he'd been more present).

If you like the tropes of second chance romance and pregnancy, I'd definitely recommend this one. They're not optimal for me, but Bowen writes such great books that I generally like them even when they're less my thing, as is the case here.