Review of "Shutout"

2nd book of July complete, a 5-star read with lots of typos. Let’s get into my 22nd read of the year!!

Shutout by Avery Keelan is yet another hockey romance book I’ve had on my shelf for a year, and I’m so mad I didn’t get to it sooner!!! I absolutely loved this book and loved her writing. It follows Seraphina and Tyler, who are now roommates after she moved to go to college at Boyd and needed a temporary place to live. She moved in with her brother, Chase, and their friend and teammate Dallas, but the twist is…they’ve met! Even more so, they’ve hooked up on Halloween night at a bar the last time she visited. 

This of course calls for lots of tension due to forced proximity, and the fact that Chase has demanded that Tyler don’t fraternize/mess around with/date Sera. So, this leads to them sneaking around and making it even more fun and exciting.

I absolutely loved how organic their love felt, like yeah, they agree to be friends with benefits and have a little fun, but it’s very obvious from the start that Tyler has truly fallen for her. We learn that he hasn’t slept with anyone since their little encounter, I mean, it was the same for her. But him being so DOWN BAD that she’s ruined him for anyone else? A microtrope I will eat up every time. And then him telling her “don’t tell me to come unless you want it to happen immediately” WELL SHIT ALRIGHT THEN.

I also was so happy with the representation of ADHD and real emotions when it comes to certain things. This book dealt with a lot heavier stuff than I was expecting, but it was done so well. Her being positive for the BRCA-1 was a huge twist that shattered my heart. And then Tyler stepping up and assuring her that she’s not going to be alone, helping her the day she found out, caring for her in such a tender and soft way had my heart in pieces. Earlier in the book, we saw that she was worried about her future partner leaving her upon this sort of diagnosis, and to see Tyler be the complete opposite, going as far as going to the appointment with her and taking notes was the best case scenario for her.

I hate to make such a twist from ending on that note to this, but can we talk about the fact that Tyler is PIERCED???? I was definitely not ready for that and it was doing something to me. I just wish it was brought up and focused on more than it was, I felt like it was an after thought and wasn’t really brought up during their spicy scenes. OH AND I FORGOT ABOUT THE SCRATCH MARK SCENE god I LOVED that!!!

Even though this is a five star read for me, it did have some downsides. For one, the typos. I get it’s not always possible to catch them, and from my understanding with a quick Google search, this book was self-published. But they really took me out. At one point, Hades is spelled without the S, if I remember correctly, but the worst one of them all in my opinion…, “spearing a potato with his work” when it’s supposed to be fork. I had to look back at least 3 times to make sure that I didn’t skip any pages.

Another thing that took me out was the real brand names being used. At some point, it felt like an ad for each of them. Amazon, EnduraFuel, OpenTable. Like, I get the realism and whatnot, but if we’re going for a fiction story, can we at least get fake brands?? It felt so much like a paid ad in a TV show, it threw me off every time.

All in all, this was such a fun yet heartfelt read (although I will admit I skipped the last few bonus chapters because starting a chapter off with “my boobs are leaking” is a sure fire way to get me to shut the book). I would absolutely read this again and now I can’t wait to read more from Avery! Below is my overall dating.