This week’s Wednesday Reads is another Kindle Unlimited book! Woo-hoo! And it’s by an author who has LOADS of books in KU. I know, the news just keeps getting better and better!

Crossing Center Ice is the first book I’ve ever read from Kimberly Rae Jordan’s long list of books. The premise of the story seems simple at first – Kenton is an NHL player recovering from a pretty serious injury, trying to get back to the ice after surgery, and Avery is a physical therapist who takes him on as a client. What makes the story work is Avery’s very complicated backstory with her ex-husband, an ex-NFL player who is in jail for mysterious reasons, and her son, who she has been raising on her own. As the relationship between Kenton and Avery begins, she’s very determined to keep it professional because of her past and her hurts. As they begin to trust one another over time, it’s clear to see that she feels something for Kenton. But he makes one mistake that sends her back to her past, it all comes out in dramatic fashion, and for a while, it looks like the love story is done. But it’s never done with romance novels! The story does continue on from there, the issues are resolved, and… well, you’ll need to read it yourself.

I thought Avery was a very well done character with many layers and a whole lot of depth. Though we weren’t told her whole story from the get-go, there were enough details that made it possible for it to be pieced together. And while I felt the love story dragged a little, Avery’s past made her reluctance to be all in with Kenton  understandable. That said, I really, really should have started with the first book in this series because even at the end, I still wasn’t sure who everyone was and how they were all related. At one point, I just started kind of ignoring the siblings (lol!), telling them that I had to focus on this story and that I’d get to them later. I also had to do that for some of the details about the physical therapy. (After only half of the book, I was pretty confident that I could pass the boards to become a physical therapist myself. Wow – this author did her research! Either that or she’s a physical therapist who moonlights as a romance novelist. Which would make for an interesting story in and of itself, y’all!)

I would definitely recommend more books by this author!