Blog Tour: Unsportsmanlike Conduct by Sophia Henry

Discover why Kelly Jamieson calls the Pilots Hockey series 

“fun and flirty, warm and sweet.”

UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT

Pilots Hockey #4

Sophia Henry

Releasing Oct 18th, 2016

Flirt

The author of Delayed Penalty returns with the story of a free spirit who believes she’s found forever with a playboy on a singles cruise. Discover why Kelly Jamieson calls the Pilots Hockey series “fun and flirty, warm and sweet.” 

Kristen Katsaros wants a life full of adventure and laughter. After a difficult childhood, her motto is to live each day like it’s her last—because it just might be. So when Kristen’s parents send her on a post-grad singles cruise in the Caribbean to meet a Greek husband, she promptly hooks up with the hottest guy she’s ever met. Pasha’s decidedly not Greek, but Kristen gives him a pass because he’s got fun written all over his rock-hard abs.

Pavel Gribov, the cocky playboy of the Detroit Pilots hockey team, can score any girl he wants. But when a teammate drags him on a singles cruise, he can’t resist the chance to help out a drop-dead gorgeous damsel in distress by pretending to be her boyfriend. Before long, the fake fling turns intimate, fueled by something much deeper than lust.

Kristen and Pasha both agree to walk away once the cruise is over, but reality hits like a slap shot when Kristen finds out Pasha lied about everything. Just when she’s ready to start living again, the two stubborn survivors must decide if they can bear to lose the best thing that ever happened to either of them.

BUY NOW

Amazon | B & N | Google | iTunes | Kobo

“So, what’s your story?” I asked.

“My story?” He lowered his head and gazed at me over his sunglasses.

My heart flittered fast, waiting for him to tell me to move or ask why I had chosen to sit next to him, given all the open seats surrounding the pool. But he didn’t.

Had I really chosen this spot because these were the only three empty chairs next to each other? I could have dragged another lounger next to two others.

“You’re not Greek. I can tell that by your accent.” Under the ruse of trying to figure him out, I twisted my torso and leaned toward his chair. Subconsciously I relished the opportunity to study his features more closely. “So you can’t be one of the Detroit-area Greek singles I’m supposed to be hanging out with.”

“I am. I came here with a friend.”

“Who’s your friend?” I asked, tucking my hair behind my ears.

“Blake Panikos.”

I didn’t recognize that name. And after spending the majority of my life around people in the Greek Orthodox community, I pretty much knew anyone close to my age, whether we went to the same church or not.

“How do you know Blake?” I settled back into the lounge chair, flicking back a corner of the towel that had fallen onto my shoulder.

Adonis’s lip curled into a smirk. “Panikos worked with me when I lived in Detroit.”

“Where do you live now?”

“North Carolina.”

“Really?” I sat up. “My best friend just moved to Charlotte.”

“Charlotte. That is where I live.”

“What a small world. She lives downtown, in the Avenue condos.” I paused to correct myself. “Well, I guess you guys call it uptown instead of downtown.”

“Why did she move to Charlotte? Did she get a job there?” Adonis leaned sideways and picked up a plastic cup from the ground next to his chair. He took a sip of his drink.

“No. She moved in with her fiancé. He’s a hockey player.”

Adonis didn’t respond, but he choked on his drink and diverted his eyes toward the pool.

“His name’s Aleksandr Varenkov,” I added. “Do you know him?”

“No,” he answered quickly, and adjusted his aviator sunglasses, which had slid down his nose. “I never heard of him. Maybe if I saw him, I’d know his face.”

“If the Internet worked here, I’d show you a picture on my phone.”

“The ship has Internet,” Adonis corrected me.

“Yeah, but I can’t afford the hundred dollars a minute they charge to access it.” A hundred dollars a minute was only a slight exaggeration—the ship charged enough that I didn’t feel the need to waste my money. I’d wait until we docked somewhere with a restaurant or a bar that offered free Wi-Fi. “So what do you do?”

His gaze veered from my lips to my eyes before he answered. “I am a Pilot.”

“Really? So you’re always traveling, eh? Do you love it?” I reached over and grabbed my water bottle off the tiny table next to my lounge chair.

“I like to fly. To travel. It is, um, a good job for me.” Adonis took another swig from his drink, something clear with a cluster of crushed ice floating in it. “Where do you work?”

I leaned back in the chair and bent my knees slightly—perfect position to soak up the sizzling sunshine. “I’m the assistant to one of the owners of Motor City Bar Management. It’s a company that owns a group of bars around Detroit. I coordinate all the volunteers and employees for events that our bars host or sponsor.” I finished my water and set the empty bottle on the table.

“What kind of events?”

“Concerts. Bar crawls. Promotional events before games,” I said, rattling off a few of the things I’d helped plan recently.

“Wonder if I’ve seen you around,” he said. “I go to a lot of concerts.”

“Probably not,” I said. “I just started two months ago. Before that I was at Central State.”

Adonis’s eyes darted toward something behind me. “You like the party life?”

“Sure. It’s fun right now while I’m young.” I wiggled my toes, watching the pink glitter polish sparkle in the sunlight. “My goal is to learn the ropes of event planning, then turn it into something more professional in a few years when I don’t want to be immersed in the bar scene anymore.”

Suddenly he sat up and swung his legs over the side of the chair, planting them on the ground facing me. Then he leaned close, his face inches from mine.

Was he going to kiss me?

My heart hammered, excited and eager to accept a kiss from this stranger. I licked my lips and closed my eyes. But instead of feeling his mouth on mine, I felt his breath against my face.

“The guy you are trying to avoid is behind you,” he said.

My eyes flickered open. “Huh?”

“The guy you ran from.” Adonis nodded. “He is behind you now.” He leaned back, resuming his original lazy, reclined position. Then he tilted his cup and drained his drink.

How did this guy already have my heart pounding and my mind begging for his lips on mine? I figured the salty ocean air must be permeating my brain and breaking down my common sense.

Unsportsmanlike Conduct is book 4 in the Pilots Hockey series, and just like previous books, it brings us a super HOT hockey playing hero who finds himself unexpectedly getting involved. 

The book starts us out on a singles cruise, which was a perfect start to this book, because it sort of gives off this fun, flirty charge.  Then we get to know our two main characters, Kristen and Pasha (Pavel), and we know that this cruise is anything but the norm.  

Kristen is on the cruise because her parents spent the money and insisted on it, with their own agenda of course, but she doesn't plan to have the cruise be what they wanted it to be.  Kristen's got her own agenda, to live each day to the fullest and be who she wants to be.  She's got reasons to want some fun and I loved her personality so much.  She's a strong character, fighting for her health, fighting for control over her life and future, and mostly just being allowing to live like a normal person.  I love that she comes off sort of as a take things as they are person, she handles what life throws at her with grace.  

Pasha is a fun character, he's on the cruise with a friend and though he doesn't really plan to start a relationship, he's game for some fun with the singles on board. He's strong and knows what he wants. I loved how he had an internal battle with himself because he knew who Kristen was peripherally due to knowing her best friend - BUT he also knew that if she knew who he was she might back away and he wanted her to get to know the real him, the Present him.   There's something about her that calls to him and though he can't really explain it, he wants to get to know her and have some fun with her on the cruise. 

I loved the journey this story took us on, how these two were both holding in parts of themselves with each other, but they couldn't prevent the closeness that was happening.  I loved the lightness the single cruise added to the more serious aspects of their story.  I loved the connection these two made, and how it affected them, how they really needed to be honest and lay it all on the line so to speak. I enjoyed watching the push and pull and how it all came together in the end and He laid his heart out there for Kristen. 

The story was different and fresh, providing humor at times, and deeper feelings as well.  There was a lot of times I was frustrated and wanted to string them both up and say give up the secrets, tell the truth, just do it, but then I also enjoyed the bit of angst that secret keeping brings.  Though I knew it would all come to a head, it was exciting to watch it all unfold, to see these two come to realize what they had found and what they had done by not being open from the get go.  

Sophia Henry, a proud Detroit native, fell in love with reading, writing, and hockey all before she became a teenager. She did not, however, fall in love with snow. So after graduating with a BS in English from Central Michigan University, she moved to the warmth of North Carolina for the remainder of her winters.

She spends her days writing books featuring hot, hockey-playing heroes. When she’s not writing, she’s chasing her two high-energy sons, watching her beloved Detroit Red Wings and rocking out at concerts with her husband.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads  

a Rafflecopter giveaway