‘Dump & Chase’ by Toni Aleo

If you are following my blog you know that I am a huge Toni Aleo fan. I love all her books and I read each one of more than once. I think my least re-read is twice. As for Assassins series, for me it is the BEST hockey series ever. But now her ‘Ice Cats’ and ‘Nashville Assassins: The Next Generation’ series are fighting for the spot. But with her this seems soooo normal because for me with each of her books, you are debating and keep changing your favorite hero and heroine 🙂 ‘Dump & Chase’ is the first book of Toni Aleo’s brand new series ‘Nashville Assassins: The Next Generation’, which is Assassins’ spin off series. When I first heard about this book, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. I was super excited and the moment I received it, I start reading it right away and me being me I couldn’t put it down until I was done with it. Soooo thank you so much Toni Aleo for a sleepless night but it was so worth it. After finishing the book, I couldn’t stop myself and went back and re-read the whole Assassins series because I realized how much I missed the gang. I think deep down I was just postponing writing this review because I wasn’t sure if I could write a review that would be enough to convey my feelings and make justice to the book. So here goes nothing, let’s get to the good and exciting stuff.

If you read the Assassins series our hero and heroine is familiar to you guys. This book is about Shelli Grace Adler, who is Shea and Elli’s daughter and Aiden James Brooks, who is Lucas and Fallon’s son. Shelli and Aiden known each other their entire lives and Shelli had a crush on Aiden since childhood. Aiden never new about this and never really paid much attention to her. Just like his father, Aiden is a successful NHL player. He plays for Rangers in NY. He is an amazing guy. He is responsible, loyal, and respectful and of course he is super hot. His biggest flaw is his commitment issue. I will come back to this shortly but first let me introduce you guys our sassy, strong and beautiful heroine Shelli. Since childhood being a Broadway star was Shelli’s dream and now she is living her dream but she is not sure if the life style is for her. So she decides to leave it all behind and go back home to Nashville. But the night before her departure, she gets invited to one of Aiden’s infamous parties. Even though timing is not ideal, it is not something Shelli will pass.  The moment Shelli gets to the party and makes an eye contact with Aiden, Aiden is on to her. Their chemistry is off the charts and they shared the most passionate night of their lives. There are two things Aiden doesn’t expect to happen next morning. One he doesn’t want to let go of Shelli, aka Angel, he spend an amazing night with but Shelli gets up and basically runs out of his apartment and then he receives a call that makes his life long dream come true. Since he started playing hockey, his dream was to play for Assassins and now his time has come. He is off to his hometown. He is excited to be with his family and finally play for Assassins but he cannot let go of the Angel, he spent the night with. Wooohoooo Nashville is about to get hotter!!!

I loved what a strong woman character, Toni Aleo created. Just like her momma Shelli is strong. She knows her worth and she doesn’t settle less then what she deserves. She wants Aiden but his commitment issue keeps breaking Shelli’s heart. Even though, Aiden wants Shelli and cannot let her go, he doesn’t do love or relationships. After seeing the damage love caused to his mom, the pain she had to endure, he never wants to go through something similar. That is why he doesn’t want to be in love or in a relationship and his career always the priority. It was amazing to see his relationship with his family but his confrontation with Fallon and Lucas regarding his commitment issue was heartbreaking which brought tears to my eyes. It takes Aiden a while to realize Shelli’s importance in his life and let go of his fears. Unfortunately, his wake up call is when Shelli dumps him. How he gets her back? What is his swoony gesture? You need to grab your own copy to learn about those 🙂

Let me take a second and go back to the origin 🙂 Assassins are more than a hockey team; they’re a close-knit family. I love how amazing Toni portrays family and it is not only in this book. In all her books family values and importance of family is always there. I LOVE IT!!! Also it was amazing to seeing all my favorites again, Shea Adler, Lucas Brooks, Phillip Anderson, Erik Titov, Karson King, Jordie Thomas and all my favorite hotties are over forty. Late forties!!! Say what!!! OMG! Kill me now!! Also, Jayden Sinclair, Markus Reeves, Jensen Moore, Vaughn Johansson and Benji Paxton were in the book as well but since they’re still playing I am assuming they are not old enough to be grandpas just yet 🙂 Since there are so many kids on the original series, I cannot wait to read more from the Next Generation, if we only consider rest of the Adler & Brooks clans that make 7 books. YEAY!!!

Back to the main topic: ‘Dump & Chase’. There were so many amazing moments through the story that made me laugh, swoon, get pissed and brought tears to my eyes. Literally I felt all the emotions at one point or another. If you are an Assassins fan, this book is an auto-buy for you guys. If you are new to Toni Aleo but enjoy sports romance give it a try, you won’t be disappointed. And no worries, this can easily be read as a stand-alone but I highly recommend you to read the original series as well.

P.S. I really want to read Nico Merryweather, Wesley McMillian and Boon Hoenes stories as well.

• Would I recommend this book: Yes.
• Would I re-read this book: Already did 🙂
• Would I read future books by this author: Yes.

Are you guys curious how Shelli and Aiden’s parents fell in love? Check out my reviews for Shea & Elli’s story – ‘Taking Shots‘ and Lucas & Fallon’s story – ‘Trying to Score‘.

I reviewed all the Assassins series so if you are curious about one check them out!!!

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e-ARC kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.