Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️
There are certain truths about Meghan Quinn’s brand of storytelling that are self-evident:
- She writes the heck out of an ensemble romance or series of standalones, world-building like no other.
- She can make you chuckle and tear up in equal measure in the space of one book.
- She inhabits various sports romances seamlessly.
- She writes romances that, while fictional, feel real to the reader.
When you enter her newest story, Kiss and Don’t Tell, all of these truths are glaringly apparent. Page after page, you fall deeply for her hero, Pacey (no…not that Dawson’s Pacey), and her heroine, Winnie. But even more, you start to fall for Pacey’s fellow hockey player friends, Taters, Posey, Hornsby, and Holmes. In fact, this reader was ECSTATIC because Quinn’s flex is her capacity to reel you into her worlds of romance, and she makes it clear that stories are coming for Pacey’s friends. Even more, his friends are responsible for the levity of Pacey and Winnie’s story. While these two have a perfect mix of hilarity and seriousness, Pacey’s friends act as comic relief and wizened sages throughout Quinn’s book. In fact, my favorite moment comes when Pacey must earn back Winnie’s trust. Like a Rocky training montage, Pacey and his friends make a plan to win her back. I found myself chuckling out loud at their antics and banter.
Like Pacey and his friends, Winnie has friends who are over the top fun. Let me say…Winnie’s friend, Katherine, steals any scene you find her in. She is ridiculous in her protectiveness, but her characterization ameliorates the severity of Winnie’s story. When the story gets too serious, you can count on Max and Katherine, just like Pacey’s crew, to bring wisdom or comedy to the situation.
Pacey and Winnie’s story is equal parts steamy (oh boy…these two are dirty. There is a scene in the shower that will fog your glasses), sweet (while Pacey is a pro hockey player, he is far from a player, and his interest in Winnie will make you swoon), and sensitive (insta-love looks good until it doesn’t, and Pacey and Winnie’s path isn’t easy). By the end of the story, honestly, you’ll want more of Meghan Quinn’s world in Kiss and Don’t Tell. Having read Quinn’s baseball and football players, I had an inkling that she could also write the heck out of a hockey romance; and she did not disappoint. Instead, I’m rabid for more of Taters, Hornsby, Posey, and Holmes. Meghan Quinn makes you love her as she causes her heroes and heroines to steal your heart.
In love and romance,
Professor A
Professor Romance 