Book Review: Playing Hurt by Holly Schindler

Summary: Chelsea Keyes was everything: star basketball player and girlfriend of the most sought-after guy in school. But after a bad fall during a game forces Chelsea to get a metal plate in her hip, her dreams go down the drain. As a graduation present, Chelsea's dad brings the family to a lake resort for 3-weeks, signing Chelsea up for training lesson to get herself in shape. At the resort, she meets her trainer for the summer, 19-year-old ex-hockey player named Clint, who is haunted by his own troubled past. Once they meet, Chelsea can't stop thinking about Clint and how she reacts to him, in-turn forgetting about her shattered life at home. Can Clint be the key to fixing her broken down life, or is she the key to fixing his? 


Review: Wow. When I picked up this book to read, I was expecting some light, summer romance that was sweet, but cliche. What I actually got was an emotional, hot and heavy passion that was definitely NOT cliche. The book started off kinda slow, but once Chelsea and Clint actually met, I couldn't put the book down. Holly Schindler is an excellent writer and I really enjoyed how descriptive she was with the emotions of the characters. I loved the instant chemistry between them and the undeniable attraction that they both tried to push away because of their shattered pasts. What I also liked was how both of them were emotionally broken when they met, from Clint's girlfriend dying and giving up hockey to Chelsea's hip shattering and ruining her soon-to-be-successful basketball career. They were able to really understand each other and help each other face their failures. The one part I didn't really like about the book is the ending, because it just sort of ends, with no huge events or anything. But for the rest of the book, I found myself immersed in their story, yearning to find out what would happen next in the steamy romance between Clint and Chelsea.