Pucking Strong

Jacksonville Rays, Book 4

De: Emily Rath

Narrado por: Diontae Black, Tor Thom

My name is Teddy O'Connor, and I just made a terrible mistake. It's been six years since I was an intern for the Jacksonville Rays NHL team. And it's been six long years since I first met him. Henrik Karlsson, star forward of the Rays...and king of my heart.

I'm a doctor now, a respected professional in my field. And Henrik doesn't even know I exist. So, you tell me why I'm risking everything to follow this man halfway around the world!

After receiving news of his sister's tragic death, Henrik must fly to Sweden to retrieve his young niece. She's injured and grieving, but a new hockey season is about to start. Henrik can't possibly care for her alone. In fact, the Swedish government won't let him. I'd be heartless not to help...right?

Well, that's what I told myself last week as I signed our Swedish marriage license. And it's what I'm telling myself now as the Rays PR Director stares us down. They want this marriage to look real. The team's public image, our jobs, and his niece's custody agreement all depend on it.

But my problem isn't that I don't love my new fake husband. God help me, my problem is that I do.

Contains mature themes.

©2025 Emily Rath Books (P)2025 Tantor Media

Another great story for the team

I enjoyed this listen. First time I’ve pre ordered an audio book. The accents do take a little getting used to but I felt like the cadence and nature of it fit the character well overall. It was interesting to have the romance developed in a different way than would generally be expected as well. Hoping too there may have been a little tease at the potential for another story in this amazing setting.

Love the story, love the narration

This book is a new 6 star read for me. My gosh, the love story is just so beautiful. Teddy’s patience with Henrik had me yearning for more. Henrik acknowledging his sexuality and asking Teddy to try with him was so beautifully done. Every scene - just beautifully done. Dionte Black was the perfect Teddy. I could literally hear the emotion and it felt so real to me, not like he was reading a story. And Tor Thom’s portrayal of Henrik was so perfect. I am not an expert on Swedish accents, so I will only review how it made me feel, and Henrik’s dry, serious, monotone narration was so well done, it had me cackling at some points (example: I love how Henrik says “vut” (what) throughout the book). I could go on and on but I’ll end by saying Diontae Black is a new favorite narrator of mine and this story is also a new favorite of mine. I laughed, swooned, cried…all the feels. So perfect, truly.

Perfection

👏🏼🔥 This is now my 2nd listen and it is still perfection. Diontae Black & Tor Thom did amazing with Teddy and Henrik. I felt all of the emotions in this story. I am a fan of the series but Tedrik is now my absolute favorite.

Speechless

Wow. This book was beautiful! Emily Rath has a way with words, This is precisely the reason I will read ANYTHING she writes. She has somehow given all of these characters their own story in a way that makes it seem like they are real at this point. I love the dynamic between Teddy and Henrik , they were so different and yet the fit so well together..they were truly the definition of opposites attract in the best way,The love they have for each-other is sooooo deep .Henrik’s character development was beautiful, watching him come out of his shell and accept his sexuality and grow for himself and Teddy was top tier.This book didn’t go without bumps and I loved watching them navigate through it as a team. I loved watching how Teddy took on that “dad” role almost instantly to Henricks niece. Beware of the ending guys and make sure you have tissues!! The narrators were perfect!!! They really made this book so easy to listen to and I enjoyed it that much more!

Dr.Emily Rath this was my most anticipated book of the year and you truly knocked it out of the park. Thank you for all of the hard work you put into this , I could feel it throughout every word that I read. You wrote Teddy and his family without disrespecting the black community and I applaud you for that…in this day and age people act that it’s hard but you showed just how easy it is.

I will be re-reading this asap.
10/10 story
10/10 narrators
20/10 writing
3.5/5 spice

I love my spicy books, there was a lot more story than spice in this and it was the perfect amount this book needed. The story was truly superior without the spice and the spice just made it that much better!

300 PAGES. THREE HUNDRED. The YEARNING

Emily Rath absolutely CRUSHED it. The sweetest novel. The tension and yearning was top tier.
I blew through this. I was wrapped about this books metaphorical pinky finger.
Demisexuality was the PERFECT addition to this series. I loved it and I love this book so much.

god this book 😍

another perfect book by Emily. the slow burn but oh so hot and sweet love between these two 😍😍

Love this series

This story was so precious. I’m giving it 5 stars across the board but the accent Tor did was really bad. It grew on me because of the story and because D was so good but I can see where it might turn some folks off from listening. Tor is usually one of my favorites but this was not his best performance.

The Narration

Do not get this review confused with not liking the story. This series is freaking amazing, and definitely one of the best ones I've read. Highly recommend. I had been waiting for this book for ages, and was so excited when it finally dropped. Dr. Emily is a freaking genius with this series.

Book one, the narration for Ilmari threw me off at the start. I definitely had a 'where the f*ck did this guy come from' moment. But as the story progressed, I adored him.

In this one, Tor's narration of Karlsson is...rough. It definitely takes me out of the story, and I haven't even gotten to the spicy bits yet. Diontae Black's narration of Karlsson was pretty good, at least a lot easier on the ears than Tor's. I want so bad to love Tor's work in this...but I'm struggling. I'm not below stopping the audio and getting the paperback to finish it. We'll see how far I get.

Mixed feelings about this one

Loved the story. Dr Emily has written another beautiful chapter in the Rays saga. The fake marriage to real lovers trope was so good. Teddy’s pining was delicious. The portrayal of Henrik’s demisexuality was so well done. No problems at all with the story.

My issue is, like several others, is with the narration. Specifically the creative choice to have Tor use a the Swedish accent for all of Henrik’s with the exception of the other characters dialogue. It was distracting and especially when we got to the “spicy” scenes, the cadence & tone took me out of the mood. I adore Tor’s natural voice and he usually hits it out of the park but I think was a miss.

I know it’s rare that an audiobook is re-recorded but I’d love to hear this one re-done with Tor using his natural voice for the narration of Henrik’s chapters and a softer accent for Henrik’s dialogue.

Dionte’s Teddy chapters were much more enjoyable and the accent he used to read Henrik’s dialogue was much easier on the ears.

Overall it’s not as bad as some narration but I think there is room for improvement.

Ms Rath does it again 🥹🫶🏻

I couldn’t wait for this book to come out! I started the series about a year and a half ago and immediately fell in love. When I finished the last book I was so sad I had to wait for this to come out. I had it saved and ready to go when it dropped a few days ago! I could have sat and listened to the whole thing quickly, but I stretched it out so it would last longer 😭 Teddy and Hendrik are so beautiful and I loved listening to their relationship evolve. This was definitely a slow burn, but definitely worth! Hendrik trusting Teddy 😩 I already want to re read it!