Sticks and Stones

Shadow Valley U, Book 1

By: S. Massery, SJ Sylvis

Narrated by: Alex Kydd, Kiera Stevens

Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

A college hockey romance from bestselling authors S. Massery and S.J. Sylvis.

Sticks and stones may break our bones…Hockey is my life.

After Wren Davis puts my dreams of the NHL in jeopardy, I vow to make her life hell if she ever comes near me again.

But she’s my best friend’s foster sister, and even though they don’t live together anymore, their bond is still tight, which makes avoiding each other extra difficult.

Especially when I show up at Shadow Valley University and learn my new room comes with an unwelcome addition: Wren Davis.

As much as I try to make her life hell, she gives it right back, until she’s not just under my skin but constantly on my mind.

But some things can’t be forgiven, and fraternizing with the enemy is the last thing either of us want.

©2023 S. Massery, SJ Sylvis (P)2023 S. Massery, SJ Sylvis

For All the Enemies to Lovers Hockey Readers!!

When I heard that S. Massery and SJ Sylvis were teaming up and releasing Sticks and Stones my hockey romance heart exploded. I devoured the book the moment I got it, and it was just the same when I got the audiobook. Alex Kydd and Kiera Stevens brought Stone and Wren to life. Alex Kydd did a great job portraying Stone, his voice matching the age and maturity of Stone perfectly. It brought his cockiness to a new level, which highlights how volatile the enemies part of their relationship was. Kiera Stevens made Wren more endearing and likeable, though I did like Wren in print, in audio she seems like your best friend. Her voice is soothing and I could listen to hear tell me stories all night long. Her angst gets me right to the heart. Narrators can be a major influence on how much you enjoy a book. Sometimes a book you love can lose it's luster after listening to the audio, but that didn't happen for me in this one. Alex Kydd and Kiera Stevens were a great team for this book.

If you love Enemies to Lovers, a protective hero, a strong FMC with a rough past, and some high heat, you’re going to want to listen to this book. It was definitely something I wanted to read again, almost instantly. I need S. Massery and SJ Sylvis to team up more because I will devour all the books.

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I'm going to assume they'll be more using the other guys in the hockey house, I'm not above begging. I loved this, keep em coming, please.

so good!!

Loved Stone and Wren, what a deliriously romantic enemies to lovers dark love story! The audio was also so good, Alex and Kiera were so amazing together! I love S Massery, and she did not disappoint with SJ Sylvis!

Perfect enemies to lovers book!

Sticks and Stones is my first book by both S. Massery and SJ Sylvis and definitely will not be my last. Wren and Stone were so imperfectly perfect together and the authors just made you fall in love with both of them by the end.

Tropes:

🏒 College romance
🏒 Sports romance
🏒 Bully romance
🏒Enemies to lovers
🏒Forced proximity
🏒One bed
🏒Rich guy/poor girl
🏒Possessive MMC

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75
Spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Angst level: 💔💔

Wren grew up in a terrible home where she was made and forced to do awful things. And due to that, Wren made one life changing decision in high school that forever changed her life, her father’s life, and most importantly Stone’s life.

Now here we are years later, and Stone absolutely loathes Wren and everything about her. And he absolutely makes it known. He has never forgiven her for what she did and how it affected his life. But they are forced to share a room with only one bed for the time being.

Jabs and harsh words are exchanged daily, and it isn’t until something comes back to haunt Wren that things change for them. But once they do, all that hate turns into passion. And their chemistry is absolutely fire when things change for them. But will they be able to continue this, or will the lies and trust fail them once again?

Wren and Stone are typical college kids and that made this so real – all of the vitriol that they would spit back and forth was awful to read because I just felt so hard for these characters. But it just showed how real and raw these characters were from their experiences. I fell in love with Stone the first time he was possessive over Wren – he was awful to her day in and day out, but the second he thought something unsavory was going on, he was there. And that made me SWOON!

I loved the found family aspect of this book and how all of his hockey teammates and her foster brother were there for both of them unconditionally. I am hoping to read about them in the future!

Now let’s talk about the narrators – absolutely perfect for these characters! Alex Kydd is the epitome of an angry college kid and I love whenever he narrates one. He embodies the emotions and the angst that you feel coming from his character. Keria Stevens narrated Wren amazingly – especially in the emotional parts of this book. I was tearing up at times because of the anguish that Wren was going through.

I can’t wait to read more books by these authors in the future and to hear more books narrated by these narrators!

LOVED! 🎧📚🖤

I discovered S. Massery’s books last year when I picked up Brutal Obsession. I’ve always been a dark romance girly so when I heard it was a dark Hockey romance I was hooked. So when I saw that she was cowriting another hockey romance I couldn’t be more excited. I listened to the audio while reading Sticks and Stones. Alex Kydd and Kiera Stevens did an amazing job bringing Wren and Stone to life. I devoured this book in a day. This is a true enemies to lovers and the best part NO THIRD ACT BREAKUP! I genuinely enjoyed this book and can’t wait for book 2 to be released! 😊😍

4.5

This was the first book I've read from either author and it does make me want to pick up more.

I listened to this one and the narrators made the experience so good. The emotion Kiera Steven's gave to Wren was 🤌.

I don't tend to go for Bully romances but I'm glad I gave this one a shot. This book was addictive and I listened to it in 1 go.

wow!

Alex kydd was a narrator I hadn't heard of yet and he is celebrating talented. They really brought these characters to life for me. The angst was everything. The enemies lovers vibes were everything throughout. It was so much more than I thought it was gonna be

Immediate yes!

The fact that two of my all time favorite authors, immediate one click yeses, came together a co-wrote a book has been news of the year for me. Pair that with the fact that its a one- bed, bully, hockey romance? I cannot even begin to describe the anticipation I had leading up to this. S. Massery and SJ Sylvis AS ALWAYS, did not disappoint!!! One of my top reads of the year. Wren Davis was an absolute WARRIOR, a true survivor in every aspect of the word and I adored her character. Stone Foster has already become my entire personality for the rest of the year. I have never h@te/loved a MMC so much. The. CHARACTER. ARC. THOUGH. Obsessed. He is possessive, obsessive, protective, harsh, rude, crude, and beyond delectable. The swoon factor when he finally gives in to his attraction to Wren is just other worldly. I loved every second of this book. I also geeked at the cameos by our favorite Bexley and CPU boys. It's always good to see familiar faces. ;) Kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end and I could not read it fast enough. Alex Kydd is one of my absolute favorite narrators and I can’t imagine anyone else bringing Stone to life. Raving, loved it. 10/5 stars!! You do NOT want to miss this one.

Sticks and Stones

Hockey romance? Sign me up. Hockey romance narrated by Alex Kydd? Even freaking better. Such a fun, emotional & spicy story with absolutely phenomenal narration. Highly rec!

SO GOOD!!

Honestly I am so glad I picked this one up!! Both narrators did a phenomenal job bringing Wren and Stone’s story to life!!

I was completely invested in this book from the very beginning!