Your Sharpest Edge

Ravens Hockey, Book 2

De: Vee Taylor

Narrado por: Savannah Thomas, Sean Masters

Sending him away broke my heart.
I guess fate thought we needed a second chance.

Anastasia Ilinya will do anything to keep her Olympic figure skating career alive—even leaving Russia for the US, and marrying a man she knows only by his explosive reputation. So when the abuse starts straight after “I do”, Anatasia knows she must endure. The solitary lifeline amidst the storm of her marriage is her husband’s teammate…

Alexsey Popov never expected to find anything, or anyone, as important to him as hockey–especially not the wife of his team captain. Yet, from the moment he meets Anastasia, he’s drawn to her. And the more they get to know one another the more he wants to protect her.

But Dimitri is volatile and possessive, and would never allow his wife to leave. How do you escape a man who’d rather see you dead than happy?

Your Sharpest Edge is book 2 in the Ravens Hockey series. It is a dual POV hockey romance.

©2025 Vee Taylor (P)2025 Blue Nose Publishing

Very emotional!

I listened to the audiobook version of this story and it was such an emotional read. My heart broke for Anastasia while she endured so much abuse at the hands of her husband. Then my heart broke again for Alex when he was pushed away. This love story between Alex and Anastasia was full of friendship, support, love, passion, and healing. Both the plot and character developments were so well written. It was so easy to fall in love with Alex, especially seeing how much he was there or Anastasia and Damien despite how things went down. The steamy scenes were so captivating. I loved these two together, especially when they were "exploring" at that party. Soooo good. The narration by Sean Masters and Savannah Thomas was phenomenal. They were able to retain their accents so well throughout the entire book. Definitely a great and emotional read.

Beautiful, emotional hockey romance!

What an epic dance between hockey romance and emotionally charged romance! Vee wrote a story that manages to encapsulate much of the hockey world, yes, but it's much more than that. Alexsey and Anastasia go through quite the journey and I devoured it in a day.

Alex and Stassi have a shared background in the world of ice sports - he plays professional hockey, and she is a figure skater. Their friendship is put to the test when she finds herself in an abusive arranged marriage, and finds solace in Alex.

What a rollercoaster ride of emotions this story is! The burn is slow, but pleasantly so. There were many times that I wanted to scream at Stassi, both to leave her horrendous husband and jump Alex’s bones already. Alex is so sweet, patient, and gentle with her and it made me swoon. Stassi has every reason to be jaded and distrusting, so watching her open up to Alex is so sweet.

Savannah and Sean do a BEAUTIFUL job narrating, this was excellent work on both of their parts! The accent work is amazing and well maintained throughout.
Savannah has very quickly become a favorite of mine, she gives a reliably great performance while also being very versatile. She evokes a wide range of emotions here, and does it beautifully.
Sean is another voice actor who gives consistently great performances, and this is no exception. He does a great job with both Alexsey and Dimitri, who are polar opposites.

Amazing

I definitely with I could find a Russian Hockey player like Alex..lol Great, emotional and heartbreaking story. Savanna and Shawn..Chefs kiss on the voice acting. The accents were on point and the emotion the came through their voices..amazing!

Your Sharpest Edge

Gosh Taylor sure can write some heartbreaking stories!

I was a little surprised that Alex and Staci's story was next in the series as it would have made more sense as the first given the timeline. It didn't deter from their story though. I loved getting to know their story.

Both coming from the same area in Russia at 18, Alex for hockey, Staci for ice skating, they were intertwined from the start. Staci's parents arranged for her to marry a friend so she could be supported in life, as is customary for certain Russian families. This friend was also a teammate and rival of Alex's. Very quickly, Staci's life turned sour as her new husband was incredibly controlling and physically and emotionally abusive. When he would go out partying, Staci would take refuge with Alex, who saw how she was being treated but didn't know how best help. They became close friends and he came to her rescue when Staci's husband went too far in his abuse.

Unfortunately, being only 19 and not knowing how to handle her new life without ice skating, Staci pushed Alex away.

Fast forward nearly 5 years, Alex is now in Chicago with a new team and is attending a charity event for children when he spots the one person he thought he'd never see again; her.

After much heartache and hesitation, Staci agrees to sit down with Alex to talk and slowly they become intertwined again, this time with Staci's son involved.

When her now ex-husband is released from jail unexpectedly and shows up to Alex's apartment demanding to see Damian, Staci must face her abuser, but not alone. This time, she has Alex and his team behind her.

I was given an advanced listener copy through Blue Nose Audio and I loved it. I love duet style narration as it keeps me invested in the story better that way. Savannah Thomas as Staci was amazing. Her voice was calming when needed and powerfully pained. Sean Masters deep voice is just a beautiful thing to listen to. Russian accents are super difficult and I feel like Thomas did an amazing job. Masters accent was very faint at times and almost would lose it completely but, it didn't take away from anything. I personally think having a lighter Russian accent helps the words not get lost.

The app itself seemed to be having issues but that's not the narrators fault, could have just been my phone.

I hope to get to continue this story in the future.

Side note; being a Washington Capitals fan, a book with a Russian hockey player named Alex made me laugh in so many ways.

Such a heartbreakingly beautiful story

Where do I even begin with this story! This story was beautiful and heartbreaking all at the same time. Anastasia and Alexey’s story was truly beautiful. Please read the TWs for this one. There are some heavy topics in this story so be sure to protect your mental health. Anastasia such a young FMC coming to a new country on her own to follow her dreams is faced with so much struggle no one person should ever face. Between being young, moving to a new country, being married to an abusive man this girl faced an uphill battle.

Alexey (Alex)is probably one of my new favorite MMCs for the way he took care and supported Anastasia. Anastasia grew so much throughout the story and it was wonderful to read. Alex always loving her from afar as a friend and maybe even more he was the best person in this girls life. Dimitri is an awful human being and I cannot even wrap my head around how he made it as far as he did in his career/life with his actions. Anastasia finding her voice and becoming the independent person she never had the chance to be was amazing. This woman went from young innocent victim to strong, resilient, survivor throughout this story and she did it on her own.

The different phases of Anastasia and Alex was a wonderful journey to be a part of. These two were made for each other and I’m glad fate intervened and reminded them. The way Alex loved Anastasia and her son is what every woman deserves. He provided safety and comfort and truly showed Anastasia what love truly is. Vee Taylor brought such heavy topics into this story well. Providing a voice to what may happen within DV that many don’t talk about between the actual acts as well as how the victims overcome the abuse. This story was a tough read at times but I honestly could not put it down.

This was my first Savannah Thomas audio and she was absolute perfection. She did a fantastic job bringing Anastasia’s voice to life. I look forward to more stories narrated by Savannah. As always Sean Masters did not disappoint. He was perfectly casted for Alexey. These two together are a perfect pairing.