Zack

Cold Fury Hockey Series #3

By: Sawyer Bennett

Narrated by: Cris Dukehart, Graham Halstead

Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's Summary

Rising star Zack Grantham has been stuck in a downward spiral of grief that has put his career on hold. Back on the road with the Carolina Cold Fury, still crippled by emotional baggage, and now a single dad, he's in need of some serious help with his son. But while the nerdy new nanny wins his son's heart, Zack isn't sure that he's ready for a woman's touch - even after getting a glimpse of the killer curves she's hiding under those baggy clothes.

Kate Francis usually keeps men like Zack at a distance. Though his athlete's body is honed to perfection, he refuses to move on with his life - and besides, he's her boss. Still, the sparks between them are undeniable, tempting Kate to turn their professional relationship into a personal one. But before she makes a power play for Zack's wounded heart, Kate will have to open him up again and show him that love is worth the fight.

©2015 Sawyer Bennett (P)2015 Tantor

Critic Reviews

"Emotional, intense, funny, and sexy, Zack has it all. I didn't want this book to end." (Colleen Hoover, author of Confess)

Not as good as the first two books

The more I read, the more I Disliked Zack! I liked Kate at first, but the more I read, the more it ticked me off,because she was such a doormat for taking his crap. It ended OK but I would like to have seen him lighten up a lot sooner. I will probably just pass on Ryker's book.

Great listening!

This third audiobook in the Cold Fury hockey series was really well done. The hero, Zach, is still struggling with the loss of his long time girlfriend and mother of his son after a tragic accident. He has to hire a nanny for his son when it's time to return to practice and games. Zach's sister ends up choosing the nanny when he repeatedly puts it off and she's not what he expected. Kate, our heroine, is rather nerdy and frumpy (on purpose) and speaks her mind. At first they are wary around each other, but as time goes by their attraction gets harder to ignore. Can Zach heal enough to try to love again? Great narration!

Zach was not a hero to me

I like this series a lot but man I could not get behind Zack. He was so cruel to her and she just let him walk all over her. I didn’t really buy their hea.

I liked this one

better than the last one. Not a lot of grieving but there was guilt. Narration was better in this book than the last as well. I know they are the same but it could be that I liked Kate better than Olivia! Lol

Baby Daddy Hockey Oh My

If you could sum up Zack in three words, what would they be?

Cute, Fun, Hockey

Who was your favorite character and why?

ZACK because he's the baby daddy and what else is there?

What does Cris Dukehart and Graham Halstead bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I love dual voice narration, I have no complaints.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It was entertaining and the audio was great.

Any additional comments?

Full Book Review:

4 Baby Daddy Stars

I’m slowly making my way through the series, I’ve been skipping around the books because I’m just crazy like that. I had to read Zack’s story because he’s *GASP* a SINGLE DAD! Yup, my heart just swoon a little and I got a big smile on my face.

I did the audio version. I really like listening to these books on audio because it’s really light and easy to listen to. I feel like I can stop at any moment and pick it up at any time. I also love dual narration, so whenever there’s a male narrator too, I’m all over that. I have no complaints when it comes to the audio.

Zack is a single dad. His baby mama died in a car accident and Zack has major guilt over this. He wants to be the best father he can be for his child, but it’s hard raising a kid on his own. He needs a nanny for when he’s away on the ice.

Kate is a sweet girl. She’s the type of girl you want to take care of your kids and bake them cookies. She loves Zack’s son and working in a household with a hot hockey player isn’t a bad job. Zack is really attracted to Kate. Kate isn’t your typical girl, she wears baggy clothes, no make-up and has eye glasses. But that doesn’t stop Zack from admiring her, even though he knows it’s really wrong to start anything with the nanny.

I really like the premise of the story. I love a single-parent book and I loved that Kate and Zack live in the same household. You can really feel the tension between the two and you just want them to get together. Zack’s past holds him back and it was a little hard to get through sometimes. He pushes Kate back A LOT and even the more frustrating part is that Kate allows it.

I just wanted to scream at Kate that she could do better. I enjoyed having the previous character in the book and the future characters as well. It’s like one big happy family.
Overall, it’s a nice audio book, it was a bit frustrating at times, so the tension is high, but the storyline is good.

Finally

I ran the gamut of emotions with this book! I was pissed, hurt, frustrated, heart broken and wanted to kick some asses! But, if you read all the way through, redemption! Zack finally got it!! Good read!!

Love Zack and Kate

Oh my goodness... I wasn't sure what to expect with this one. I saw some mixed reviews and tried to keep an open mind and boy I am so glad that I did! This is my first book in the Cold Fury series so I'm definitely going to check out the other ones.

I fell in love with Kate from the get-go. She is an adorable sweet southern girl who doesn't know she's gorgeous. Zack is hot af with a lot of baggage, and his son Ben is such a cutie. The love scenes toward the end were everything!! Both narrators killed it IMO.

Love love love this one.

ALSO The build-up for Ryker is fire. Can't wait to read (listen) to that one next!

*SPOILERISH PART*
Zack is a troubled character lol. He had a really traumatic thing happen to him fairly recently before engaging in a new 'situationship' with Kate that causes a lot of issues. He's just not as emotionally intelligent as Kate (She's getting her master's degree in child psych.) but he gets there eventually.

I absolutely adored Kate's relationship with Ben. <3

very good

Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! good overall

Really would like to hear this

Would love to read this as it is part of a series I enjoy. However it will not play. As is the case with many ...probably 2/3 of the over 700 titles I have purchased will not play on my Fire. I am not happy.

When he spends 8 hours telling you he's selfish...

Believe him. He is.

Reading romance is usually about watching characters transformed by love. There is no transformation here. He spends the first nearly 90% of the story feeling guilty for being incapable of commitment to his HS sweetheart, the mother of his son, and he tells us over and over he is still incapable of emotional involvement with the heroine. It's true. We see no emotional connection. He treats her like crap, going hot and cold with her, and telling his friend she is nothing to him but the sex he is using her for. He also clearly doesn't care much about the fact that his son has fallen in love with her as he uses her for sex. He's honest about it. Over and over he tells us he is selfish and he tells her he doesn't want anything more than sex. She accepts this. No backbone whatsoever. Then suddenly she hears him say this to his friend and she realizes it was true all along and it isn't going to change. He's been telling her that the whole time. Finally, she believes him. So she abandons his small child while she is supposed to be caring for him and walks out the door saying the kid is resilient, he'll get over it (a child whose mother died just months ago). Of course this is supposed to be a romance, so the leading male character has a change of heart in essentially the last chapter, but this is just told to us. We have no proof he really is different. He's spent the entire story convincing us he has no capacity to care about anyone but himself. The evidence of character growth just isn't there. He still is just as selfish as ever. Now he wants her back, but it seems to be for his own selfish reasons. And she just comes back with no attempt to see if he really has changed. He tells her he has, so that is all it takes. Again, the heroine has no backbone whatsoever.

The audiobook narrators can't do southern accents. Of course they try, but they come off badly. But they are not the worst part of the story, that's the failure to show anything resembling a decent romance.