Blurb:

Holland

Hockey winger and campus hottie, Cole Davis, might be an MVP with the ladies, but I’m not falling for a player…not with medical school on the line.

With our best friends dating, our forced proximity is inevitable.
 
That doesn’t mean I have to like it—or the way he makes me feel. Like I’m missing out and there’s more to life than sitting on the sidelines.
 
It only takes one moment of weakness to remind myself why I should have stayed away from Cole.
 
He might be a ruthless player, but nothing about this is a game.
 
Cole

Holland Donovan knows exactly what she wants out of life—and it isn’t me.
 
She’s not looking for any distractions, and I’m a one-night kind of guy, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting her.
 
From the first electric kiss—I know one night will never be enough.

I just need to convince her that I’m in it for the long haul—this isn’t just about scoring.
 
On the ice I’m a pro at blocking shots and stealing passes, but when it comes to Holland the rules change.
 
I won’t stop fighting for her, for us, until I make her mine.

My Review:

Ruthless Player is book two in the Westfall U series by R.C. Stephens. This can be read as a standalone but Cole Davis and Holland Donovan are in the first book Heartless Player, along with all their friends that you meet in this book. This is an opposite attracts, forced proximity, college sports romance. 

Cole is on the college hockey team and his teammates Wolfe and Declan live with him. Wolfe entered the draft and got picked up to play in New York so is leaving after the summer. He is worried about Cole, so he and his girlfriend Rebel, decide that their best friends must become friends and keep throwing the two of them together. Cole has struggled with issues from his childhood and to stop feeling lonely, he made the hockey team his family. He is so full of anger over everything that happened that it makes him never want to settle down. He still has problems at home and it doesn’t help that his father wants him to work for his company. His dream is to be drafted like Wolfe but he has doubts he can make it. 

Holland is Rebel’s best friend and has two more years of pre-med as she wants to become a doctor. She is envious of Rebel and her caring boyfriend Wolfe but doesn’t have time for a relationship as her focus is purely on getting to medical school. She admits that Cole is gorgeous and she is attracted to him. She enjoys his banter and flirting with him but that’s all it can ever be between them, nothing is going to sidetrack her future. Holland also has issues at home so to cope she has concentrated on her studies, which has led to her living a rather sheltered life. 

A traumatic event one evening kick starts their friendship, Cole feels indebted to her and she saw his vulnerable side. Holland finds it’s weird seeing him be so sweet and understanding, when he usually a typical jock. She teases him over the puck bunnies and all the rumours around college about his sexual prowess and being ruthless with women. He invokes strong feelings inside her so she’s determined to shut them down, especially as he insists on calling her ‘Beautiful’. 

Glad we are on the same page, beautiful.”

“You need to stop calling me that,” I scold him. “We’re friends so call me by my name.”

“Ah! So I made it into the friend zone. Yes,” he hisses. “But I still reserve the right to call you beautiful because you’re seriously hot…..”

Seeing her friends enjoying themselves she realises that she has never really experienced life outside studying and decides to live a bit more for a change. Attending a party at the boys house on night, Holland throughly enjoys herself but her antics leave her with more than a sore head. 

Then in the summer Wolfe and Rebel have to go and help out his Uncle for a couple of weeks so persuade Holland and Cole to join them. Forced to live and work together, Cole and Holland find they actually enjoy each others company and it turns out they have far more in common than they thought. 

Then another event turns their lives upside down and they have to face the consequences. Their friends are desperate to help both of them but don’t know all the facts. Cole needs to gain her trust and convince her he can step up and be what she needs. There are some hard decisions to be made because both their futures are affected. Luckily a twist of fate helps and finally brings them closer together. 

I loved Granny Mae and the support and love she had for Cole. She always picks up on when things are wrong and he is upset. She has so much faith in him and knows he can become the man he should be and deserves a good girl by his side. His character transformation was a delight to see and he worked really hard to prove to Holland he was more than a playboy hockey player. I did feel that after the slow burn of their relationship the ending was rushed and I would have liked a little more detail to enhance how everything turned out for the best. 

During both books Declan McAvoy has been a bit of a mystery. The author has teased us with snippets about him, his attitude and behaviour. At the end of this book he stands up in front of all his friends and offers to tell them why he’s been so awful the past year. This sets the scene for his story in the next book Callous Player #3.