Carolina Reapers #5 – Cannon & Persephone
Content Notes:
Published/Pages: 2020/316
POV: Dual – Hero & Heroine
Trope: Accidental Marriage, Forced Proximity, Friends to Lovers, Workplace Romance
Goodreads Bookshelves: contemporary romance, fake relationship, favorites, forced proximity, hockey romance, opposites attract, sports romance, virgin heroine
HEA: Yes
Steam Level: Extra Steamy
Swearing: Adult
Trigger Warnings: Addiction, Alcohol, Anxiety, Cancer, Child Abuse, PTSD
My Rating:
Book Description: I’m the fastest and most feared skater in the NHL. With a temper like mine, I can’t afford to make mistakes. But one insane night in Vegas, and I wake up married to the biggest mistake of all: Persephone VanDoren—the head of our team’s charitable foundation. Sure, the petite blonde is sweet enough to give the entire state of South Carolina a toothache, but I’ve never been one for the debutantes. She’s everything I’ve fought against my whole life—wealthy, perfect, gorgeous, and her sharp little tongue presses every single one of my buttons. Our fights are almost as electric as our chemistry and there is no denying the tension sizzling between us. But I’m a monster with a dark past that will ruin a princess like her. She needs this marriage to appear real. And I need to remember it’s fake. Because the longer we stay hitched, the more I want to be her forever. The whole world views me as her personal Hades, but I’ll go to war with both our demons to save her happily ever after.
My Goodreads Review (No Spoilers)
My Review (w/spoilers):
Cannon and Persephone… What a beautiful story. Out of all the books in this series, so far, this is the one I was most looking forward to. I will say, if you haven’t read Cannon’s and Persephone’s story yet, and you want their full story, then you need start with Connell’s story. Connell and Cannon are best friends, so Cannon has more of a story arc than some of the other characters in that story. It is also the first time that Cannon and Persephone meet. Towards the end of Cannon’s book, he does have a flashback to their first meeting, from his perspective, similar to Connell’s in his book.
If you don’t want to go that far back, I recommend you at least read Logan’s story first. Logan and Cannon are even closer than Connell and Cannon. Cannon plays a HUGE part in Logan’s love story. You get a tremendous amount of character development from him, and interactions between him and Persephone. The last chapter and epilogue in Logan’s book directly leads into the beginning events of Cannon’s story. And while all these stories are standalones, reading them in order really develops the characters. I don’t think I would have been as excited to read Cannon’s story had I not read the stories in order.
“That’s just…love.” She shrugged. “Whether or not you admit it, Cannon, love isn’t always forged in the hell we grew up in. Sometimes it grows tall in the sunlight. That doesn’t mean it’s not just as strong.” -Lillian
From the first page of this book-where they both think they’re dreaming, to the last freaking page, I was in love. And that’s what a good romance book should do to you right? Make you fall in love.
Michael was a douche and I’m glad Cannon put him in his place.
In Greek mythology Persephone is the wife of Hades. It’s mentioned that Cannon is Persephone’s Zeus. Then Persephone gets Cannon a puppy (SWOON) and they name him Cerebrus. Cerebrus is Hades’ three headed dog.
When Cannon’s sister was talking to him about love… my heart hurt. They are children of abuse and survived… His sister is a beautiful person and I’m glad Cannon has her. “She’ll never have to experience it because you’ll protect her.” She shrugged. “Let her be naïve when it comes to that kind of pain. Let her be innocent to abuse and neglect. She doesn’t have to live through the darkness we did in order to pull you out of it. If anything, let her be the light you follow. You deserve that, Cannon. More than anyone I know, you deserve to be happy and loved.”
I loved when Cannon and Logan were trying to sneak into Persephone’s room to try and see her before the wedding; “You sure you want to do this?” Logan asked as we flattened ourselves against the wall in the upstairs hallway. “Do you think I’d ask you to come up here and play Mission Impossible if I didn’t?” I challenged. He tilted his head. “Okay, that’s reasonable.” It was just so cute and funny.
“This was my heaven. Not the ice, or between the pages of a book, but right here with Persephone in my arms.” -Cannon
The entire wedding was just freaking beautiful and yeah… I freaking cried. We discover that Cannon’s first name is Sheldon! Oh man… “I, Sheldon Cannon Price—” You could have heard a pin drop when Sterling muttered, “Whaaaaat?” I can see why he goes by his middle name… haha
The epilogue… Come on! That was beautiful. Watching their story come full circle, with their love and their daughter. It was a perfect ending!
The one thing I do wish Mrs. Whiskey would have touched more on was the charity for abused women that Persephone started focusing on because of Cannon. Mrs. Whiskey tends to continue these types of storylines in other stories, so I’m hoping we learn more in the next novel -Sterling.
Altogether, definitely my favorite Carolina Reapers novel. It was just such a beautiful story! It has jumped to my sixth favorite romance novel of all time. If you haven’t read it yet…
Other Character’s Mentioned:
Lukas Vesterguard & Faith Gentry – Wheeler (Seattle Sharks #8)
This is the last book he’s in, as he retires. His retirement in mentioned in Cannon’s book.
Nathan Noble & Harper Thompson – Defender (Seattle Sharks #9)
Axel Nyström & Langley – Axel (Carolina Reapers #1)
Sawyer McCoy & Echo – Sawyer (Carolina Reapers #2)
Logan Ward & Delaney – Logan (Carolina Reapers #4)
Logan is Cannon’s best friend and is mentioned most out of all the men.
Jansen Sterling – Sterling (Carolina Reapers #6)
Was at the wedding and the second wedding. Good friends with Cannon.
Gage McPherson – Grinder (Seattle Sharks #1) – The Coach
Asher Silas – Asher (Billionaire’s Game Series) – The Owner
This is book 5 out of 10 in the Carolina Reapers Series. It is however, a standalone.
Diary of a bookworm 
Leave a comment