| Title | : | Taking A Shot (Portland Storm, #2.5) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | ebook |
| Number of Pages | : | - |
| Publication | : | First published September 3, 2014 |
ISBN10: 0990412644 / ISBN13: 9780990412649.
Rising hockey star Jamie Babcock is ready to take the most important shot of his life—and this time, it’s not on the ice. Dating his teammate’s daughter might be riskier than going head to head with one of the Portland Storm’s rivals. But time is running out—it’s now or never.
High school senior Katie Weber knows all too well the woes of adolescence, but throw in a leukemia diagnosis, and her life just got a lot more complicated. With prom looming and a shiny bald head to contend with, Katie might sit at home on the most important night of her potentially very short life. Unless Jamie Babcock, her ultimate crush, finally makes the move she’s been praying for. But that’s not the only miracle she needs.
Now Jamie must show Katie just how important she is and how hard she must fight.
Before it’s too late…
Previously release as part of the SEDUCED BY THE GAME anthology.
Taking A Shot (Portland Storm, #2.5) Reviews
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I purchased the Seduced by the Game anthology purely for this short story. I love the Portland Storm series and this short story about Jamie and Katie was a sweet and touching treat while waiting for the next book. It is just a short story so there isn't really full resolution to their story but it did the trick. I'm really looking forward to seeing what else Catherine Gayle has in store for Jamie and Katie. Hopefully Katie will have a happy and healthy future ahead.
Catherine Gayle, please, please, please don't pull a John Green on this one. The world has enough John Greens. We need more Catherine Gayles. -
Taking A Shot was a sweet, short, heart-warming, teary-eye read.
I loved Jamie "Babs" Babcock and Katie Weber.
These two have had a crush on each other for awhile now. However, they can't act on it for several reasons: 1. Her dad would blow his lid if his 20-year-old teammate tried to date his 18-year-old daughter. 2. She's in her senior year of high school.
Even though they have a crush on each other, and have for like two years, they both seem to be oblivious to the other one's feelings. They both seem to think it's one-sided.
Katie doesn't want to attend prom, feeling she looks like a bald headed alien, thanks to her chemo treatments and cancer. She thinks others will look at her and judged her-little does she know how wrong she is.
Babs wants Katie to go to prom, especially after Kally, Soupy and Zee share some advice and encouragement. So, he mans up and does the one thing he really wants- by asking her to Prom. He would do anything for Katie.
These two have a few beautiful moments in this book, as well as Katie having a few with her father. All which were tear inducing moments.
Just a thought, as Jamie takes Katie to this famous doughnut shop called, Voodoo Doughnut. I live in Portland, and even I still don't get the fascination with Voodoo Doughnut's. I don't think they're that great- but to each their own.
What I loved:
1. The first locker room scene- made me ball like a baby
2. All of the Storm men's support, words of advice and encouragement
3. The whole prom scene- LOVED IT! It was awesome, sweet, and touching
4. Jamie's feelings and thoughts about Katie
5. Katie's protective feelings for Jamie
6. Webs (Katie's dad) - the emotions and feelings he struggled through
7. Any tender moment through out the book
8. No: cheating, drugs, puck bunnies, unnecessary drinking-parties or other stupid drama to make things over the top.
I hate that I have to wait until book 7,
Dropping Gloves, to read about these two. I do love that we see pieces of their crush through other players books. -
Warning: Cliffhanger!
First of all I'm not going to rate this one. If I would, it would only get one star due to the fact, that I only got half a story. It just stopped...no end, I thought I just have to switch to the next page, but there wasn't more...
I was so disappointed (and maybe a little angry...okay, not just a little.)
So, now for why I won't rate this.
This novella was more a slice of live story. Katie the 18 year old daughter of a hockey player has leukemia and all the fears and uncertainties of that situation are part of this story. But there's also love. The love she has for her family and their love for her...the heard-wrenching scene when her dad shaves of all of her hair because she doesn't want to have bald spots...and when he shaves his hair off as well...
And there's also Jamie Babcock, a rookie teammate of Katie's dad. Wow, that guy was perfect. He's in love this Katie. The way he treats her, the way he sees her...and that kiss...perfect.
And there you have it...I liked the story, but I'm strictly a happy ending kind of girl. We don't know if Katie will live or die, because the chapter just ends and there isn't more. Nothing.
Also the story ends with Jamie bringing her home after a school dance...so there's no conclusion in the "love-story" as well. And that disappointed me and made me angry...so no rating. Because the story and writing were perfect until this point.
And let's be honest...this story, with that kind of illness, needed a happy ending! Something uplifting! Hope! But there wasn't any... -
I adore Jamie Babcock. This book was just the sweetest and most emotional I've read in this series yet.
The locker room scene was a tearjerker and so emotional.
Jamie taking a bald but beautiful Katie to her prom was precious. As I was reading I was so hoping I could view those prom pictures. I could see them in my head as they were described in the book.
If I had a daughter I would want her to have a Jamie of her own. That man is beyond description and yet here he is in the big time with women throwing themselves at him as he ignores it all remaining a virgin, waiting on the one woman who will become the love of his life. Where on earth do you find someone like that? It was such a pleasant change of pace.
Thank you Catherine for this heartfelt book. It was great to see a good young man who didn't let Katie's cancer stop him from being there for her. He was just a dream! -
I read this 3 years ago. Having recently switched mostly to audiobooks and seeing this as part of a box set (Books 1, 2, 2.5, & 3) - it was a great deal to grab for a single credit on Audible.
This is a sweet novella giving us more insight into Jamie & Katie as they attend her senior prom. As Katie is still in high school, the steam is no more than a kiss. Also, Jamie & Katie's story continues throughout the the other books and they don't get their HEA until book 7, Dropping The Gloves.
Angel Clark’s narration improves in this book. I appreciate that she uses a slightly different register based on the POV of the chapter. This novella is very emotional and Clark handles that well. -
It's not really the story I was wanting for Babs, 'cause I really love this character and I was hoping for him to have a nice and a bit funny story... but well, it's the oppositive.
Then I was even more disappointed when I finished to read the story and I realized that it's just a part of the story and when I turned the last page I was like... WTF?!! Where's the rest of the book?
Then I found I have to read other three books before to know what will happen to him, and I have already read the plot of the story and I don't like it.
Damn girl, are u stupid or what? Before u can't believe such a wonderful, sweet, handsome guy is falling for u and then u leave him?!!! Bah, I will see what will happen in the 7° book. Now the three stars are all for Babs. GRRR. -
So so sweet!!!
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Jamie and Katie story is perfect! I literally had tears in my eyes the whole time. Such a sweet story for these two! 💛
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14/15 - Very sweet novella about Jamie and Katie and her Prom. Jamie with all his blushing and dimples (and usually I'm not a fan of dimples) is such a great boy with a heart of gold!
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Slick‘s review posted on
Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews
5 STARS
First off let me say this is a novella and although it is short it packs such a wallop that I cried buckets throughout it. This ends with a happy for now ending but it ends with so much hope for the future that it was perfect for this story. Katie Babcock whose father plays for the Portland Storm is battling leukemia. The diagnosis has taken a lot out of her family and especially Katie as she endures radiation and now chemotherapy treatments. Katie isn’t in a real good place so when Jamie “Babs” Babcock, one of the Storm players and the guy she’s had a huge crush on, asks to take her to her prom she wants it more than anything despite her dad having issues with her going. Jamie is only a few years older than Katie having been drafted into the NHL at 18 and his playing ability moved him up the ranks quickly. The minute Jamie laid eyes on Katie, he was a goner but out of respect for her father he’s held his distance.
The majority of this novella takes place at Katie’s prom and the reader is treated to some of the most beautiful and poignant scenes to ever grace a romance novel. Katie and Jamie feel so much for one another but they are young so this book isn’t about sex; it’s about falling in love, it’s about acceptance, it’s about believing, it’s about fighting, and it’s about hope. I am a blubbering mess as I write this review because this book is just so spectacular and makes me again marvel at the superb storytelling of author Catherine Gayle. While you can read this book as a standalone, I think you’ll enjoy it more if you’ve read the first two books in this series however this is a book that everyone needs to read. Taking A Shot will move you to tears, make you glad to be alive, and give you hope that there are more special people in the world like Jamie “Babs” Babcock because the world can use a lot more men like him. -
A touching, heartfelt and uplifting novella. Catherine Gayle tells a compelling and incredibly sweet story about losing hope and then finding it in the people who love us. It’s a stock up on tissues story!
I read Babs and Katie's short in the Seduced by the Game anthology and I honestly can't wait for the book's release just to get my copy with the awesome cover and the awesome-er story.
For those of us who have followed Catherine Gayle’s Hockey series (Portland Storm) Taking a Shot is a very special treat because it features the very adorable and loveable Jamie Babcock and Katie Weber. If you haven’t read about them, you can still enjoy this very sweet, moving story.
Without neglecting the excitement of the game, Catherine depicts a show of strength, solidarity and family through what is the start of Katie’s battle against leukemia. While she is determined to fight it with all the available medical resources, she’s not fighting it with her heart, that is until Jamie mans up and does something about it.“He made me want to be brave.”
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For such a short story (about 50 pages), it sure punched a lot.
Obviously this short story leans even stronger towards NA style than the previous 2 books, as the heroine just turned 18 and moreover was not a regular teenager .
There were 2 scenes that I found deeply moving, the first one especially making me shed a river of tears on my reader (luckily not drowned!)
The 2 leads were a bit too sweet, a bit too perfect, but this fairy tale worked pretty nicely with the difficult context.
There's no epilogue stating that the heroine recovered (or not), and the ending remained really open, this might not please some readers. So it worked perfectly for me in that format. -
How can you not love this series? Cry much? Geez I loved this book. I actually think I reviewed this book in the anthology Seduced by the Game but it deserved another shout out!!
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Reviewed in Seduced by the Game anthology:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... -
Even though this is such a short story, it was a tear jerker for sure...or I'm just a cry baby. I love Babs & can't wait to get to book 7 to finish their story.
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Such sugary sweetness, just perfect!
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Sweet!!!
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2.5 stars.
I like the concept of this storyline, however I really hate it when authors write the male family members of the heroine as over protective and controlling. Like, I REALLY hate it.
What is the deal with it being portrayed as a loving thing when fathers don’t want their daughters to date ever?! I think that is the opposite of loving. Men do not own women, even their own children, especially once they reach adulthood. Even before that the goal should be to teach them to make good choices for themselves and to be independent and strong young men and women. This whole concept of ownership and control is awful and it makes me feel extremely uncomfortable.
The first two books in this series discuss gang rape and child sexual abuse - and then the woman and child affected, healing and being empowered. This whole concept (and it’s in the first book too) of the male family members somehow trying to prevent healthy relationships developing just makes me feel sick and angry. It isn’t ‘protective’ and loving it’s controlling and obstructive.
Men in a family do NOT have the right to control women and these books, so far, are not helping to portray women as strong, independent and able to make their own choices. -
Jamie is a rookie hockey player with the Portland Storm. Katie is the daughter of one of his team mates. She is also battling Leukemia.
Katie is a sweet, outgoing girl, who has a massive crush on Jamie! Her dad, however, doesn't like the idea, and she is still in high school. Jamie knows that she is too young, (and that her dad would kill him!) so he keeps his distance. But when he realizes that Katie is going to miss her prom because of the cancer, he steps up and takes her, giving her an amazing memory!
This is a novella length story, not really a complete romance, but more of a snippet of something that is brewing in the background of the other stories, that we can only hope develops into something more! It's sweet, innocent, and fun. It really tugs at my heart! -
Auf die Geschichte hatte ich mich so gefreut und dann....
Katie hadert mit ihrer Krebserkrankung. Manchmal möchte sie nur noch ihre Ruhe und aufgeben wird verlockend. Das sehen auch die Team-Mitglieder und erklären Jamie, dass er sich endlich ein paar Eier wachsen lassen und gegen ihren Vater antreten muss.
Jamie reißt sich tatsächlich zusammen und lädt Katie zum Abschlussball ein. Es wird ein unvergessliche Nacht....
Ziemlich kurz und der Aufstand um Katie beim Ball ist nicht nur kitschig, sondern auch unrealistisch. Weniger ist manchmal mehr. -
Katie Weber is the daugther of Portland hockey player Dave Weber. Having been diagnosed with cancer, she goes through chemotherapy and takes online classes. She attends prom with 20 year old Jamie Babcock who is one of her father's teammates.
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This is the third book I have read that was written by Catherine Gayle.
While the main female character sadly is sick, Jamie is able to still see her beauty.
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Only six chapters long, "Taking a Shot" is a very quick read. -
Short and Sweet
This novella is quite short, it actually only takes up 80% of the book, the rest is an exert of the next book. However, it is quite moving, which is hardly surprising given the subject matter. It does feel like the beginning of a much longer book though. I wonder if there is the rest of their story in a future book. It would be a shame if there wasn’t because it has such hope to it. -
This is a short, sweet story that focuses on Babs taking Katie to her high school prom. It is simple yet overflowing with raw emotion and sweetness from Jamie. I don’t have much to say about it, other than that it made me fall in love with Jamie Babcock even more than I already was. It is so beautifully sad.
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My heart almost burst while reading this story. Jamie "Babs" Babcock is the youngest guy on the Storm team. He has proven in the previous books that he's a really good kid, but this book just secured his place in fame with the way he treats Katie to the best night of her life! I enjoyed this quick glimpse of their love and the way it all played out.
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Taking a Shot (Portland Storm Book 3)
The story of Jamie "Bab" and Katie. Katie Web has leukaemia and she has stop living. Her father is over projector and does not want anyone from the term near her. Jamie thinks he is in love with her and he want to take her to Senior prom. Can he make it a night she will remember? Great story. -
it was sweet, but a little shorter than I thought.....anyway, it was a good reading.
