Wild Darling by Alexandra Moody
Jun. 7th, 2026 07:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
He might be her sworn enemy, but perhaps it’s better the Devil you know …
Parker Darling is ready to take centre ice now that his older brothers have left to play hockey in college. But he shows up to the first practice only to find a new coach at the rink - one who already hates him for a dumb mistake he made years ago, with the held of the coach’s daughter, Mackenzie.
Kenzie Foster loves hockey too and she’s a ruthless goalie. If only her dad hadn’t forbidden her from playing - not that she’d want to be on any team with that arrogant jerk Parker Darling. She can’t believe she’s stuck on the bench at a new school, watching the Devils lose.
But when the team’s goalie is injured, Parker’s plan to turn things around gives Kenzie the chance to prove her dad wrong. They’ll need to work together to reach their goals - without getting too close to making another big mistake …
15-year-old Mackenzie ‘Kenzie’ Foster loves hockey. Maybe that was inevitable given that her dad, Wade Foster, played for the NHL before Kenzie’s mum got sick. Now he’s a high school hockey coach who has a phenomenal record for having players turn professional and runs a very popular intensive hockey camp that only allows in the very best. The problem is that although her dad strongly supports Kenzie’s older brother Max, he is adamant that he doesn’t want Kenzie to play despite the fact that she shows real talent as a goalkeeper.
When Kenzie finally manages to persuade her dad to let her participate in his camp, she sneaks onto the rink one evening to put in some extra practice. There she meets the cocky Parker Darling who, like her, has also snuck into practice. Sparks fly between the two, but when Kenzie’s dad catches them, he sends Parker home early and bans Kenzie from ever playing ice hockey again.
3 years later, Kenzie, her step-mum Tessa, younger sisters 4-year-old Daisy and 3-year-old Skye move to Ransom so that her dad can take up coaching the Ransom Devils, the high school’s multi-championship winning side. To her shock, she learns that not only is Parker Darling a student there but he’s also the team’s star player or at least, he was, until the arrival of Kenzie’s dad made him realise that his spot may be at risk.
When Coach Foster reminds Parker that he needs to stay away from Kenzie, Parker is more than happy to comply, Kenzie’s annoying and because of her he lost his place on the prestigious camp. Besides, he’s more worried about the team’s performance. Now that his older brothers have left for college it’s finally his chance to shine and he has no desire to lose the championship but when the team’s goalie, Elliott Ford, breaks his leg, Parker realises that he needs to find a replacement fast. The problem is that there’s no one else in the school who’s able to fill the position. No one except Kenzie. And she hates him as much as he hates her. Parker must find a way to persuade her to tryout for the team and then help her to get up to speed.
Much as she hates to admit it, Kenzie does want the chance to prove to her dad that she’s good enough to play. So even though Parker remains the selfish, cocky jerk she met 3 years ago, she’s prepared to grit her teeth and let him help. She doesn’t need anything more than that from him … does she?
The conclusion to Alexandra Moody’s YA hockey romance trilogy is a well-paced enemies-to-lovers affair that hits all the beats you expect. Kenzie’s relationship with her dad is unconvincing with the reason for his over-protectiveness coming too late while Parker’s struggle to live up to his brothers reputation while making his own name is superficial. However, the hockey scenes are convincing and there was enough here to keep me turning the pages.
I picked this up without realising that it was the last book in a trilogy but you don’t need to read the preceding two books in order to follow this. Although I’m not generally a big romance reader, the hockey romance genre is new to me and has a lot of hype at the moment so I was interested in checking it out, especially as I’ve always had a bit of a thing for enemies-to-lovers romance.
Moody writes with pace and handles to dual first narratives from Parker and Kenzie well. Certainly the plot hits all of the developments that you expect it to hit and there are no surprises in terms of what happens. I don’t know anything about hockey but the hockey scenes do read in a way that seems credible, especially those scenes where Parker is coaching Kenzie.
Character-wise, Kenzie and Parker are fine. Kenzie stands up for herself and has a mean punch, but her relationship with her dad is pretty much unexplored until the final quarter and given how sassy Kenzie is, it does not wring true. Also unbelievable is her father’s explanation for his over-protectiveness and when it does come, Kenzie has remarkably few questions about it, which is a shame. Parker, by contrast, is a cocky jerk who has an artistic side but has always been under his older brothers’ shadow and finally sees a chance to form his own legend.
The romance plays out neatly with Moody making clear that the characters are well matched and although I found the pranks they play on each other a little juvenile, I get that the target readership may disagree. There was enough here to make me turn the pages and it’s a perfectly fine read but there just wasn’t enough here to make it a standout for me and although I wouldn’t mind reading the preceding books, I think I’d be more interested in seeing what else Moody has written.n
The Verdict:
The conclusion to Alexandra Moody’s YA hockey romance trilogy is a well-paced enemies-to-lovers affair that hits all the beats you expect. Kenzie’s relationship with her dad is unconvincing with the reason for his over-protectiveness coming too late while Parker’s struggle to live up to his brothers reputation while making his own name is superficial. However, the hockey scenes are convincing and there was enough here to keep me turning the pages.
WILD DARLING was released in the United Kingdom on 12 March 2026. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
Parker Darling is ready to take centre ice now that his older brothers have left to play hockey in college. But he shows up to the first practice only to find a new coach at the rink - one who already hates him for a dumb mistake he made years ago, with the held of the coach’s daughter, Mackenzie.
Kenzie Foster loves hockey too and she’s a ruthless goalie. If only her dad hadn’t forbidden her from playing - not that she’d want to be on any team with that arrogant jerk Parker Darling. She can’t believe she’s stuck on the bench at a new school, watching the Devils lose.
But when the team’s goalie is injured, Parker’s plan to turn things around gives Kenzie the chance to prove her dad wrong. They’ll need to work together to reach their goals - without getting too close to making another big mistake …
15-year-old Mackenzie ‘Kenzie’ Foster loves hockey. Maybe that was inevitable given that her dad, Wade Foster, played for the NHL before Kenzie’s mum got sick. Now he’s a high school hockey coach who has a phenomenal record for having players turn professional and runs a very popular intensive hockey camp that only allows in the very best. The problem is that although her dad strongly supports Kenzie’s older brother Max, he is adamant that he doesn’t want Kenzie to play despite the fact that she shows real talent as a goalkeeper.
When Kenzie finally manages to persuade her dad to let her participate in his camp, she sneaks onto the rink one evening to put in some extra practice. There she meets the cocky Parker Darling who, like her, has also snuck into practice. Sparks fly between the two, but when Kenzie’s dad catches them, he sends Parker home early and bans Kenzie from ever playing ice hockey again.
3 years later, Kenzie, her step-mum Tessa, younger sisters 4-year-old Daisy and 3-year-old Skye move to Ransom so that her dad can take up coaching the Ransom Devils, the high school’s multi-championship winning side. To her shock, she learns that not only is Parker Darling a student there but he’s also the team’s star player or at least, he was, until the arrival of Kenzie’s dad made him realise that his spot may be at risk.
When Coach Foster reminds Parker that he needs to stay away from Kenzie, Parker is more than happy to comply, Kenzie’s annoying and because of her he lost his place on the prestigious camp. Besides, he’s more worried about the team’s performance. Now that his older brothers have left for college it’s finally his chance to shine and he has no desire to lose the championship but when the team’s goalie, Elliott Ford, breaks his leg, Parker realises that he needs to find a replacement fast. The problem is that there’s no one else in the school who’s able to fill the position. No one except Kenzie. And she hates him as much as he hates her. Parker must find a way to persuade her to tryout for the team and then help her to get up to speed.
Much as she hates to admit it, Kenzie does want the chance to prove to her dad that she’s good enough to play. So even though Parker remains the selfish, cocky jerk she met 3 years ago, she’s prepared to grit her teeth and let him help. She doesn’t need anything more than that from him … does she?
The conclusion to Alexandra Moody’s YA hockey romance trilogy is a well-paced enemies-to-lovers affair that hits all the beats you expect. Kenzie’s relationship with her dad is unconvincing with the reason for his over-protectiveness coming too late while Parker’s struggle to live up to his brothers reputation while making his own name is superficial. However, the hockey scenes are convincing and there was enough here to keep me turning the pages.
I picked this up without realising that it was the last book in a trilogy but you don’t need to read the preceding two books in order to follow this. Although I’m not generally a big romance reader, the hockey romance genre is new to me and has a lot of hype at the moment so I was interested in checking it out, especially as I’ve always had a bit of a thing for enemies-to-lovers romance.
Moody writes with pace and handles to dual first narratives from Parker and Kenzie well. Certainly the plot hits all of the developments that you expect it to hit and there are no surprises in terms of what happens. I don’t know anything about hockey but the hockey scenes do read in a way that seems credible, especially those scenes where Parker is coaching Kenzie.
Character-wise, Kenzie and Parker are fine. Kenzie stands up for herself and has a mean punch, but her relationship with her dad is pretty much unexplored until the final quarter and given how sassy Kenzie is, it does not wring true. Also unbelievable is her father’s explanation for his over-protectiveness and when it does come, Kenzie has remarkably few questions about it, which is a shame. Parker, by contrast, is a cocky jerk who has an artistic side but has always been under his older brothers’ shadow and finally sees a chance to form his own legend.
The romance plays out neatly with Moody making clear that the characters are well matched and although I found the pranks they play on each other a little juvenile, I get that the target readership may disagree. There was enough here to make me turn the pages and it’s a perfectly fine read but there just wasn’t enough here to make it a standout for me and although I wouldn’t mind reading the preceding books, I think I’d be more interested in seeing what else Moody has written.n
The Verdict:
The conclusion to Alexandra Moody’s YA hockey romance trilogy is a well-paced enemies-to-lovers affair that hits all the beats you expect. Kenzie’s relationship with her dad is unconvincing with the reason for his over-protectiveness coming too late while Parker’s struggle to live up to his brothers reputation while making his own name is superficial. However, the hockey scenes are convincing and there was enough here to keep me turning the pages.
WILD DARLING was released in the United Kingdom on 12 March 2026. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
