Penn (Pittsburgh Titans 17) by Sawyer Bennett-review tour

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date July 15, 2025

Penn Navarro is the best player in the league—unstoppable on the ice, untouchable off it. But the moment the game ends, so do the celebrations. Because no amount of goals, no number of wins, can silence the demons that haunt him.

Hockey is my life. It’s what I was born to do. That’s not ego talking, just fact—I’ve spent years honing my skills, earning my place among the elite. But talent doesn’t erase my mistakes, and no amount of success will make me forget the damage I’ve done. It’s why I keep my distance from my teammates, because if you never let anyone in, you’ll never get hurt. Or those are the lies that I tell myself.

Mila Brennan represents the darkest parts of my history. She’s a ghost I’ve tried to bury, the reminder of everything I’ve lost. When she shows up in Pittsburgh looking for me, I know nothing good will come of it, because our sins don’t stay forgotten. They fester, waiting for the perfect moment to strike, and Mila’s arrival means my time is up.

The past isn’t just knocking at my door—it’s kicking it down, crumbling all the walls I’ve built around myself in the process. And when the danger comes for us both, I’m forced to do the one thing I swore I never would. Let her in.

••••••

REVIEW: PENN is the seventeenth Instalment in Sawyer Bennett’s contemporary, adult PITTSBURGH TITANS erotic, hockey romance series focusing on the Pittsburgh Titans professional hockey team. This is twenty-seven year olds, romance cover designer Mila Brennan, and professional hockey player Penn Navarro’s story line. PENN can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary but his story has been building for the past few instalments. For fans of Sawyer Bennett, there is a cross over with the author’s Jameson Force Security series.

SOME BACKGROUND: A couple of years earlier, a devastating plane crashed claimed all but three members of the Pittsburgh Titans hockey team including owners, coaches and staff. Rebuilding the team, owner Brienne Norcross, offered positions to one-time professional and semi-pro players. These are their stories.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Penn and Mila) PENN follows in the wake of a series of threats against our story line heroine. Approximately ten years earlier, Penn and Mila’s life imploded, sending each in a different direction. Penn played minor league hockey with Mila’s brother Peter but a series of ill-planned pursuits destroyed the lives of everyone involved. Fast forward to present day, Mila is receiving increasingly violent threats against her life, and the only person she thinks that can help, is a man who despises the proverbial ground upon which she walks. Penn Navarro has lived a life secluded from everyone, fearing his demons will seek revenge for sins of the past but when the past resurfaces, Penn has no choice but to help the woman with whom he will fall in love.

The world building focuses on the need to protect our story line heroine. Desperate enough to approach the man who is struggling in the wake of secrets and lies, Mila knows that it is only a matter of time before the threats become a reality, and there will be no one left to care.

The relationship between Mila and Penn is acrimonious at best. Penn struggles with what happened and why, as Mila’s life imploded leaving her a shell of her former self. Lives were ruined, and our couple were blamed, but the blame had been placed on the targets. As Penn and Mila were forced together in an effort for protect our story line heroine, Penn quickly realizes there is more to Mila than the secrets from the part. The $ex scenes are provocative and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

Once again, there Is a large ensemble cast of colorful and familiar secondary and supporting characters including several members of the Pittsburgh Titans including the introduction of newcomer Matteo ‘Lucky’ Branson; a number of security specialists from Jameson Force Security including owner Kynan McGrath; Pittsburgh Titans’ team owner Brienne Norcross, and general manager Callum Derringer.

PENN is a story of secrets and lies, betrayal and vengeance, power and control, dysfunctional family theatrics, acceptance and love. The character driven premise is dramatic and intense; the romance is seductive and fated; the characters are energetic and determined.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews

Baden
Stone
Gage
Coen
Drake
Cannon
Hendrix
Camden
Bain
Van 2
Boone
Callum
Foster
King
Rafferty
North

Reviewed by Sandy

Copy supplied for review

Since the release of her debut contemporary romance novel, Off Sides, in January 2013, Sawyer Bennett has released more than 30 books and has been featured on both the USA Today and New York Times bestseller lists on multiple occasions.

A reformed trial lawyer from North Carolina, Sawyer uses real life experience to create relatable, sexy stories that appeal to a wide array of readers. From new adult to erotic contemporary romance, Sawyer writes something for just about everyone.

Sawyer likes her Bloody Marys strong, her martinis dirty, and her heroes a combination of the two. When not bringing fictional romance to life, Sawyer is a chauffeur, stylist, chef, maid, and personal assistant to a very active toddler, as well as full-time servant to two adorably naughty dogs. She believes in the good of others, and that a bad day can be cured with a great work-out, cake, or a combination of the two.

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