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This one was ok, but it didn't really grab me the way the fourth book in this series did. It was a little hard for me to get into this book, I'm not entirely sure why.
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Charming, earnest, and funny. I found the MMC Lane to be a very unique and lovable character. I would have liked a bit slower of a burn, I found the first third or so of the book to be the best, but I did enjoy watching both MMCs grow and develop over the course of the book.
I’m quite late to reading this book but since I’ve just started with all the romance things quite recently, I have quite a bit of things to catch up with. And reading books like this? A huge bonus.
I LOVED Lane. He is just so awkward, and honest, and seriously lacks ANY brain-to-mouth filter. Which makes it a bit difficult when he says all the wrong things to his teammates when coming to the south of the US to play hockey. Not knowing what to do and how to get the team on his good side, he decides to pick a fight with one of rival players. Since Lane is not a good fighter and the other guy, Jared, is, Lane obviously loses that fight. As well as something else – and apologises to his teammates. Which is good. So he gets a roommate…and a love interest.
He makes friends with the local waitress too, Zoe, who gives him milkshakes and makes fun of his non-filtered comments. I loved how she supported him even when he made inappropriate comments (mostly by mistake and sometimes using ‘locker room talk’, which she is REALLY not fond of).
The other person who makes a lot of difference in Lane’s life is Jared. Despite that fight on the ice (or maybe because of it?) Jared feels attraction towards Lane. Jared is careful however, because of the failed ‘romance’ in the beginning of his career. Yet if they resolve all their difference?
And Lane makes difference in Jared’s life. Bitter man who forgot why he plays hockey, was reminded why he loved it. And this results in one great season for him.
I liked how the situation with their respective parents resolve. Lane is afraid that his parents will disown him, while Jared is still bitter that his parents never went to watch his games. This happens towards the end of the book and OHMYGOD I loved it. I just didn’t expect it to happen like that and it was just amazing…as was the epilogue.
I LOVED Lane. He is just so awkward, and honest, and seriously lacks ANY brain-to-mouth filter. Which makes it a bit difficult when he says all the wrong things to his teammates when coming to the south of the US to play hockey. Not knowing what to do and how to get the team on his good side, he decides to pick a fight with one of rival players. Since Lane is not a good fighter and the other guy, Jared, is, Lane obviously loses that fight. As well as something else – and apologises to his teammates. Which is good. So he gets a roommate…and a love interest.
He makes friends with the local waitress too, Zoe, who gives him milkshakes and makes fun of his non-filtered comments. I loved how she supported him even when he made inappropriate comments (mostly by mistake and sometimes using ‘locker room talk’, which she is REALLY not fond of).
The other person who makes a lot of difference in Lane’s life is Jared. Despite that fight on the ice (or maybe because of it?) Jared feels attraction towards Lane. Jared is careful however, because of the failed ‘romance’ in the beginning of his career. Yet if they resolve all their difference?
And Lane makes difference in Jared’s life. Bitter man who forgot why he plays hockey, was reminded why he loved it. And this results in one great season for him.
I liked how the situation with their respective parents resolve. Lane is afraid that his parents will disown him, while Jared is still bitter that his parents never went to watch his games. This happens towards the end of the book and OHMYGOD I loved it. I just didn’t expect it to happen like that and it was just amazing…as was the epilogue.
I was going to only give this a 3.5/4 star rating but. I love Lane so much. He’s such a unique character and I love with my whole heart. Also there isn’t any like pointless breakup stuff this was so good wow wholesome gay hockey content
“So I can give you what you came here for. But not here, Lane, because that might get us arrested, and I think we’d like some more privacy, don’t you?”
He seems not to be too concerned about that kind of thing, which is maybe because he lives in your world of macho boys with amazing abs and endless references to sucking cock.” “It’s a nice world, when you put it that way,” Lane said dreamily. “No wonder I wanted to be a hockey player.”
“Lane, it’s Coach Barker.”
“Hey, Coach.” Lane felt Jared’s involuntary reaction as his hips pushed up sharply. He covered the phone with his hand. “No. This is my actual hockey coach. Not my boyfriend sex coach.”
“That’s not where you cover the mic, dude,” Jared said, snorting a laugh while Lane turned six shades of red.
“Courtnall, I don’t—look, let’s pretend I didn’t hear that and start over.”
I almost did not finish this book and reading the first half I was sure this is going to be at best 2 stars if I did get to the end. Well I was wrong. This is one of the reasons why I usually hate to DNF, because you never know. So in the end I’m giving this book 4 stars, because it hit the sweet spot towards the second half and I had hearts in my eyes and I was grinning like a crazy person recently let out of an asylum. Ok back to the book.
First I would like to talk about what bothered me so much at the beginning. I think Lane was at some point so stupid and clueless I was beginning to wonder if he was really 20 years old. I’m just gonna say it, he went full retard at times and I was rolling my eyes so much there was a slight chance they might get stuck the other way around. Also what the hell was the point with Zoe. I mean I loved here as friend, she was awesome. But then there were these weird hints that there is something going on between her and Lane and I was completely lost. At some point I was expecting a threesome between Jared, Lane and Zoe. She was such a great BFF and funny and kind and Lane was definitely gay. So that was weird and it kind of threw me off. I wouldn’t mind if this was a different story and Lane wasn’t gay, because it could have been interesting, but in this case no way.
What kept me going was Jared, because he was cool and collected and not an idiot. Thank god Lane got some pointers from Jared and wasn’t such an idiot towards the end. He really grew on me. I mean he was still stupid and so clueless, but he was so much more confident and so fucking adorable (and insatiable). Not that I’m complaining. Together they were the perfect mix of hot, cute, sweet and funny and I Ioved it. Jared was so in love he was still in shock that he landed a hot 21 year old NHL player. I mean who wouldn’t be :D. Lane was well Lane, he also didn’t quite get how Jared could not see how hot he was himself. Also HOCKEY!
This book was a lesson to not give up right away. You might miss a hidden gem.
He seems not to be too concerned about that kind of thing, which is maybe because he lives in your world of macho boys with amazing abs and endless references to sucking cock.” “It’s a nice world, when you put it that way,” Lane said dreamily. “No wonder I wanted to be a hockey player.”
“Lane, it’s Coach Barker.”
“Hey, Coach.” Lane felt Jared’s involuntary reaction as his hips pushed up sharply. He covered the phone with his hand. “No. This is my actual hockey coach. Not my boyfriend sex coach.”
“That’s not where you cover the mic, dude,” Jared said, snorting a laugh while Lane turned six shades of red.
“Courtnall, I don’t—look, let’s pretend I didn’t hear that and start over.”
I almost did not finish this book and reading the first half I was sure this is going to be at best 2 stars if I did get to the end. Well I was wrong. This is one of the reasons why I usually hate to DNF, because you never know. So in the end I’m giving this book 4 stars, because it hit the sweet spot towards the second half and I had hearts in my eyes and I was grinning like a crazy person recently let out of an asylum. Ok back to the book.
First I would like to talk about what bothered me so much at the beginning. I think Lane was at some point so stupid and clueless I was beginning to wonder if he was really 20 years old. I’m just gonna say it, he went full retard at times and I was rolling my eyes so much there was a slight chance they might get stuck the other way around. Also what the hell was the point with Zoe. I mean I loved here as friend, she was awesome. But then there were these weird hints that there is something going on between her and Lane and I was completely lost. At some point I was expecting a threesome between Jared, Lane and Zoe. She was such a great BFF and funny and kind and Lane was definitely gay. So that was weird and it kind of threw me off. I wouldn’t mind if this was a different story and Lane wasn’t gay, because it could have been interesting, but in this case no way.
What kept me going was Jared, because he was cool and collected and not an idiot. Thank god Lane got some pointers from Jared and wasn’t such an idiot towards the end. He really grew on me. I mean he was still stupid and so clueless, but he was so much more confident and so fucking adorable (and insatiable). Not that I’m complaining. Together they were the perfect mix of hot, cute, sweet and funny and I Ioved it. Jared was so in love he was still in shock that he landed a hot 21 year old NHL player. I mean who wouldn’t be :D. Lane was well Lane, he also didn’t quite get how Jared could not see how hot he was himself. Also HOCKEY!
This book was a lesson to not give up right away. You might miss a hidden gem.
So, I'm always glad to get more hockey m/m romance (although I wouldn't mind hockey f/m romance if both people were hockey players or if the woman was the hockey player). I really enjoyed how the romance was set in the ECHL which is still a professional hockey league but it's not 'the' professional hockey league. It lessened the pressure on the players and it was great to see how the coming out of Lane and his relationship with Jared depended on whether Lane felt comfortable revealing that part of himself, not reliant on what the media or PR or his organisation think about it. I really like the hockey parts (the reason why Lane was ostracised from his teammates was so plausible and I really felt sorry for him) and how it fit in well with the romance. I really enjoyed the differences between Jared and Lane and how what I was expecting them to be like didn't happen. I would have enjoyed more focus on the more realistic side of being a 32 year old ice hockey player i.e. the wear and tear and past injuries but I can understand why the author didn't include those bits, considering it would have made the book far more serious and depressing than it was.
This was a fun book to read! The characters were all interesting and varied and I was glad to see how Lane and Jared got on with all of them. I really loved how Jared and Lane's relationship developed and how most of the conflict in the story was externally driven, not internally. I think the ending was too happy to be realistic but those are the kind of endings I like in fiction like this. Lane's and Jared's story wasn't over at the end but it was a nice place to stop.
The only reason I took off a star was how Lane's character felt a little contrived at times. Like he was 'quirky' and weird in a way that made him more manic pixie space cadet dream boy than anything else. It was a little too off the wall but I liked it too much to do anything more than drop it down a star.
If you like hockey m/m romances, I would definitely recommend this.
This was a fun book to read! The characters were all interesting and varied and I was glad to see how Lane and Jared got on with all of them. I really loved how Jared and Lane's relationship developed and how most of the conflict in the story was externally driven, not internally. I think the ending was too happy to be realistic but those are the kind of endings I like in fiction like this. Lane's and Jared's story wasn't over at the end but it was a nice place to stop.
The only reason I took off a star was how Lane's character felt a little contrived at times. Like he was 'quirky' and weird in a way that made him more manic pixie space cadet dream boy than anything else. It was a little too off the wall but I liked it too much to do anything more than drop it down a star.
If you like hockey m/m romances, I would definitely recommend this.
A fun book. I loved Lane and Jared together. Lane was really funny, and Jared- older, wiser and caring. The other characters- Ryan, Zoe, Riley were fun as well. On to book 2!
A solid 4* from me, very sweet & light story, will def pick up the next in the series.
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Full review at www.ireadwhatiwant2.wordpress.com
Snippet review:
This book was so much more than I expected it to be. It was fun, funny, and sexy, and the author’s loves of hockey comes across very clearly in her writing. I’m sad that I put off reading this for so long, but I’m really happy that there are already 2 more published books in this series for me to read. If you are like me, and love a good MM sports romance, definitely put this one at the top of your list!
Snippet review:
This book was so much more than I expected it to be. It was fun, funny, and sexy, and the author’s loves of hockey comes across very clearly in her writing. I’m sad that I put off reading this for so long, but I’m really happy that there are already 2 more published books in this series for me to read. If you are like me, and love a good MM sports romance, definitely put this one at the top of your list!