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bronwynheeley's review
4.0
I’m a fan of this series. The world. And this book just gave me something more. honestly it was nearly a perfect book for me, the alpha/alpha, the friends to lovers, but it even though it was hot as fuck and just a great book, the non-communication got a little much and yet the payoff was just beautiful.
writtenechoes's review
4.0
“Not good enough, huh?” Zee asked. “I should carve my fucking name on your skin so you remember who you belong to.”
Honestly, Marina can do no wrong. She could write the yellow pages and I’d be slapping it on a street corner claiming it’s the best piece of literature ever written. This was absolutely no different.
Ishar and Zane, Zee and Zammy, are the best of friends. When Zee is suddenly transferred to the Cats, Ishar’s team in NY, suddenly they’re living together and in each others pockets again. That’s hard on Ishar considering he’s been madly in love with his best friend for almost a decade. In this universe being gay is when someone is attracted to the same secondary identity so alpha/alpha and omega/omega. Zee is straight for all Ishar knows but Ishar is gay. Out to close friends but not his team or the public.
I’m not a huge friends to lovers fans but THESE types of stories that can make me enjoy the trope. The possessiveness was off the fucking charts. Insane. Almost toxic. Zee does not want Ishar to smell like anyone but him, not even their teammates. Zee goes so far to attempt to get between Ishar and hookups he has. Ishar has OCD and has strict rules for himself, notably he can only come after scoring a goal. Suddenly Zee and Ishar are in a weird situation where Zee is choosing Ishar’s hookups for him???? It was absolutely insanely hot. And it doesn’t end there because at some point that’s no longer enough for Zee.
That this felt less like one friend helping another and more like Zee was explicitly choosing someone to fuck Ishir. As if Zee owned him and could lend him out at will. Most of all, he didn’t know how to say he liked it.
They’re now hooking up, the pining is insane, and they’re sharing ruts like
Honestly, Marina can do no wrong. She could write the yellow pages and I’d be slapping it on a street corner claiming it’s the best piece of literature ever written. This was absolutely no different.
Ishar and Zane, Zee and Zammy, are the best of friends. When Zee is suddenly transferred to the Cats, Ishar’s team in NY, suddenly they’re living together and in each others pockets again. That’s hard on Ishar considering he’s been madly in love with his best friend for almost a decade. In this universe being gay is when someone is attracted to the same secondary identity so alpha/alpha and omega/omega. Zee is straight for all Ishar knows but Ishar is gay. Out to close friends but not his team or the public.
I’m not a huge friends to lovers fans but THESE types of stories that can make me enjoy the trope. The possessiveness was off the fucking charts. Insane. Almost toxic. Zee does not want Ishar to smell like anyone but him, not even their teammates. Zee goes so far to attempt to get between Ishar and hookups he has. Ishar has OCD and has strict rules for himself, notably he can only come after scoring a goal. Suddenly Zee and Ishar are in a weird situation where Zee is choosing Ishar’s hookups for him???? It was absolutely insanely hot. And it doesn’t end there because at some point that’s no longer enough for Zee.
That this felt less like one friend helping another and more like Zee was explicitly choosing someone to fuck Ishir. As if Zee owned him and could lend him out at will. Most of all, he didn’t know how to say he liked it.
They’re now hooking up, the pining is insane, and they’re sharing ruts like
grace_schriedel's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
theliterarycourt's review
4.0
✰4 stars✰
The possessiveness in this one? OFF THE CHARTS.
This was an enjoyable read for me. It's very friends to lovers, one of us had been in love with the other for a long time.
There were moments when the writing was a little clunky or awkward (mostly near the beginning and during jumps of time) but overall the story was engaging and held my attention. Marina Vivancos can honestly do no wrong for me, so it wasn't really a problem.
If you're looking for a story with minimal angst and some pretty steamy scenes then this might be a good one for you.
“Not good enough, huh?” Zee asked. “I should carve my fucking name on your skin so you remember who you belong to.”
The possessiveness in this one? OFF THE CHARTS.
This was an enjoyable read for me. It's very friends to lovers, one of us had been in love with the other for a long time.
There were moments when the writing was a little clunky or awkward (mostly near the beginning and during jumps of time) but overall the story was engaging and held my attention. Marina Vivancos can honestly do no wrong for me, so it wasn't really a problem.
If you're looking for a story with minimal angst and some pretty steamy scenes then this might be a good one for you.
tragicgloom's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Violence and Injury/Injury detail
malhmk's review
5.0
Fantastic book. Zee and Zammy have been best friends since childhood, have grown up to play professional hockey and on the surface have an epic friendship and are building a great life for themselves. However Zammy has been in love with Zee for ever and Zee just for trades to his team, insists on staying together bad things are bound to get very complicated.
I don’t know how the author layers a friends to lovers, hockey romance with an AO world where heats and ruts are part and parcel of life but it’s completely believable and you are immersed and invested in how the characters are fighting for an HEA.
Here is what I loved: Authentic characters with deep emotional worlds, realistic challenges to overcome, fabulous world building and fantastic writing. Expect slow burn that scorches once it’s lit, all the feels and loads of pining and a very satisfying conclusion.
I don’t know how the author layers a friends to lovers, hockey romance with an AO world where heats and ruts are part and parcel of life but it’s completely believable and you are immersed and invested in how the characters are fighting for an HEA.
Here is what I loved: Authentic characters with deep emotional worlds, realistic challenges to overcome, fabulous world building and fantastic writing. Expect slow burn that scorches once it’s lit, all the feels and loads of pining and a very satisfying conclusion.
oliviak_31's review
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
ashlikes's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
endemictoearth's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
This book . . . it was so close to being what I hoped for.
I love Marina Vivancos's writing and especially her characters and how they interact/approach each other. This book had some of what I like most, but was not my favorite.
I felt a lot with this book. It is full of longing and pining and yearning and fear and hope. That part is wonderful, and it is magical that the author can evoke all of that with words on a page. But while I could understand/tolerate the miscommunication, (nay, refusal to communicate or gain insight/understanding) to a certain point, eventually, it just wore me down.
The connection Zee and Ishir have is potent and palpable. Ishir willfully misconstrues Zane's possessiveness while Zane makes a laughable attempt to suppress his obsession and in the EPILOGUE we finally get to understand what he was feeling about the situation. I often really like a single POV with a chaser from the other MC's side, but it wasn't enough for this one. The supercharged feelings and intensity feels out of control and overblown without the grounding of where Zane's head is at and how helpless he feels. Getting it in a 'here's what you missed last week on Zane's obsessive crush' superspeed wrap up at the end just didn't cut it for me.
While I would never want it in my own life, I do occasionally enjoy reading about a good ol' fashioned unhealthy co-dependent relationship, and this one could have made my list, but it needed more balance (either occasionally hearing from Zee's POV throughout, or finding some device to get that info), or flipping the whole thing on its head and having it all from his POV, maybe with Ishir giving us an epilogue. Because, as noted above, the epilogue feels like half retread, half apologizing for what happened.
I totally bought their connection. I totally found their sexual dynamic and the edging really well done. I totally wanted them to figure it out and get together and stop being dummies about each other. But I just think the last 25% or so was rushed and I would have rather had them wait to mate because they needed to talk to each other about all the feelings they were afraid to scare each other away with. When Ishir was running all over town talking to everyone else, I was like, "coolcoolcool, but the guy you love is blowing up your phone, could you maybe . . ." Possibly there's a way to pace this version of the plot that would have satisfied me, but it would have made the book a lot longer.
Okay, enough. Some other positives (because I did say some nice stuff up there, too):
* The ruts - I always say we need more of these in this kind of book; they're fascinating.
* Seeing the couples from the previous two books thriving - these cameos are refreshing and don't take away anything from the main narrative.
* The team dynamics - I feel like this is getting stronger book to book in this series.
It does pain me to not give this a higher rating, but as I've said it before, at this point I'm just judging this author against her other books. I'll always read whatever she puts out and love most of it, I believe, but this one just didn't quite work the way I hoped it would.
I love Marina Vivancos's writing and especially her characters and how they interact/approach each other. This book had some of what I like most, but was not my favorite.
I felt a lot with this book. It is full of longing and pining and yearning and fear and hope. That part is wonderful, and it is magical that the author can evoke all of that with words on a page. But while I could understand/tolerate the miscommunication, (nay, refusal to communicate or gain insight/understanding) to a certain point, eventually, it just wore me down.
The connection Zee and Ishir have is potent and palpable. Ishir willfully misconstrues Zane's possessiveness while Zane makes a laughable attempt to suppress his obsession and in the EPILOGUE we finally get to understand what he was feeling about the situation. I often really like a single POV with a chaser from the other MC's side, but it wasn't enough for this one. The supercharged feelings and intensity feels out of control and overblown without the grounding of where Zane's head is at and how helpless he feels. Getting it in a 'here's what you missed last week on Zane's obsessive crush' superspeed wrap up at the end just didn't cut it for me.
While I would never want it in my own life, I do occasionally enjoy reading about a good ol' fashioned unhealthy co-dependent relationship, and this one could have made my list, but it needed more balance (either occasionally hearing from Zee's POV throughout, or finding some device to get that info), or flipping the whole thing on its head and having it all from his POV, maybe with Ishir giving us an epilogue. Because, as noted above, the epilogue feels like half retread, half apologizing for what happened.
I totally bought their connection. I totally found their sexual dynamic and the edging really well done. I totally wanted them to figure it out and get together and stop being dummies about each other. But I just think the last 25% or so was rushed and I would have rather had them wait to mate because they needed to talk to each other about all the feelings they were afraid to scare each other away with. When Ishir was running all over town talking to everyone else, I was like, "coolcoolcool, but the guy you love is blowing up your phone, could you maybe . . ." Possibly there's a way to pace this version of the plot that would have satisfied me, but it would have made the book a lot longer.
Okay, enough. Some other positives (because I did say some nice stuff up there, too):
* The ruts - I always say we need more of these in this kind of book; they're fascinating.
* Seeing the couples from the previous two books thriving - these cameos are refreshing and don't take away anything from the main narrative.
* The team dynamics - I feel like this is getting stronger book to book in this series.
It does pain me to not give this a higher rating, but as I've said it before, at this point I'm just judging this author against her other books. I'll always read whatever she puts out and love most of it, I believe, but this one just didn't quite work the way I hoped it would.
nina_readsbooks's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0