A review by dobbsthedog
Home Ice Advantage by Ari Baran

5.0

*SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD!*

CW: racism, racist slurs

I really enjoyed this one!  Both MCs are in their 40s, they’ve retired from professional hockey, and are now coaching.

There was definitely a lot more hockey in this one than in the previous books in this series.  Or, maybe not more hockey, but a lot more on the technical side, as that is now these two characters’ relationship to the game.  I was good with it, having played and coached, but I could see it being a stumbling block for someone not overly familiar with the game.  There is a lot of talk about the different drills that are being run, specific types of plays during games, etc.

This book had one of my favourite tropes, rivals to lovers, and I love that it comes about when the two coaches are having a fight and then just kiss.  Like, obviously that’s the right way to end an argument with someone you don’t like. 😂

I really appreciated that this book had a third act conflict instead of a breakup and that it was external to the couple.  And that it was resolved in a way that I found to be really satisfying.  It was quite low angst in terms of how these conflicts go, which was really nice.  Obviously I know that you need that conflict in order to prove why the couple should be together, but the typical third act breakup gets really old.  I love seeing the creative ways that authors are changing this up!

Definitely my favourite in the series thus far and I’m really looking forward to reading the next!