Review of Off the Ice (Hat Trick #1) by Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn

by Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn 

3 stars

Tristan Holt is nothing if not pragmatic. Despite a flourishing career as a defenseman for the Atlanta Venom, Tristan knows he can’t play hockey forever. One day he’ll retire—if an injury doesn’t force him to hang up his skates first. His backup plan? Finishing his business degree. But he doesn’t count on a very inappropriate attraction to his standoffish sociology professor, Sebastian Cruz.

Sebastian is on the bottom rung of the Sociology Department at Georgia State. He has his sights set on tenure, and he can’t afford to be distracted, especially not by a sexy student with a body straight out of Sebastian’s dreams. No matter how much Tristan tempts him, that’s one line Sebastian won’t cross. At least not until summer classes end. After that, everything is fair game.

But Sebastian lives loud and proud, and Tristan is terrified of being the first out player in the NHL. Neither of them can afford to risk their hearts when they can’t imagine a happily ever after. The problem is, unlike hockey, when it comes to love, there are no rules.

We don’t know where to start with this one.  Avon Gale and Piper Vaugh, match made in heaven, and add a hockey romance, a sure fire winner.  But, we HATE to say this but it didn’t work for us, there was so much going on, but never really felt that nothing really worked for us

The good:

-           - Teacher/Student:  We really liked how Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn dealt with the teacher/student relationship.  We appreciated how Tristan waited until he was no longer Sebastian’s student before jumping into bed.

-           Tristan:  We loved Tristan.  We felt connected to him, a super-star hockey player struggling with his sexuality, struggling with coming out, and wondering how to be his authentic self.  Sebastian would not be who we choose for him, but alas it is who we got.

-         -  The kink:  This is a good and bad.  We liked the hot-between-the –sheets, hot, sexy, and plentiful, how we like our sex!

The bad:

-          -So much going on:  There is so much going on.  Teacher-student, sports romance, coming-out, age difference and on and on and on.  It was a little much and we didn’t really feel that they all worked.  Example – the age difference, other than a mention we didn’t really feel that Sebastian was significantly older; it just didn’t work for us. 

-          -The jock coming out: Off the Ice is actually like may sport romances.  Does the jock come out?  Sebastian acts like a petulant child and essentially gives Tristan an ultimatum, come out or we are done.  Yeah, we really didn’t like where that went.

-          -The kink:  We love kink. But this kink didn’t really fit.  There was a spanking scene that came out of left field, and about halfway through Tristan turns submissive to Sebastian’s dominant cranky personality.  As we said we love kink, however humiliation play isn’t one we are particularly fond of ,but there was no build towards the change in their relationship and we felt it just didn’t fit.

We don’t know why but Off the Ice fell flat for us.  We didn’t particularly like Sebastian and the humiliation play was unexpected, but it was a combination of so many things that just didn’t help Off the Ice come together for us. Off the ice is the first in a series so fingers crossed for a winner in the next book!

Review of Coach’s Challenge (Scoring Chances #5) by Avon Gale

 by Avon Gale

4.5 stars

It’s been decades since blackmail forced Troy Callahan to retire from playing professional hockey, and he’s built a successful career behind the bench. When he’s offered the opportunity to coach the Asheville Ravens—the most hated team in the ECHL—he’s convinced that his no-nonsense attitude is just what the team needs to put their focus back on hockey. But Troy is disheartened when he finds out the Ravens have signed Shane North, a player known for his aggression—especially when Shane’s rough good looks have Troy thinking inappropriate thoughts about a player, even if he’s set to retire at the end of the season.

Shane’s career in the majors never quite took off. Wanting to quit on his own terms, Shane agrees to a one-year contract with the Ravens and finds himself playing for a coach who thinks he’s an aging goon, and with a team that doesn’t trust him, Troy, or each other. Despite his determination not to get involved, Shane unwillingly becomes part of the team… and is just as unwillingly drawn to the gruff, out-and-proud coach. As the Ravens struggle to build a new identity, Shane and Troy succumb to the passion that might cost them everything.

We love us some sports romances, and this much anticipated #5 in the Scoring Chances series does NOT disappoint, sexy hockey players make for sexy times.

Coach Troy Callahan is taking a chance and accepted a coaching position with the much maligned Asheville Ravens.  The team is reeling from the abuse of their last coach, and he needs a new start as well.  But when the GM offers a 1-year contract to an aging hockey player the attraction between the two of them is a distraction that Troy doesn’t need. But Shane is still in the closet, and is looking for a quiet place to retire from hockey.

This is book #5 in the Scoring Chances series, and although we get to see some our favorite hockey players and coaches, this is not a continuation of a story.  But what it does share with the other books in the series is the sexy, hot delicious hockey players.  The chemistry that Avon Gale creates between her characters is hot, and Troy and Shane are molten fire.  You can feel the chemistry between these two men, and when they finally come together, it is molten! And as they are a bit older men, the angst is low low low, thank goodness.  They both know what they want and don’t make excuses for the pull between them.

There is lots happening in Coach’s Challenge, the sport-romance aside, it is a bit of a May-December, with a forbidden coach-player love affair, yet it all works so well.  Avon Gale is a master story-teller, her words flow and spectacular writing adds so much to this story.  We didn’t roll our eyes, skim or guffaw even once.  It is an easy story to read, and that is not always an easy feat to accomplish.

So let’s talk about Shane and Troy.  They are fun, flirty, and sexy.  There is an easy banter between the men that adds a layer of humor to their relationship; it isn’t just about the forbidden sex, but you see their relationship developing.  But woohoo, the between-the-sheets action is red-hot, and the sexual tension is scorching, they can’t keep their hands off each other.  One thing we did miss was a bit more intimacy, they are playful and sexy, but we wished we had a few more tender words between these men.

Yes, Coach’s Challenge is #5 in the series that keep s getting better and better.  This is a sport-romance that works on so many levels and is a MUST read!

Review of Cocky by Sean Ashcroft

 by Sean Ashcroft

3 stars 

  

 I’m having a little trouble coming up with the right words here, so I’ll be blunt. I want you to pretend to date me.”

Faking a relationship with an injured hockey player had never been on Eliot’s to-do list, but when he’s sent by his editor to interview the newly-out hockey legend Danny Harper, he gets a little more than he bargained for.

Eliot has been stuck writing a fashion and grooming column that no one reads since he started at Cocky—a men’s lifestyle magazine—a year ago. Desperate to prove himself, he takes the assignment to interview Harper, even though he couldn’t hold a hockey stick the right way up in an emergency.

Danny turns out to be nothing like he expected—a lonely man who’s missed out on a lot by being in the closet, rather than the overconfident jock Eliot expects him to be. As much as he resists it, Eliot finds himself drawn to the other man.

When Danny proposes they fake a relationship to improve his image, Eliot jumps at the chance—not only does he need the money, but his curiosity about Danny demands to be satisfied.

With Danny struggling to get through the season on a busted knee and Eliot digging up the story that could make his own career, can the two of them bring themselves to admit their real feelings and find their happy ending?

A really cute idea of a premise for a cute sweet sports m/m romance.   We really enjoyed Cocky. but felt that we missed a few conversations that happened off the page. 

We are first introduced to Eliot, a journalist, stepping outside of his normal articles to interview a newly OUT hockey star, Danny.  And there are some definite initial sparks between the two men, neither are willing to step out of their confront zones.  But when Danny needs a partner to make him seem more stable he approaches Eliot as a hired-boyfriend.  Sean Ashcroft creates a fun flirty relationship between Eliot and Danny, they start off as friends and quickly move with their feeling involved. 

Although Danny and Eliot are sweet and cute, there isn’t much that sets Cocky apart from other books of the same trope – the fake-relationship.  Yes, this version is set through a hockey lens, but honestly there isn’t a lot of hockey mentioned.  Eliot goes to a few games, but other than that it doesn’t really feature.   There is quite a bi that happens off the pages that feature in the plot of the story line.  Like conversations that are between chapters if that makes sense. 

Let’s talk chemistry, and sorry to say we didn’t really feel that pull, need, want between Eliot and Danny.  Eliot is fun and cute and Danny is vulnerable and there should be some serious sparks, because hello – hockey player – but they fizzled a bit for us.  We missed some passion between the characters.   

Again, this is a sweet cute romance between 2 unlikely men, and if that is what you are looking for, pour a glass of wine and enjoy Cocky.  But, with a name like that we wished there was just a little more connection and passion to this potentially fantastic story.