Friends with benefits. Second chance romance. Divorced Dad. Small Town Romance. Ex-Hockey players.

This book was funny at times, but also so whiny and emotional for a sports romance book.

This isn’t even really a hockey romance. They are both retired. No hockey was played, it was all flashbacks. Thats my only real complaint.

3.5 ⭐️

Thank you Harlequin for my ALC!

I thought that the relationship between Riley and Adam was sweet and soft at the end of the book but the getting to the end was a little rough for me. A majority of the book was based around the grief and loss of a parent. While that wasn’t a deal breaker for me, calling it a “hockey” romance when hockey was such a minute detail in this book is. I will say I adored some parts and loved that by the end Adam had been able to be out to the world on his terms. This is far from a hockey romance.

There was a lot of flashbacks and I think that did a great job filling in the details that the present could not considering there was over a decade of time between the past and present.

The dialogue of the two seems a bit off for me. For men being in their 40s(“middle aged”) they talked like they were in their early to mid 20s and it was throwing me off completely.

Overall a very sweet and cute book that covered a lot of harder topics (coming out, loss of a parent/grief, toxic masculinity in sports) and would be a great read for someone who isn’t expecting actual hockey.

Tropes/themes:
- second chance romance
- grief/loss of parent
- LGBT+ coming out
-friends with benefits
-infidelity
-dog companion for comedic relief

I think this was a really good second-chance romance. The two of them being teammates, friends, lovers, enemies, and then lovers again was a wonderful read as I was rooting for them.

I thoroughly enjoyed the audio for this one - The narrator puts the perfect amount of emotions into the words, which made me feel the story even more than I did the first time I read it with my eyes
I also appreciated the subtly different accents that the characters were given, as it kept it clear which is speaking, and they weren’t so strong that I couldn’t easily understand at 1.5x (my preferred speed)

Content review -
Back in the day Riley and Adam played hockey together, all the way up through a Cup win. They also did other things together, in a friends/roommates with benefits, as long as they’re able to blame not being sober, and never talk about it way. Adam’s mostly unspoken rules, Riley pining for more.
Now it’s been years, and they haven’t talked at all, their ending abrupt and devastating - especially for Riley’s mental stability. Both of their careers over, Riley stepping away from the game years prior, Adam more recently due to repeated injuries.
When Riley’s father passes and Adam shows up for the funeral it opens up old wounds, but gives them a chance to connect again - this time with a combination of therapy on one side and more self awareness on the other. But the tables have maybe not turned but tilted, this time Riley is trying to protect his heart, while Adam pushes to stay in his life.

There’s a lot of talk about mental health struggles, grieving, sobriety. The sadness of wasted time is also A Thing. There’s emotions all up in this book.
When they’re fighting it drags everything they pushed down back them up again, which is rough, but it felt like things they needed to get out.
And with all that, it made me believe their second chance wouldn’t only work, but thrive.
I appreciated that Adam’s wife not only wasn’t cast as a villain, but that she and Adam had done their own clearing of the air previously, and that they had a friendly coparenting situation between them.
Most of all, I loved the epilogue, it wraps everything up perfectly.

Thank you to Carina and harlequin audio for the arcs

Another hit from a fav Canadian author!! This latest M/M sports romance features two former hockey teammates and best friends who are reunited in Nova Scotia after one's father dies.

Startled when Adam shows up at his father's funeral, Riley never expected his first love and the man who broke his heart want to stick around and reconcile for past mistakes. Newly out as gay, Adam is still coming to terms with his sexuality and what his life will look like after hockey as a divorced father of teens. I so shipped Adam and Riley and loved that we got to see them when they were younger through flashbacks.

There was also excellent mental health (addiction, alcohol abuse and depression) in the book and the author does a great job highlighting the darker sides of hockey and how that can get exacerbated and ignored when players need help. Great on audio and perfect for fans of authors like Sarina Bowen. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!