He’s a backup goalie with a broken game. The only thing he needs more than a win is the hot, grumpy bartender who pours his weekly beer.
Becker James is having a spectacularly bad season. Once a top draft pick, he’s now riding the bench in the minors, one failed save away from being cut. The highlight of his week? A lonely hour on a barstool at Sportsballs, Denver’s queerest watering hole—and Forest, the bartender with flannel sleeves, a gruff voice, and a beard that stars in Beck’s dreams.
Opportunity strikes when Forest’s LGBTQ hockey team—the Stickhandlers—loses their goalie last-minute. Beck makes Forest an offer: he’ll help them beat the most hated team in the beer league, but he wants something in return—one night together.
Cue the record scratch, because Seth Forrester doesn’t do hookups. After his last one went horribly wrong, he swore off men for good. He’s definitely not falling for the awkward hottie who just stammered through an indecent proposal.
But Beck is prepared to press his case, no matter how awkward it gets. And one beer league game turns into something messier, sweeter, and so much harder to walk away from…
Review
Oh this book hits and hits hard!
I think this maybe my favourite of the Hockey Guys serious so far, Beck is an up and coming back up goalie who is having not a great season, who also happens to be crushing the grumpy bartender at his favourite bar. Forest said grumpy bartender/owner is having issues of his own, burned by his last hook up he has sworn off men is focusing on his son and managing his finances.
I loved Beck, his energy and personality is highly addictive and very funny, he’s slightly awkward and word vomits when he’s nervous, it was all very endearing, Forest was a little harder to root for, but the more I read the more I could appreciate his grumpy and defensive demeanour.
The spice and spicing in the book and I liked the how the romance was paced, I never really knew what was going to happen next. This book has a lot of heart and at times very emotion, it made me tear up a number of times which I as not prepared for.
Overall this was an awesome read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
My Rating: 5/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
About the Author
arina Bowen is a #1 Amazon bestselling author, and a 24-time USA Today bestseller. Her books have appeared on “best of” lists from The New York Public Library, Barnes & Noble, Audible, Elle Magazine, Goodreads and Lit Hub.
Formerly a derivatives trader on Wall Street, Sarina graduated magna cum laude from Yale University with a BA in economics.
A New Englander whose Vermont ancestors cut timber and farmed the north country in the 1760s, Sarina is grateful for the invention of indoor plumbing and wi-fi during the intervening 250 years. She lives with her family on a few wooded acres in New Hampshire.
Sarina’s books are published in 20 languages with more than two dozen publishers.
She is a sitting council member on the Authors Guild, where she chairs the advocacy committee, and she is a member of Authors Against Book Bans.
*I received an ARC of this book from Publisher/Author in exchange for an honest, voluntary review
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