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Hockey Romance #1
On Thin Ice
NOAH I’m not gay. I might have had thoughts about sex with other dudes but that doesn’t make me gay, right? So why do I keep thinking about falling into bed with our hot new young player Finn Riley? I’ve trained hard for years to become one of the best centers in the NHL and the last thing I need is competition from some super talented hot young guy who keeps distracting me from my game. Even if we do end up sleeping together, that doesn’t make me gay, does it? It will just be one night, won’t it? FINN Moving to one of the best teams in the NHL is exactly the next step my career needs. I’ll also get the chance to learn from Noah Hartington, one of the best and most experienced centers in the game. Only, he’s not making any effort to teach me, he is basically just being an absolute ass to me. I used to see him as one of my heroes, now I just see him as an arrogant obnoxious idiot. Or more truthfully, a very very sexy arrogant obnoxious idiot. I can’t stop thinking about seducing him. But Noah Hartington isn’t even gay, is he?
This is a heated Enemies to Lovers, Age Gap, One Night to Forever, Gay M/M Hockey Romance that you'll love! For fans of Puckboys!
This is a heated Enemies to Lovers, Age Gap, One Night to Forever, Gay M/M Hockey Romance that you'll love! For fans of Puckboys!
158 pages, Paperback
Published August 14, 2023
4 people are currently reading
111 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 30, 2023
Tropes: enemies to lovers, teammates
Feels: 1/5
Steam*: 2.5/5
Kinks: some toys
Angst: low/medium
HEA: yes
Pairing: MM
Triggers/potential icks/content themes: internalized homophobia, injury, minor character is suicidal/depressed and a suicide attempt is interrupted
Spoiler alert, this review definitely contains spoilers.
This book was horrible. I wasn't impressed with the only other book I've read by this author before yet I went and read this particular book. I was drawn in by the premise being good. I do like an enemies to lovers story, a teammates story, bi or gay awakenings. But this book did not deliver. I literally did not want these two to end up together. I wanted Finn to run. The only positive thing I can say is that there was really a good premise and there were a couple moments that had potential where they were turning from hookups to wanting to snuggle. I hope the author isn't reading this because I don't want to be mean, but if they are, get a alpha or beta reader to tell you honest opinions of how the characters/story is coming across. Good premise, if it had been handled better, developed better, could have been much different.
Noah is 31 years old and the team captain on his NHL team. He insists he's straight. He's never been with a guy before. A new young guy named Finn joins the team and Noah is attracted to him. Finn is gay but he hasn't come out to his team on page, it's ambiguous about whether he's out publicly.
Noah is fighting his attraction to Finn. Noah is absolutely horrible to Finn. He is irrational, immature, bullying. He is incredibly unprofessional. He knows his behavior is horrible but he continues and he can't stop himself. He is not likable as a human being. He doesn't really get better. Finn kind of inexplicably kisses Noah during one of their fights and next thing we know they are agreeing to be hookups on an ongoing basis turning into friends with benefits. But Noah when confronted with what this means for his sexuality repeats the same mistakes and reverts to horrible behavior a couple times. He doesn't develop as a character. Spoiler, Finn has an injury on the ice and all of a sudden at 89% Noah is willing to admit he's gay and in love with Finn immediately because of that. And Finn instantly forgives him and agrees to marry him at the hospital after the injury. They jump from one extreme to another. And then immediately after that there's a time jump three years into the future where they are married and adopting a child.
This was a novella and I get that there wasn't a lot of pages. But Noah was such a toxic and horrible character you have to put in some work to try to redeem him. There was no showing of Noah redeeming himself as a human. I'm slightly afraid of him being a parent because we saw no growth. I understand gay panic and I can understand the mental stuff that goes into internalized homophobia but he was a bad human and it wasn't enough work put in to redeeming him.
Also their coach reacted horribly to finding out that they were hooking up. In like a call a lawyer kind of way. And Finn and Noah later on decide to restart their relationship in secret from the coach but with support of their teammates in another awkward move. And then go to the coach and try to win him on their side. It's so awkward and not real in any way.
A funny moment:
"“One thing, though.” “Yes, Tim?” “If you want to keep this from Gale, you two can’t keep having sex in the showers.” My drink is fortunately on the table, but Finn chokes on a sip of his and it’s a few minutes before he’s able to talk again. “You knew?” Tim rolls his eyes. “Did you really think we wouldn’t notice?” “And you didn’t say anything?” I prompt. I’m not sure how I feel about half the team knowing about my and Finn’s extra-curricular activities without us being aware of it. Patrick shrugs. “What would we say? Stop screwing in the showers?”"
*FYI about steam: I rate steam based on a combination of quality & quantity. I note kink separate from steam because I don't want to underrate steamy reads that don't have much kink.
**Note about spoilers: I like to comment on the plot of a book in reviews, so I almost always mark my reviews as containing spoilers. But I try to avoid spoiling the big dramatic moments! As a reader, I personally like to know what I'm getting into before I read a book so I know more about the content and if it's to my taste/mood, so I try to give that information in my reviews for myself when I'm considering rereading and also for other readers.
Feels: 1/5
Steam*: 2.5/5
Kinks: some toys
Angst: low/medium
HEA: yes
Pairing: MM
Triggers/potential icks/content themes: internalized homophobia, injury, minor character is suicidal/depressed and a suicide attempt is interrupted
Spoiler alert, this review definitely contains spoilers.
This book was horrible. I wasn't impressed with the only other book I've read by this author before yet I went and read this particular book. I was drawn in by the premise being good. I do like an enemies to lovers story, a teammates story, bi or gay awakenings. But this book did not deliver. I literally did not want these two to end up together. I wanted Finn to run. The only positive thing I can say is that there was really a good premise and there were a couple moments that had potential where they were turning from hookups to wanting to snuggle. I hope the author isn't reading this because I don't want to be mean, but if they are, get a alpha or beta reader to tell you honest opinions of how the characters/story is coming across. Good premise, if it had been handled better, developed better, could have been much different.
Noah is 31 years old and the team captain on his NHL team. He insists he's straight. He's never been with a guy before. A new young guy named Finn joins the team and Noah is attracted to him. Finn is gay but he hasn't come out to his team on page, it's ambiguous about whether he's out publicly.
Noah is fighting his attraction to Finn. Noah is absolutely horrible to Finn. He is irrational, immature, bullying. He is incredibly unprofessional. He knows his behavior is horrible but he continues and he can't stop himself. He is not likable as a human being. He doesn't really get better. Finn kind of inexplicably kisses Noah during one of their fights and next thing we know they are agreeing to be hookups on an ongoing basis turning into friends with benefits. But Noah when confronted with what this means for his sexuality repeats the same mistakes and reverts to horrible behavior a couple times. He doesn't develop as a character. Spoiler, Finn has an injury on the ice and all of a sudden at 89% Noah is willing to admit he's gay and in love with Finn immediately because of that. And Finn instantly forgives him and agrees to marry him at the hospital after the injury. They jump from one extreme to another. And then immediately after that there's a time jump three years into the future where they are married and adopting a child.
This was a novella and I get that there wasn't a lot of pages. But Noah was such a toxic and horrible character you have to put in some work to try to redeem him. There was no showing of Noah redeeming himself as a human. I'm slightly afraid of him being a parent because we saw no growth. I understand gay panic and I can understand the mental stuff that goes into internalized homophobia but he was a bad human and it wasn't enough work put in to redeeming him.
Also their coach reacted horribly to finding out that they were hooking up. In like a call a lawyer kind of way. And Finn and Noah later on decide to restart their relationship in secret from the coach but with support of their teammates in another awkward move. And then go to the coach and try to win him on their side. It's so awkward and not real in any way.
A funny moment:
"“One thing, though.” “Yes, Tim?” “If you want to keep this from Gale, you two can’t keep having sex in the showers.” My drink is fortunately on the table, but Finn chokes on a sip of his and it’s a few minutes before he’s able to talk again. “You knew?” Tim rolls his eyes. “Did you really think we wouldn’t notice?” “And you didn’t say anything?” I prompt. I’m not sure how I feel about half the team knowing about my and Finn’s extra-curricular activities without us being aware of it. Patrick shrugs. “What would we say? Stop screwing in the showers?”"
*FYI about steam: I rate steam based on a combination of quality & quantity. I note kink separate from steam because I don't want to underrate steamy reads that don't have much kink.
**Note about spoilers: I like to comment on the plot of a book in reviews, so I almost always mark my reviews as containing spoilers. But I try to avoid spoiling the big dramatic moments! As a reader, I personally like to know what I'm getting into before I read a book so I know more about the content and if it's to my taste/mood, so I try to give that information in my reviews for myself when I'm considering rereading and also for other readers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 5, 2024
I tried, I really did, I don't like to bad mouth an authors work but I just couldn't finish this.
December 9, 2024
The characters are engaging, but the writing was a bit too stiff for my taste. I also question the accuracy of how the sport is portrayed from behind the scenes. I found this to be true in the other three books.I read by this author. I read this as part of an anthology of the author's books.
didn-t-finish
December 30, 2023Umm, was this author talking about a different hockey? Substitutes? Too many other things wrong to even try and focus on the story, which seemed pretty bad.
August 30, 2024
I’m going to finish this because it's short but I’m BARELY holding.
There’s something about this book that is so wrong I swear. Firstly it feels like it’s written by a person who doesn’t know anything about hockey. The timeline feels too odd lol at first they’re playing a game and next moment they’re on break for 3 months? And what, the playoffs doesn’t exist? Even if they did not make it, what team trains during summer lol because summer is the only period the NHL team has off and they spend it playing hockey with the team? Non sense. Then the coach too, they train just with the help of the captain? So the coach is the manager of the team too?! THEN AGAIN Noah is a grown ass men lol he’s 32 (it’s written clearly in the book) why he’s acting like he’s not the captain of one of the NHL teams but as a spoiled brat during high school. Very hated this part.
Or can we talk about him finding Finn with his thing on his hand in the bathroom and ALL OF SUDDEN with all the hate he was feeling towards Finn you’d expect him to be shocked or frozen but he drops to his knees??? WHAT IS THAT.
I’m sorry I tried but for this book is a NO! But I was more disappointed in how the author knows nothing at all about how nhl hockey works, I’m not talking about other leagues because maybe it could work differently but since they said NHL…
I WANNA ADD what is it with this substitute thing lolllllllll in hockey we have five lines of forwards, they wrote it like there are just the first one and the second line and since when it's the player that decides how much time he’s staying on the ice lol, it’s AT MOST two minutes on the ice in a normal game lol what with Noah not wanting to exchange with Finn, an what’s with the player calling up the coach to stop the game lol what, he can’t look for his own players?! That’s the only reason he’s there wtffff
There’s something about this book that is so wrong I swear. Firstly it feels like it’s written by a person who doesn’t know anything about hockey. The timeline feels too odd lol at first they’re playing a game and next moment they’re on break for 3 months? And what, the playoffs doesn’t exist? Even if they did not make it, what team trains during summer lol because summer is the only period the NHL team has off and they spend it playing hockey with the team? Non sense. Then the coach too, they train just with the help of the captain? So the coach is the manager of the team too?! THEN AGAIN Noah is a grown ass men lol he’s 32 (it’s written clearly in the book) why he’s acting like he’s not the captain of one of the NHL teams but as a spoiled brat during high school. Very hated this part.
Or can we talk about him finding Finn with his thing on his hand in the bathroom and ALL OF SUDDEN with all the hate he was feeling towards Finn you’d expect him to be shocked or frozen but he drops to his knees??? WHAT IS THAT.
I’m sorry I tried but for this book is a NO! But I was more disappointed in how the author knows nothing at all about how nhl hockey works, I’m not talking about other leagues because maybe it could work differently but since they said NHL…
I WANNA ADD what is it with this substitute thing lolllllllll in hockey we have five lines of forwards, they wrote it like there are just the first one and the second line and since when it's the player that decides how much time he’s staying on the ice lol, it’s AT MOST two minutes on the ice in a normal game lol what with Noah not wanting to exchange with Finn, an what’s with the player calling up the coach to stop the game lol what, he can’t look for his own players?! That’s the only reason he’s there wtffff
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 6, 2025
I read the Kindle edition, which isn't available to review.
Okay, I will be the first to admit that all of my knowledge about hockey comes from fiction, but even I can tell that this author knows almost nothing about hockey. It actually seemed like the team captain was running practice and that the coach was nowhere to be seen unless they sought him out although the coach did send the whole team for two weeks of team building exercises like he was a corporate CEO at one point. Then, the timing of the games and breaks made no sense. If this were a local just-for-fun team, I could have understood things being different, but it's meant to be an NHL team. And how did Finn just have a one season contract? Then, he hands in a form to transfer teams at the end of the season as if it's that easy. Obviously, that idea is dropped when he gets back together with Noah, but I'm pretty sure when you set that kind of thing in motion, you don't just get to say I changed my mind, I'm staying. I could have ignored all that nonsense if I liked the MCs, but I only liked one of them and think that Finn deserved someone much better than Noah. The whole plot is ridiculous, and I'm not planning to read more of the series.
Okay, I will be the first to admit that all of my knowledge about hockey comes from fiction, but even I can tell that this author knows almost nothing about hockey. It actually seemed like the team captain was running practice and that the coach was nowhere to be seen unless they sought him out although the coach did send the whole team for two weeks of team building exercises like he was a corporate CEO at one point. Then, the timing of the games and breaks made no sense. If this were a local just-for-fun team, I could have understood things being different, but it's meant to be an NHL team. And how did Finn just have a one season contract? Then, he hands in a form to transfer teams at the end of the season as if it's that easy. Obviously, that idea is dropped when he gets back together with Noah, but I'm pretty sure when you set that kind of thing in motion, you don't just get to say I changed my mind, I'm staying. I could have ignored all that nonsense if I liked the MCs, but I only liked one of them and think that Finn deserved someone much better than Noah. The whole plot is ridiculous, and I'm not planning to read more of the series.
August 20, 2023
Noah was as*hole to Finn from the start but when they were become fuck buddies, Noah's behaviour getting worse! He still in denial about his sexuality and to prove that, he was going to a club, drink his as* off and find a willing woman. He found someone, brought her to his place but when they were kissing, Noah couldn't get turn on, because Finn always on his mind, so that woman was leaving him without doing any further than kissing. Thank f*ck for that!
Finn had enough of Noah's shitty behaviour so he asked for transfer. Comes the last game of the season and Finn was badly injured. Seeing Finn in very bad shape had shaken Noah to his core, made him realized that he was in love with Finn. When Finn finally wakes up, Noah confessed his love and proposed to Finn at the same time. That was f*cking unbelievable!! Finn was too good to be true accepting Noah's apology and agreed to be his husband. Three years later, Noah and Finn were husbands waiting for their daughter's birth through adoption and three of them live happily ever after.
The plot was flat and boring plus Noah being huge d*ck to Finn and trying to have sex with some woman, those two things were a major turn off.
Finn had enough of Noah's shitty behaviour so he asked for transfer. Comes the last game of the season and Finn was badly injured. Seeing Finn in very bad shape had shaken Noah to his core, made him realized that he was in love with Finn. When Finn finally wakes up, Noah confessed his love and proposed to Finn at the same time. That was f*cking unbelievable!! Finn was too good to be true accepting Noah's apology and agreed to be his husband. Three years later, Noah and Finn were husbands waiting for their daughter's birth through adoption and three of them live happily ever after.
The plot was flat and boring plus Noah being huge d*ck to Finn and trying to have sex with some woman, those two things were a major turn off.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 21, 2025
I'm usually a huge mm hockey romance fan but this was not it.
The 2 MC went from enemies to engaged within probably a paragraph and the whole book went downhill from there. The writing felt super rushed, Why speed through major character development instead of just making the book a little longer?
There was also several times I physically cringed at the word choices used, feeling as though I was reading an erotic fan fiction written by a high schooler.
The 2 MC went from enemies to engaged within probably a paragraph and the whole book went downhill from there. The writing felt super rushed, Why speed through major character development instead of just making the book a little longer?
There was also several times I physically cringed at the word choices used, feeling as though I was reading an erotic fan fiction written by a high schooler.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 5, 2025
Any book that bullies n hates the person because u have a gay crush n cant handle it so mean. Then hook up with a girl to prove ur not gay. What two yr old mentality crud am I reading.. this much self hate n denial is just awful to read.
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August 23, 2023Oh my god…just no
October 26, 2023
3 stars 🩵
March 24, 2024
Noah had no redeeming qualities didn’t deserve a happily ever after
May 5, 2024
this book was abmysal when it came to hockey and I couldn't get past the first few pages. Substitutes??? Really???
if you want to capitalize from a sport, make at least the effort to google the sport for like 10 minutes. would never read that author again
if you want to capitalize from a sport, make at least the effort to google the sport for like 10 minutes. would never read that author again
September 5, 2023
Noah was being such as ass that I DNFed this book at Ch. 4.... I just can't.... it's just hate and only hate from Noah's side and it's getting too much to bear....
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