RELEASE BLITZ
Book Title: He Shoots, He Scores (Skate to Love Book 1)
Author: Tricia Owens
Publisher and Cover Artist: Tricia Owens
Genre/s: Sports M/M Romance
Heat Rating: 5 flames
Length: 70 000 words
Release Date: June 16, 2020
Buy Links - Available on Kindle Unlimited
“There’s more than one way to score.”
Blurb
When superstar winger Neil Shannon is injured in the Stanley Cup Finals, he loses more than the hockey championships. With his confidence shot, his career begins to fall apart and an early retirement seems inevitable. Unwanted by his former team, Neil is traded to one that's starting over. Even worse, he's joined there by his biggest rival, the sexy Swede Adrian Magnusson. Adrian feels responsible for Neil's fall from grace and is determined to revive his career, but Neil wants to stay far away from this Swedish temptation, or else he'll lose the last thing of value he owns: his reputation.
My Two Pennies Worth
This enemies to lovers romance concentrates quite heavily on the hockey. I know this sounds ridiculous to say but I've read hockey romances where they barely step inside a rink. Here we regularly see games and practice.
Adrian is adorable, a joyful mountain of a man with banter galore and a plentiful sense of fun. Why he is so obsessed with Neil that trys so hard to be friends and more I honestly can't say. Neil is buttoned up so tight that he is Adrian's complete opposite. And despite being the older of the two Neil acts quite childish at times. He also sends a lot of time faking things - smiles, interest, his health and mental state.
I would warn you that the book is barely a tentative HFN by the end with the epilogue making that tenuous connection appear even more so. If I was to stop reading the series here I would have no doubt that Adrian and Neil would not last until Christmas (and it's early December at that point in the book!)
In my honest opinion the epilogue is not an epilogue but a hook to get you to buy the next book, which will presumably continue with the relationship journey. I'm not a fan of this technique, especially as the next book isn't out yet.
For me the epilogue left a sour taste in my mouth that tainted the whole book.
Excerpt
“I like keeping in touch,” Magnusson admitted. “And I thought it would be fun, texting you. We’re always being pitted against each other by the fans and the media. Funny if they got it all wrong, yeah?”
“We’re not really friends, though,” Neil said, regretting it immediately when the light dimmed behind the other winger’s eyes. “I mean, we don’t know each other that well,” he hastened to add. “This is the first time we’ve said more than a few words to each other.”
“We should be a secret.” Magnusson’s face, normally animated, became still. “You and me.”
You’re already mine, Neil thought. He knew Magnusson meant only friendship, but a person could dream, and Neil was good at entertaining dreams.
“We are a secret,” he declared with drunken boldness. Let Magnusson think he meant it innocently. It didn’t matter.
Emotion moved across the Swede’s face, something wistful. Something stronger. Magnusson was strangely intense when he was drunk. It made Neil nervous, as though anything could happen, good or bad.
Then Magnusson grinned, and the tension snapped.
“I’m glad you yakked today, Shannon.”
Neil sighed, his arousal deflating. “Bite me, Magnusson.”
“Don’t say something like that around a Swedish lion.” Magnusson abruptly stood up and strode to the bathroom. “I’m going to shower.”
He left the door open and Neil could see him clearly in the mirror’s reflection, clumsily undressing. Neil opened his mouth to yell at him to shut the door. But then the tight yellow dress shirt came off, and the undershirt beneath it—and Neil forgot what he was going to say.
Damn, he’s built. He stared openly, unable to look away as the other man struggled with his tight pants until he finally managed to yank and kick his way free of them. His thighs were indeed tree trunks, his calves chiseled. And his ass—Magnusson wore a thong beneath his pants. Neil choked.
Magnusson heard him. His blue eyes flashed up to the mirror, wide with shock. He hadn’t realized Neil could see him. But instead of blushing as Neil expected, Magnusson’s expression grew intent again. Holding Neil’s captive gaze, he reached back and slapped himself loudly on one ass cheek.
About the Author
Tricia Owens has been writing m/m fiction since 2000, after stumbling onto the term ‘slash’ and thinking it referred to horror stories. She is the author of the Sin City, A Pirate’s Life for Me, and Juxtapose City series, among several others. She lives in Las Vegas.
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