Review: Keeping Casey (Keeping Him #1) by Amy Aislin

Rating: 4.5🌈

Keeping Casey is another terrific contemporary romance from Amy Aislin. Loosely connected to her hockey series through the Glen Hill College Mountaineers hockey team, which has made its appearances in other stories , this novel is the first in a new Keeping Him series.

In Keeping Casey the author weaves many of my favorite tropes together to form a sweet and moving romance. Here we have a nerd/jock relationship that’s a friends to lovers with elements of slow burn, hurt/comfort, even LGBTQIA bullying within a fake boyfriend storyline.

Yep, all that and it works so well together.

Of course it helps tremendously if you have adorable, layered characters with realistic chemistry that whenever they’re together the warmth and love just flows off the pages.

There’s a bullying aspect here but on the jock side which is unexpected but again completely realistic. Also twinned painful pasts for both men where each has taken that trauma and emotionally internalized it in vastly different ways.

These elements, two incredibly different characters and one amazing relationship. It all makes for a fantastic romance and terrific secondary characters whose stories will be appearing shortly.

Another aspect I loved is that people, hockey players and their partners, from her other books and series , pop up here as supporters. It works beautifully. And it’s great to see them all again.

I’m highly recommending this story and I’m onto the next!

Keeping Him series:

Keeping Casey #1

Keeping Kellen #2

Synopsis:

Casey Preston is the guy with the plan. The list-maker. The one who micromanages his own life.

Spontaneously offering to be his best friend’s fake boyfriend to get Ethan’s annoying team captain off his back?

That’s not thinking things through. It’s not even smart given Casey’s been fighting his feelings for Ethan for years.

Ethan Rain just wants to play hockey and get his college degree. Adding a fake boyfriend to the mix? He doesn’t need that complication.

If Casey were his real boyfriend, though? If he got to keep Casey forever? Now we’re talking.

But what if Casey doesn’t want to be kept?

Keeping Casey

(Keeping Him #1)

by Amy Aislin