Rating: 4.5 🌈
It’s officially hockey season again and I’d thought I’d celebrate by reviewing a hockey romance by a favorite author who loves this sport and it’s athletes as much as I do.
This sport seems to attract wonderful writers who are just as obsessed by its fast paced athleticism and unbelievable drama on ice as it’s gorgeous international teams of talented, intense athletes.
Lucky us, the readers!
Risking the Shot is the fourth story in Aislin’s Side Stick series, a fantastic group of hockey romances if you aren’t familiar with it yet. Mostly centered around a certain group of LGBTG players in various stages of coming out, finding love, and what the ramifications are for their careers in the NHL, it’s a great and varied journey.
Taylor “Tay” Cunningham, a forward for Toronto is bisexual and at ease with his sexuality. However, he’s ready to come to come out to the public,tired of hiding his truth. It’s a matter of timing. There’s his team’s run for the playoffs, his college courses, and then the new guy he’s seriously crushing on, the single dad from the Foundation.
Tay is such a likable, well rounded character. Easy to picture, so relatable and adorable. The issues he has that become clear? They are ones people see in other families and can connect to.
The man he’s crushing on? Single dad and part-time baker Dakota Cotton, brother to another NHL player in Burlington ( we will see him later). Dakota comes with a realistic and absolutely adorable 4 year old boy, Andy.
The relationship and work the men do on themselves, the trust issues, communication channels, goals for themselves and as a couple… we watch it all get worked through with so much love and care. With a great amount of very hot sex thrown in. Fans self. Plus the added joy of a growing family dynamics with Andy who has his own abandonment issues because of his mother.
I love this little family group so much.
The wonderful addition of the quirky, fascinating characters flowing around them is just that depth of storytelling that gives this series that spice and oomph to make it stand out.
I’m really not ready for book 5 to roll out, not if it means an end to another hockey series. Sigh. I mean the season just got started.
Yes I’m highly recommending this and the series. Start reading in the order they are written. And enjoy!
On an aside note. If you love scotch, this is also a wonderful tour through some of the best scotch brands out there. I’m a scotch person myself and while the author listed many I was familiar with and had tasted, she had some that were complete unknowns and had me making notes. Ty, Amy Aislin!
Synopsis:
Time for distractions? Hardly.
A chance at making the playoffs? It’s a dream for NHL forward Taylor Cunningham that just might come true. If he can keep his eyes on the ball—ahem, puck. And study for midterms. Dakota Cotton, eleven years his senior, isn’t just a distraction, though—he’s everything Tay’s ever wanted.
Dakota has no interest in introducing someone who might not stick around to his four-year-old son. Been there, done that, with the divorce to prove it. But there’s something about Tay that hits all of the right buttons and has him wanting to take a chance.
As things heat up between them, and the pressure to succeed hits an all-time high, will they risk a shot at happiness or choke?
Side Stick series:
On the Ice #1
Christmas On the Ice #1.5
A Valentines Trade #1.7
The Nature of the Game #2
The Nature of Christmas #2.5
Shots on Goal #3
Risking the Shot #4
Calder & Lacroix #4.1
Two-Man Team #5
-Fifth and final story to come
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 