The Subpar Heroes series has been a real hit or miss for me, with having liked 2 books and finding I absolutely couldn’t finish 2 others.
I’m combining the reviews for the DNF because neither requires a full on review as you will see.
The Accidental Necromancer by Liv Rancourt is a DNF simply because I was appalled by its application of the theme and overall plot. If you are a cat lover, pet owner or just love animals, this is not the story for you. The main character accidentally raises road kills, they follow him home. Opening scene of a roadkill cat now pitifully mewing, detailed missing parts showing exactly what happened to it, following him home. He sighs because yeah, again. Adds it to a room with other dead roadkill animals . Then follows episodes with the hot one dimensional SPAM vet. Poor dialogue.
But mainly pathetic really horribly dead animals.
Why would author think that this is a good idea? Especially considering readers who might have lost beloved pets? Just no. DNF
Next up an author I’m a fan of except for this nonsensical piece where there’s no clear idea of the characters or even who’s speaking most of the time .
2. Behind the 8-Ball by A. E. Wasp
This is from Harlan’s pov and his voice included as well to further muddle the conversation. So three different people speaking and basically the reader will have no idea who they are from this passage. And that’s not unusual.
“Dash and DT exchanged glances. “Stop looking at each other that way. It’s making me insane.”
I took a long drink of coffee and lost track of what I was saying.
“Fuck me, this is good coffee.”
I know, right?” DT agreed.
“Where’d you get it?”
“That’s classified, soldier.” The corners of his mouth tilted up.”
“I forced the memory of how that mouth had tasted back into the lockbox in my brain. “Asshole.” Banter was good. It gave us some familiarity and some distance at the same time.”
— Behind the 8-Ball: A Subpar Heroes Story by A. E. Wasp
It should be a good story but the framework and how Wasp lays out the characters and storylines will just give the reader a headache. I’m sure the author is going for a certain narrative style but it’s hard to tell because it lacks substance and flow.
DNF
Subpar Heroes series- 15 books:
🔷The Accidental Necromancer by Liv Rancourt
🔷Behind the 8-Ball by A. E. Wasp 5/30/2024
🔷Transparent Is a Color by Kaje Harper
🔷Impossible Things by Alexa Land
🔷My Not-So-Super Blind Date by Allison Temple 6/6/2024
🔷An Ex-Hero’s Guide to Axe Handling by Jenn Burke 6/13/2024
🔷In The Nick of Time by Elle Keaton 7/25/2024
🔷Static/Cling by Jaimie Samms 7/30/2024
🔷Spiritual Guidance Not Required by Jacy Braegan 8/1/2024
I love the Hot Off the Ice series by A. E. Wasp and the latest novel, Fan Boy, is just a reminder why it’s so fun and well written.
Wasp’s storylines never forgets that these characters as well as the series are grounded firmly in the sport of professional ice hockey. The team dynamics, the sheer physicality of the players and what it takes to maintain their peak performance levels while also being able to have a personal life. That last part is as important to the team and players stability as their physical conditioning.
Over and over, it’s the players who lack a support system outside of the team that fumbles their respective lives, professional and personal. Wasp has been able to explore different personalities, team dynamics and positions, and couples so far. It’s been a fascinating journey for so many different players.
Now it’s Thunder forward Alex Huberdeau, a sweet, immensely gifted hockey player. He’s just been dumped by his longtime fiancée, someone he’s known since his high school days. He’s lonely in the enormous house he bought for them after they were married, and drifting in the aftermath of this rejection.
In typical, wonderful Wasp fashion, Alex has been crafted as a character we not only can care about immediately but as he reveals more of the depth of his personality and inner voice, we fall even more deeply in love with him.
The same goes for Sunny Gonzales, a nonbinary fashion designer who’s working for their friend’s Phoebe’s cafe as a barista. Sunny is a character who is beautifully fluid, vibrantly articulate who transforms their appearance through their incredible fashion designs. Sunny’s relationship with Alex is one that incorporates humor, wonder, surprise, and growth, especially as they help Alex adjust to a new sense of awareness about his own sexuality.
It’s beautiful romance and such a great storyline. It’s got personal exploration, splendid communication between not just the two main characters but their friends who are just as much a part of them and their relationship.
There’s also laugh out loud scenes, courtesy of Alex’s best friend and fellow teammate, Devin and another couple from a previous story. Just hilarious.
We actually get two couples here. Plus plus!
Would I have been happy for an additional chapter or two? Why, yes. I wasn’t ready for this to be over. But I was satisfied with the outcome and the ending.
Fanboy (Hot Off the Ice Book 8) by A. E. Wasp is a fantastic story and source of reading happiness. A definite recommendation.
Fashion, fake dates, and real stakes. Sometimes the only way to win is to break all the rules.
After being dumped by his fiance, Thunder forward Alex Huberdeau finds himself questioning the game of love entirely. Clueless about dating, disinterested in flings, and unable to have a normal conversation with women, Alex is convinced something’s broken inside him.
Enter Sunny Gonzales—a nonbinary, proudly polyamorous, fashion designer desperately searching for a big break. While their creativity blooms, love seems a luxury that’s eluded them, shaded by their fears of a world quick to shun people who color outside the lines.
When Alex learns that Sunny needs a partner for a game show that could be the answer to their prayers, he leaps at the chance to help. In return, Sunny will teach him all they know about love and romance.
With only three weeks to learn all they can about each other, Sunny and Alex embark on a crash course that blurs the lines between friendship and romance. As feelings grow and the game show’s climax looms, Alex and Sunny must decide if they’re playing to win or playing for keeps.
Fanboy is a story about breaking binaries and subverting expectations. It contains questionable coffee drinks, zoot suits, a talking car, and unauthorized use of a hot tub.
I’ve enjoyed A. E. Wasp’s hockey romance series, Hot Off The Ice, since the first book debuted back on June 29, 2017. That was the lovely City Boy, about farmer Dakota and closeted NHL player Bryce Lowery.
Now at book 7, with 2 more novels planned, the series continues with the Seattle Thunder going strong and a new troubled arrival from Las Vegas coming for a second and perhaps only last chance to make it in the NHL.
Bad Boys is a hurt/comfort, age gap redemption love story. And when it works great when it stays on the main couple’s relationship, and Noah’s journey to a more well adjusted, healthy adult who can then carry that new understanding over into his career. Those things make Bad Boys a terrific read.
There’s many aspects to Bad Boys that A.E. Wasp does so well narratively speaking. Her characters are so well done, layered with their own unique personalities and combined with elements that speak to their passions and strengths. If they’re hockey players, we see the difference in physicality between them and other people. We get great team dynamics and a depth of understanding about the game. For characteristics, if they’re cooks, business peoples or whatever, Wasp has given each the right amount of detail that they can standout and still be able to be believable and alive. This will add to the richness of the story and hurt it when certain people drop out of sight.
The relationship between Adam and Noah is engaging and wonderful to be a part of. It’s funny, serious, sexy , and real. While there is an age gap, it’s not mentioned or discussed much here, in the relationship or elsewhere. I only found that odd when it was brought up that Adam had played with Noah’s father, however, no mention of either man’s age at the time (Adam or Noah’s dad), although it was said Noah was very young at the time.
Wasp brings therapy into the storyline as a means to get healthy and understand what is driving certain aspects of a person’s behaviors. And how to counteract these behaviors through therapy. It’s a great tool for both men and the league. It was wonderful seeing it here.
Team dynamics, Noah’s redemption within the team and himself is real and fully worth the book. You can see him struggling with his toxic relationship with his father, it’s ramifications, and his mental awareness that allows him to move forward. All amazing elements here.
Same goes for Adam’s grief over his failed marriage and hidden secrets about his dead husband. That actually needed more page time for Adam to finish that chapter of his life. But the author is speeding towards the finish line.
Which brings me to what is still bothering me about this story.
Usually it’s a case of the disappearing animal character that has me so irritated. But here it’s a father, island, and a married couple. Read on but there’s spoilers ahead.
Elements that weren’t allowed to come to fruition or were dropped completely. ⛔️ Spoiler Alert ⛔️
1. Noah Braterman’s toxic father and his relationship with him. The last mention of this man was that the coach was fielding his insistent nasty phone calls, informing Noah the man was coming across as unhinged. Not a single word or sentence afterwards was given over to this man or large section of Noah’s redemptive storyline where he dealing with the toxicity of an adolescence and adulthood under this man. It’s an emotional matter not dealt with, and I can’t understand that. It’s not logical not to include at least some semblance of closure.
2. Then in a connected storyline thread, there’s the unexpected, startling way that the island and mansion were made to disappear from Adam’s life. Towards the end, Dev , the BIL, arranges for a Japanese firm to buy both the island and mansion. Deal done, and a major narrative element is dealt with and vanishes. Just a few sentences and buhbye. Goodbye to all the important scenes, places, whales, the boat, everything. Which brings us to big number 3.
3. Guess who else disappeared with the mansion and island not to be mentioned again. The all important, ever heartwarming fabulous strong women characters who live on the island too. The ones who have been Adam’s support system for years and who the readers get to know and love almost as completely as everyone else in this book. That’s Annie or Ms Potts and her ceramic artist wife, Tracy. They live on the caretaker’s cottage on the island and are a big part of not only Adam’s life, past and present, but become part of Noah’s as well. After parting with Adam in an emotional scene to tell him to, basically, go get his man, they disappear. Not a word about these important people is written again in this book. No goodbye’s, nothing. Not even a vague statement of missing them.
“You’re moving off the island?” Paul asked.
“Yep. It’s sold. House and island together.””
— Bad Boys (Hot Off the Ice Book 7) by A. E. Wasp
A.E. Wasp writes in her author’s notes that it took her years to finish this book. If that’s the case, then I would have expected that the issues that popped up and have stayed with me to the detriment of the overall polished product and satisfaction I derived from Bad Boys to have been resolved.
I wonder about these issues. In the epilogue, the happy couple talk about inviting people over to their new place. Guess who’s not included in that list? Yup, the women who held Adam together.
If I was Wasp’s editor, that would have been on my list for things easily inserted that would have been expected and made readers happy.
So it turned out that Bad Boys is a good book but not a great one. I’m interested in seeing what the next two books will be about. And if some of the things that are a bit flawed here can get corrected in books to come.
I’m recommending this as a good hockey romance, part of a terrific series, and one that fans of this author won’t want to miss.
Noah Braterman’s hotheaded attitude may cost him his NHL career before it truly begins. After alienating his current teammates, coaches, fans, and the press, Noah gets a second chance to prove his worth when he’s traded to the Seattle Thunder with one ultimatum—lose the attitude or lose his spot on the team.
Enter Adam Labatt, former NHL player, and Noah’s last, best Vegas fling.
After his own rocky past in the show, Adam turned himself around and is now being asked by his old mentor to help Noah learn to play well with others. Living in isolation on his private island and still guilt-ridden over the way his marriage ended, how can Adam possibly mentor anyone? But the man he shared an unexpectedly intimate passionate night with is worth fighting for, even if he has to fight Noah himself.
Forced into close quarters, the walls they’ve erected to protect themselves crumble as they share their hopes, dreams, and fears.
Fate brought them together. Now it’s up to them to find the courage to face the world unafraid. If they do, they just might create a future better than they could have imagined that night in Vegas under the desert stars.
A Christmas Outing is a wonderful heartwarming holiday story whose narrative gifts are tarnished by the errors and mistakes that are found inside.
Continuity issues, once again, thy name is A Veterans Affairs. The most striking example is Troy’s best friend growing up, Leo. A closeted gay himself, it was his death that pushed Troy out of the closet and onto a new path. Hugely important.
So it would have to be a factor that’s a major aspect of Troy’s life and storylines. You would expect zero variation. Incoming, the first novel, has its version being that Leo was shot to death by a hookup in a gas station because he’s afraid to be seen in a gay bar.
Written as an epilogue to that story but released separately (same time frame), A Christmas Outing: A Veterans Affairs Story has Leo dying as a result of being beaten to death by homophobes.
To use the vernacular, I can’t even.
Troy’s West Virginia large family of Methodists becomes ethnically distinctly Italian Catholic, with some surprising side trips.
There’s so many elements that are mentioned and discussed superficially. A gay conversion camp and therapy, a gay cousin, a rescue, a PSTD episode that’s quickly dealt with, a hidden relationship, a coming out, a service dog and her duties, a gay partner who’s not religious. I’m sure I’m leaving out some. Bigotry.
All at Christmas. So heartwarming.
The fact that the Christmas card decorations and big Italian Catholic families are supposed to make up for the lost depth and glossing over of some of the very tough topics raised is in a manner a surface treatment used by families to make them feel better about themselves and issues they would rather not face.
It ends typically with a happy ending for the couple, one not shared with those around them. Big surprise.
There’s a couple more books in this series that are focused around another couple that lives in the same small town of Red Deer, Colorado.
Not entirely sure I’m continuing. It’s interesting but I have more books in 2023 on my list to finish first.
Incoming – Troy & Dmitri novel A Christmas Outing – Troy & Dmitri novella
Paper Hearts – Mikey & Benny novel Paper Roses – Mikey & Benny novella
Bronze Star – Jay-Cee & Chris novel
Description:
Troy and Dmitri have worked everything out – well, almost everything. Except for the part where Troy’s family doesn’t know Dmitri exists. Coming out to his family sounds scarier than going to war. And Troy would know.
Troy’s been out of the Army for almost a year, and except for a few short weeks, hasn’t been back to West Virginia at all. Now it’s Christmas and if he doesn’t go, he’ll break his momma’s heart. Trouble is, Troy’s afraid that going home with a boyfriend and service dog in tow will break his Momma’s heart just as much.
Incoming, the beginning of Wasp’s Veterans Affairs series, is a terrific book marred by poor editing and continuity issues, things that unfortunately continue into the next story, Christmas Outing.
Released in 2016, it dates itself with elements that I regard fondly. Music, a car with actual paper road maps in the passenger seat, be still my heart. And while I’d like to chalk up the editing errors, that for some readers might send this novel flying across the room, to inadequate technology at the time, I suspect that’s just not the case.
Most of the glaring mistakes concern switching important names sometimes within paragraphs. Whether it’s between the main characters or even towards the end, the adorable but vastly different canine characters, it occurs often and throughout the story.
How does an author not have noticed something so major that it takes a reader out of the narrative because they are trying to make sense of who’s talking? Or a canine acting out of character? A super intelligent border collie who’s lived in the house for years can’t figure out a door while the new recently ill dog is racing towards a ball already in the backyard. Uh no. Pls edit.
It’s a shame because the core story and the characters are quite wonderful. Especially Troy Johnson, ex Army, who’s issues include untreated PTSD, the stress of being a closeted gay man to his religious family in WV, and internalizing all the pain, suffering, and loss of his recent campaigns in Afghanistan. Troy is so beautifully written and painfully detailed a person who’s trying to figure out a new life and not quite succeeding.
Less immediately likable but just as realistic is Dimitri, a research veterinarian* (because he couldn’t stand to cause animals/their owners pain) who’s let his fears of pain overwhelm him to the extent he’s walled himself off emotionally and physically from life, except for his best friend. He’s more than a bit self absorbed, a tad cowardly, and reactionary. Unrealistic. How did the author explain him getting through vet school?
Did I believe in him? Yes, sort of. In a where did his degree come from kinda way. Did I like him? Hmmm, maybe. More so as I started to see the men together. It was their dynamic and relationship that sold me , as well as his relationships with his best friend, Sugar, that connected me with Dmitri.
Excellent work with his less than stellar personality and character growth.But his profession needs work.
The characters that support them are amazing. Whether it’s the bar owner, Vincent, a vet himself, and the best friend, Angel. The dogs too, like Sweetie the service dog and Dmitri’s border collie, Moby.
So read the this book and it’s companion, A Christmas Outing, a sort of epilogue to this couple’s relationship, if you’re a fan of the author’s and extremely tolerant of editing errors and continuity mistakes.
However, if those things are book stoppers for you, I’d suggest you skip these. Not even the diminutive shortcut for Dmitri remains the same throughout the novel. SMH.
*some scientific researchers do tend to use animals in their experiments so I do wonder how much research herself Wasp did here. Just a thought.
Books in the Veterans Affairs Series
Incoming – Troy & Dmitri novel A Christmas Outing – Troy & Dmitri novella
Paper Hearts – Mikey & Benny novel Paper Roses – Mikey & Benny novella
Army veteran Troy is everything Dmitri’s ever wanted in a guy: gorgeous, smart, and funny. He likes dogs, he has the sexiest trace of an accent, and his kisses set off fireworks in Dmitri’s entire body. Too bad Troy is looking to stay in Red Deer Dmitri is getting the hell out of this small town as soon as he can.
Still, they might be able to work it out, but Troy has secrets he won’t tell, and the demons he’s running from are hot on his heels. When sparks fly on a hot Fourth of July weekend, both men find that the past is not easily left behind, and the future is never as clear as you hope.
Home is where you make it.
Beau Hopper is good at goodbyes. A minor-league hockey player, he goes where the league tells him. Single and estranged from his family, Beau drifts without connections or commitments. He makes a living, not a life.
Former Marine Connor Casey’s life revolves around his siblings. After Hurricane Harvey took their home and a car-crash claimed their parents, Connor is determined to rebuild their house and their lives.
When Beau learns Connor might lose custody of his siblings if he can’t finish the rebuild in time, he volunteers to help in exchange for a place to stay, and it isn’t long before he finds himself in Connor’s bed. It takes more than passion and plywood to build a home, so when the league comes calling after Beau, Connor can’t ask him to stay… but how can he ever let him go?
Welcome to Hidden Creek, Texas, where the heart knows what it wants, and where true love lives happily ever after. Every Men of Hidden Creek novel can be read on its own, but keep an eye out for familiar faces around town! This book contains eye-rolling teenagers, stolen kisses, and fewer noogies than you’d expect.
What drew me to this story is the author. A.E. Wasp is one of my auto buys. Wasp can do no wrong as this story clearly proves. Plus there’s a hockey player, so huge bonus, and a passel of kids, Double bonus. Throw in a ex Marine in dire need of help? And this story pretty much has it all, except for a sequel which would make it perfect.
Score (Men of Hidden Creek – Season 1, #6) by A.E. Wasp is a story embedded in a series that has as it foundation a town called Hidden Creek. From there various authors tell the stories of their couples and journeys to love and HEA in that small town and its community. After this story, I picked up another to see exactly how, if any, the stories interlocked, and I can safely say they really don’t. Some of the other characters pop up occasionally as “mentions” but that is about it. So and so’s food stand, etc. Or as a gay couple in town, but the other couples aren’t “co-opted” so to speak by another author when writing their own novels for this series. So a reader can feel safe in picking any of them up in any order they feel like and diving right in.
Which is exactly what I did.
I have spoken of my admiration of A.E. Wasp’s ability to right great dialog and it’s here in spades, alongside great characters. Ex Marine Connor Casey, is a case in point. He is overwhelmed and real. We meet him elbows deep under the hood of a car in a repair shop, and then we find out slowly he’s the one who needs healing. Stressed, with a house needing quick repairs from the last hurricane, children he’s taken on the responsibility for, grieving he hasn’t done…there is so much to Connor that even as the author is peeling away his layers, the readers are left knowing we have so much more to know of this man. It is in his interactions with his brothers and sisters, with the other people around him, the ever changing dynamics, and finally with Beau Hopper, the blue haired hockey player blowing into town to upset the status quo. Including his own.
Beau Hopper has as many, albeit different depths to him, as does Connor. I found their relationship compelling, sexy, and one I greatly connected to. Especially when the kids twined around Beau, pulling him into the family, locking him into their hearts, and Beau realizing how much he cared about them too. Found family indeed.
There are multiple family ties and relationship here that get worked on, issues that need to be thought through, and how it all is resolved absolutely works for me. l Except of course that I want more. I was in no way done with this enlarged family. I want so much more of them. I felt I was just getting started and then It was over. Job too well done lol
I highly recommend this story and author. If you aren’t familiar with this author, this story is a great place to start. Then work your way over to Wasp’s series. You will be delighted with your discovery there.
Cover art really doesn’t do it for me. Where are all the important elements of the story? Who is this supposed to be? Just no.
ebook
Published April 3rd 2018 (first published April 1st 2018)
Original Title Score
Edition Language English
Series Men of Hidden Creek – Season 1, #6
Teammates, roommates, friends with benefits. What could go wrong?
Boys of Summer is a book about finding the perfect person to ride shotgun with on the crazy road trip called life. It contains a Dolly Parton lookalike, an unfortunate deer versus car incident, and poorly-timed epiphanies.
Everybody leaves. That was the first lesson Thunder goalie James McVicker ever learned. The second lesson was that if you don’t want to hurt, don’t let yourself get attached. Patrick O’Reilly is the best friend Vicky’s ever had. So obviously when Vicky finds himself possibly, maybe stupidly, falling in love with the guy, it only makes sense for him to leave first, right? So why does it feel like he’s just made the biggest mistake of his life?
Patrick O’Reilly loves being in love. He loves the romance and hearts and flowers of it all, but he hates the way it always seems to end. Friends are simpler. Friends don’t break your heart. Luckily, he has the greatest best-friend-slash-teammate-slash-roommate in the world. Hanging out with Vicky is as easy as breathing, and despite Paddy’s initial fears, adding some epic benefits of the sexual kind to their friendship only makes it better. He’s certainly not going to ruin things by doing something as stupid as falling in love. Obviously, Vicky isn’t in love with him. He’s just confused by all these stupid weddings. If Paddy can get him to talk, they can work all this out and get back to being friends again.
The course of true love never did run smoothly, but maybe with the help of their friends and family and some last-minute divine intervention, what started as a road trip could turn into the adventure of a lifetime.
I am desperately hoping that this is not the end of the series for our boys of summer because I am hopelessly addicted to this cast of characters, this team, and this series. With each story and couple, A.E. Wasp has kept this series fresh, lively, and invigorating. Wasp beautifully combines her love and ability to write the fast paced, complex game of hockey with a gift for capturing the believable dynamics of a wide range of developing relationships and lay them out before her readers in such a way as to pull us in and make us love these people.
And with each story I declare the men and their relationship my favorite novel.
Boys of Summer (Hot Off the Ice #5) by A.E. Waspwith Vicky and Paddy is my favorite story and they are my favorite couple. Of course.
Here is a novel that has friends to lovers, awakening sexuality, deep friendships, layered characters, familial and found families, and a game that combines, no demands the best of the men playing it. That’s intellectually understanding it’s demands at a high rate of speed, a flexibility of mind and body, the ability to endure its exhausting schedule and indignities inflicted upon bod and soul, all the while keeping the passion for the game burning. It’s rare and Wasp highlights the game in all its facets through the eyes of its players and coaches, and sometimes their SO’s.
The series has started with a veteran retiring to here, two of the youngest players on a team. We’ve effectively gone backwards in perspective in what it means to be gay or bi or LGBTQIA+ and playing on a NHL or NHL associated hockey team. From coming out to still figuring out who you are sexually, and the journey in between.
One of the many elements that has always drawn me to the stories of AE Wasp is the author’s characters. They are so well constructed, multidimensional and real. But more than that it’s the dialog that accompanies them. It sings of personalities so full of life that the Kindle can barely contain them! I laugh and sometimes cry with them, I see them so clearly as the words flow out of their mouths. I know these men, and love them.
It’s why I want to see more of them and want this series to continue so I can see them, all of them once more. Hear them smash up against the boards, the swoosh of skates across the ice, and the love of one player for the game, his team, and the love of his life. Whoever that may be.
Boys of Summer was everything, Hot Off the Ice is incredible, and author AE Wasp one of my favorite authors. Pick up the entire series and find out why I am recommending all three so highly.
Cover art is lovely and still working to brand the series.
In a world that measures success in dollars, how do you put a price on happiness?
Love, marriage, and a baby carriage. It’s all Alex Staunton has ever wanted. Well, that and an Olympic medal for figure skating. The medal he got. The rest of it – not so much.
When his most recent poor decision comes to a door-slamming end, Alex moves into the house of his best friend, Thunder starting goalie, Sergei Pergov. But when tragedy strikes, giving Sergei custody of the twins he fathered confidentially, Alex’s problems take a backseat to the needs of two infants, and Alex vows to be the best fake-dad and house-husband he can be.
Sergei is dazzled by the way Alex makes managing all the craziness look as easy as doing a triple-axel. As their friendship grows even deeper, Sergei realizes he doesn’t want to imagine a life without Alex in it. Alex is the one who makes their house a home; his love makes them a family. How can Sergei make Alex understand he’s worth everything?
Skater Boy is a story about falling in love with your best friend. It contains discussions about baby poop, day drinking, girls’ night out, and the purchase of a mini-van.
Figure skaters and hockey players! That is a match made in romance heaven! And when the hockey player is a hot Russian goalie? Well then that’s just the sparkles, rainbow diamond dust, and everything wonderful layered on top! This is the couple of Skater Boy (Hot Off the Ice #3) by A.E. Wasp. Readers familiar with this series will have met both characters before in the previous stories (City Boy, Country Boy, Boy Toy) and remember some of the scenes recounted here, now told through the eyes of Alex Staunton, former Olympic medal figure skater, now a coach for several of the Thunder players. Our other familiar face is Sergei Pergov, the Thunder’s all star goalie. Pergov impact, story by story, is impressive as is the man. Russian, with a personality as huge as his physique, I love this man so. And lately he was appearing with Alex by his side in the other stories.
I was dying to see their relationship start. This is that story.
Of course, with a AE Wasp story, there are depths to both characters. Alex Staunton’s past history, his fight to the Olympics, and his current status, all come with layers of pain, and concessions that have cost his soul and leaving his sense of self worth broken. Sergei Pergov has removed himself from Russia, his family, and the past there. He lives alone in his huge house in the suburbs until he spies Alex and starts to want more. Then gets much , much, more.
Wasp takes both men through the tentative stages of friendship, lust, discussions of personal revelations and self discovery, to declarations of love and a family. It’s all done through great charactions, wonderful writing, and a plot I totally connected with. I mean, a vulnerable figure skater, a hot Russian goalie, and twins! It even has two adorable hairless cats Torvill and Dean, complete with sweaters. This may end up being my favorite story of the series. I haven’t finished reading them all yet, but I just love this couple. What can I say?
Yes, I recommend this story and series, but read them all in the order they are written to get the most out of the relationship dynamics and the timeline for the characters. I have them all listed below.
Cover art is lovely and in keeping with branding the series and characters.
Sometimes the toughest thing to have faith in is yourself.
The first time Paul Dyson met Robbie Rhodes, they ended up naked in Robbie’s bed. The last time they met, on the ice the morning after, Paul punched Robbie in the face and called him something he’d rather not repeat.
Two years later, they’re teammates on the Seattle Thunder hockey team.
Being gay is wrong, unnatural, and there is no room for them in his world. Paul’s heard that his whole life. So when it hits him that he is gay, he does the only thing he can: he shoves himself so deep in the closet he would need a map to find his way out again.
When the chance to fulfill his lifelong dream comes along, Paul can’t say no, even if it forces him to share hotel rooms with the only man he can’t resist. It doesn’t take long for Paul to give into temptation and find himself falling in love with his brilliant, caring teammate.
But as much as he cares for Paul, Robbie is finding it harder and harder to justify hiding who he is. It goes against everything he was taught was right. He feels like he has a duty to come out to the public. He’d be the first out gay pro-hockey player.
If Paul wants to be with Robbie, he will have to turn his back on his family and everything he’s believed in. If Robbie wants to be will Paul, he’ll have to do the same.
It’s going to take them a lot of faith to find their way together in this shiny new world.
Country Boy is a love story about figuring out who you are, who you want to be, and how to get there. It contains sweet hockey plays, a 1976 Corvette Stingray, fancy underwear, and the journey of a lifetime.
Country Boy, the second in the Hot Off the Ice series by AE Wasp, puts the spotlight back on the Seattle Thunder and two of its newest teammates. Robbie Rhodes, who we met in the first story City Boy, and Paul Dyson, the Thunder’s newest recruit. As was City Boy, Country Boy is someone exploring their sexuality, what it means to be gay from a religious standpoint, and as a young upcoming NHL hockey player. It does so using two diametrically opposed young men. One brought up to believe in the reality of God, hell and brimstone, gay is actually evil and to be a homosexual was to be a perversion of all things natural. It was to be cast out of family, church, and society, to admit to such beliefs. That would be Paul and his ultra conservative upbringing. Then there is Robby, out and proud, with loving parents who might not understand hockey but love and support their son.
Paul and Robbie have a shared collegiate hockey rivalry history as well as a shocking, short romantic one. The last that ended in a brutal way.
Wasp brings both Robbie and Paul to life here with all the turbulence of their combined pasts, Paul’s deep confusion over his sexuality, his pain over his upbringing and religion, and the choices life seems to be asking him to make. The author has Paul reaching deep into his heart and soul for answers about how he feels about his church, parents, religion overall, and asking himself some heartbreaking questions. As readers these soul searching inner monologues and conversations Paul has with himself and others, including Robbie, make him so real, his situation so believable that he is easy to connect with.
So too Robbie with his learning disabilities, his need to remain out and not fall back into the closet that he’s worked so hard to climb out of. And just perhaps, should be even more out of as an example for LGBTQIA+ kids wishing to play hockey everywhere. Robbie too has his realistic struggles here and not just with his romance with Paul, although that is huge.
As much as I loved its predecessor, I feel that Country Boy (Hot Off the Ice #2) by A.E. Wasp tackled so many more tough issues here and did so remarkably well. AE Wasp does a wonderful job balancing multiple story threads here, weaving them all into a whole that is wonderful and heartwarming. The characters are believable and easy to connect with plus Robbie and Paul’s romance is one to remember. I love them both and can’t wait to follow their love through the rest of the series.
It’s just book two and I am in love with this series of complex men, the game of hockey and Seattle’s Thunder. Pick them up and read them in the order they were written to get a feeling of the entire cast of characters which make appearances in each book, and watch to see who and how their own romances grow as well.
Cover art is perfect for branding the series and for the characters involved. Love it.
All Bryce Lowery knows how to do is play hockey. He’s been playing professionally since he was fifteen. Twenty years later, he’s rich, famous, tired, and alone. And possibly gay according to his ex-wife.
When a blown tire leads directly to mind-blowing sex with a motorcycle-riding white knight named Dakota, Bryce discovers he is most definitely gay. Now Bryce has a tough choice to make, follow the money to a new multimillion dollar contract, or follow his heart into the unknown?
All Dakota Ryan knows how to do is grow apples. Now at twenty-four, he faces losing both his home and his livelihood in one cruel twist of fate.
Then Bryce Lowery crashes into his life like the answer to all of Dakota’s prayers. He’s whispering promises to make all of Dakota’s wildest dreams come true. But Dakota knows better than to give his heart to someone who could leave, and if life has taught him anything, it’s that everyone leaves.
Dakota has a choice, sit back and wait for Bryce to decide his fate, or for the first time in his life, chose what he wants his future to be.
City Boy is a first time gay, fish out of water, May/December love story with a happy ending. It features snarky siblings, a dirty-talking farmer, lots of food, and big choices. (No poultry was harmed in the making of this book.)
Because I made a vow to go through STRW’s Hockey Romance list and read all the stories I missed and also because It’s now hockey season once more, I’ve started to read AE Wasp’s Hot Off the Ice series and I’ll tell you I’m loving it. City Boy (Hot Off the Ice #1) by A.E. Wasp is our introduction to the boys of Thunder, the Seattle NHL Hockey team. Actually, one of them who is in flux. That would be hockey all star Bryce Lowery, currently on the injured reserve list until he recuperates from his recent leg injury. But he’s fighting more than just a injury, and a deceased relative, a will, and a road trip to Colorado might give him the change of direction he needs.
Dakota is a farmer, orchard farmer to be exact, one in danger of losing everything due to mislaid trust, naivete, and a crushing loss . And now he faces an uncertain future and nowhere to go.
This is one of those many trope story’s. We have age gap, coming out, sexual discovery, as well as HEA. And it all works because of Wasp’s wonderful charizations that allows us into the mindsets of each man as they make their journey towards each other and work their way through their individual issues. City Boy is relatively low on angst, high on sweetness. There are great dogs, wonderful sisters (on both sides), friends that appear, and, of course, teammates to gather round at Thanksgiving…all that start to form a “found family”.
Characters that form a foundation for the rest of the series.
This story is sweet, engaging, and really sets the stage for the rest of the series. I love it and recommend it .
Cover art is perfect with the orchard at the bottom and Bryce at the top. Love it.
Home is where you make it.
Teammates, roommates, friends with benefits. What could go wrong?
In a world that measures success in dollars, how do you put a price on happiness?
Sometimes the toughest thing to have faith in is yourself.
Follow the money or follow your heart?
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 