Review: The Wishing Tree by R.J. Scott

Rating: 4🌈⛄️

The Wishing Tree is a sweet, heartwarming holiday tale of a long time wish come true as two friends find their way to love and HEA at Christmas.

Once again, the snowy, beautiful state of Vermont serves as the backdrop for Scott’s holiday romance. I honestly don’t know what narrative pheromones Vermont is throwing off these days but.it seems as though every other book I pick up lately is located there. Not that I’m complaining, it is picturesque and perfect in so many ways that I get it.

And it works just as great as a location for the small town of Wishing Tree, it’s annual Christmas festival and it’s close knit community. Including that of the Buchanan family and the Haynes clan, all four brothers of which Bailey is the youngest.

It’s Bailey Haynes who as a young teenager, wrote his wish on the Wishing Tree about his deepest feelings for Kai, the fact the Bailey was gay and hadn’t told anyone yet. Everything poured out on a card years ago.

The story moves forward through past important events to arrive at the present and our meeting with the man of Bailey’s dreams.

That’s Kai Buchanan, soon to be ex hockey player of the Harriers. It’s been a tumultuous time for both Kai and Bailey, although neither knows the true extent of each other’s feelings and current situations.

I liked Bailey. He seems young, with a need for quiet and a certain amount of solitude. Extremely artistic, as a jewelry designer, Bailey also has held within himself a secret love of silk and a way of wearing beautiful undergarments like corsets.

The author balances Bailey’s fear of rejection over how he sees himself, dressed as he wants to be, and Kai’s inadequacies in expressing his feelings upon not only his return but prior to that.

Like Bailey, I was a tad unimpressed by Kai’s announcement of love as it seemed to pop out of nowhere, with absolutely zero foundation.

The story earnestly moved forward past this section and got much better and believable.

All the families, siblings, many nieces and nephews were all adorable. They helped ground the couple in a loving strong environment.

With the Christmas decorations and festivities, the relationship got the wonderful elements we look forward to in a holiday story, full of snow, starry nights, and wishes granted for a HEA.

The Wishing Tree by R.J. Scott is a lovely holiday friends to lovers story! A sweet romance I’m definitely recommending.

https://www.goodreads.com › showThe Wishing Tree by R.J. Scott – Goodreads

Synopsis:

It takes an impossible Christmas wish for Bailey to find forever love with his brother’s best friend.

Turning twenty-five and still a virgin, Bailey has barely dated, let alone acted on the private fantasies featuring his brother’s best friend, newly retired hockey star, Kai. All he wants is for Kai to love him, but after a summer when Kai’s anger drove them apart, love doesn’t seem possible at all.

When Kai goes home to Wishing Tree, he knows he owes everyone an apology, not least of all to the man he loves. He’s convinced he can be the man that Bailey deserves, and he needs to show Bailey how much he’s changed.

The only problem? Bailey has secrets that he’s scared will drive Kai away, and Kai is running out of time to convince Bailey that falling in love starts with a wish and can end up in forever.

The Wishing Tree is a standalone small-town Christmas MM romance with perfect snow, twinkling lights, a first real kiss, a shy virgin with a silken kink, a retired hockey player, and all the Christmas feels.

Review: Snowed (Boston Rebels #3) by R.J. Scott and V.L. Locey

Rating: 4.5 🌈

Kyle Lourenco, goalie for the Boston Rebels, has been a quietly interesting character in this series . Mentioned in quite a few books, he’s been a somewhat enigmatic peripheral character. Someone we didn’t know as well as we had the others but a person still likable and within our “hockey family “ fold.

This story abruptly changes that. And it sees Kyle returning home to family and a man he left physically behind but never emotionally.

The location is northbound Manitoba, and members of Kyle’s family as well as others in the small town of Eagles Ridge are Indigenous peoples. It allows the authors to include elements of that culture into this story for an additional richness of location and character. I really appreciated this aspect of the story.

The location also adds to the authenticity of the brutality of winter and freezing conditions the story is founded upon. Snowed indeed.

The character of Kyle is a haunted one, his personality tormented by a childhood amnesia and constant nightmares that no one has been able to determine the cause of. Add to that the fact that he’s left or abandoned (depending upon perspective) his family, friends, and love for the NHL. And you have a deeply complicated tormented man in need of help.

Christian Gauthier is the man and love Kyle left behind. A love he still carries while working in his store or running search and rescue missions.

When the men reconnect during a blizzard, it sets off all sorts of unexpected events. To go further would spoil the fun and indeed, some of the shockers too,

This is a emotional ride of all sorts. There’s a scary mystery, lovers reunited, second chance at love, family homecoming….all sorts of goodness here.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. And the ending seemed just right for this couple.

I wonder what book 4 will bring.

I’m definitely recommending this story. It’s a winner!

Boston Rebels series:

Lost in Boston #0.5

Top Shelf #1

Back Check #2

Snowed #3

Synopsis:

A second chance at love is all Kyle wants for Christmas, but a dark menace from his past wants him dead, and love is second to staying alive.

Kyle Lourenco has carved out a comfortable life and career for himself in Boston. With the holidays quickly approaching, he’s heading home for the first time in several years. Home to his loving parents and the small Canadian town where he was raised. And home to Christian, his best friend and the first man to steal his heart.

Just as a winter storm begins to blow in, it forces Kyle off the road only miles from home and a dark and sinister force from his past creeps ever closer. His only hope is getting to Christian’s cabin before the evil that has haunted him for years finally catches up to him.

Best friends since they were three, Christian Gauthier grew up next door to Kyle, in a remote mountain town with one stoplight and a forty-mile round trip to the nearest school. When Kyle left town for a shot at a professional hockey career, he took Christian’s heart with him. Even though he knew Kyle was always destined for bigger things, it hadn’t stopped Christian from falling for him as soon as he knew what love was.

With Christmas coming soon and a major snowstorm heading their way, Christian shuts the doors to the family store and heads to his cabin, where he will be on standby as an official volunteer for Search and Rescue. He has never regretted staying in Eagle Ridge, but a near miss on a simple rescue leads him to reevaluate everything, and when Kyle ends up at his door, he knows that guarding his heart might not be the best solution after all.

https://www.goodreads.com › showSnowed by R.J. Scott – Goodreads

Review: Desert Dreams (Owatonna U Hockey #6) by R.J. Scott and V.L. Locey

Rating: 5🌈

It’s been about a little over a year since the events of Valentine’s Hearts, the preceding book in the Owatonna U Hockey series. In that story we saw two momentous events, a sexual assault on Jacob and finally Ryker and Jacob’s wedding.

As the series finale opens, Jacob’s dreams have been realized and Mountain Vista Ranch is a reality. And ready to receive its first occupants, at risk LGBTQ youth and their families.

I love this story. Desert Dreams feels not so much like a final chapter but a novel full of new beginnings. Honestly by the end I was even surprised to find Ryker still a Raptor because so many new paths had been opened up here for so many new outstanding new characters.

R.J.Scott and V.L. Locey are great at crossovers when it comes to their various series and characters so I wasn’t surprised to see a prime character from Scott’s Texas series (and others) make a important appearance here. Seeing him sets the foundation for the ranch and potential storylines. Again with my assumptions.

Can I say my heart embraces the ranch and it’s environment, animals and people immediately? It did. Jacob is it’s heart with Ryker providing needed support but all the staff, including a Russian security guy who’s found his inner Clint Eastwood, it’s accumulating, and the animals (horses, goats, dog… each and every one with huge personalities) are also part of the chemistry and narrative magic that makes Mountain Vista Ranch work.

Then there’s the family that arrives needing shelter and so much more. They will grab at your heart. I’m hoping the son will be making more appearances in stories to come. I need to know what happens to him.

Desert Dreams isn’t about endings but new beginnings.

I’m hoping that means a series called Mountain Vista Ranch because never has a place cried out for a series than this place.

If you’re a Owatonna U Hockey fan, this book is a fantastic way to see the series out.

But if you’re like me, you’re hopeful that this a bright, beautiful start to something wonderful….a way to not only usher out a certain stage in Ryker and Jacob’s lives but to see them into a new journey and series.

I’m most definitely recommending this book, and series.

Note. There’s a element of physical domestic abuse , already happened,as well as threats here so for those who might see these as triggers, please take note.

Owatonna U Hockey Series: 6 books

Ryker #1

Scott #2

Benoit #3

Christmas Lights #4

Valentine’s Hearts #5

Desert Dreams – #6

Synopsis:

When danger stalks their new home, it’s only their strength as a couple that keeps them safe.

Ryker misses Jacob every day he’s away. At the start of a new Raptors season with everything to play for, Jacob, the desert ranch, and their small menagerie of animals have become an oasis of peace in a turbulent world. He’s never ridden a horse, he’s never considered how much this place would mean to him, but suddenly he’s forming a connection with a mare called Tops and loving every moment of this new life. Balancing hockey with his love for Jacob, he feels that nothing can ever go wrong.

With his life finally on track, Jacob is pouring all of himself into the dream he shares with Ryker. Putting the final touches on Mountain Vista Ranch, a halfway home for troubled LGBTQ youth and their families, fills his heart with pride. When their first clients arrive, he finds himself drawn to the small family and their plight. Little does he or Ryker know that the darkness the newcomers have fled from is following them.

Review: Valentine’s Hearts (Owatonna U Hockey #5) by R.J.Scott

Rating: 5 🌈

Ryker Madsen and Jacob Bentsen have been through a lot in their years together but actually making it to their wedding day might be the most trying times they’ve faced yet.

If you’ve been reading this series and the Arizona Raptors one concurrently, as I have, then you’ve watched this couple undergo incredible growth separately and as a couple as they graduated college and moved to Arizona when Ryker was drafted by the Raptors.

Not a smooth transition, emotionally, especially for Jacob who missed his snow, family, and the farm that was lost financially. He had to adapt to a new environment and potentially new goals while Ryker fought to gain footing in what was initially a hostile team.

Scott puts both young men through an education on relationships and balance over the course of both series to arrive here… weeks before their wedding. And a somewhat shaky feeling emanating from both of them.

Reading the previous stories are a must otherwise you will be lost as to what the conflicts are between Ryker and Jacob at the start of the story.

And considering the gravity and huge emotional impact this element will have on them , their relationship, and the entire circle of people around them, knowing what’s behind this turmoil is essential .

While I’m surprised it’s not worked in earlier in the book, I’m also not sure how the author could have recapped such a large storyline with so with to tell with this story too.

Anyway, this brings into Valentine’s Hearts such an emotionally heartbreaking and shattering new stage to this couple and their relationship as they face together the unthinkable.

Without any spoilers, Scott’s in her element here with this section of their story. The treatment is responsible, we feel , so painfully so, that we have a window into the traumatic impact and ongoing nightmare that Jacob’s life becomes.

And the love, support, and therapy that gets him through it.

I love the simplicity and paired down ending. After everything they’ve been through, it seemed perfect.

Plus we have the finale to look forward to and it’s out now.

While it’s hard to say goodbye to this series, we still have the Raptors so really it’s not a forever goodbye.

I’m definitely recommending this and the previous stories.

Just make sure you have a bunch of tissues at hand.

Owatonna U Hockey Series: 6 books

Ryker #1

Scott #2

Benoit #3

Christmas Lights #4

Valentine’s Hearts #5

Desert Dreams – #6 series finale out now

Synopsis:

Will broken hearts replace the wedding they dreamed of?

Ryker’s heart has space for three things—his family, hockey, and Jacob. As their wedding grows closer, it seems that nothing can stand in the way of an idyllic celebration, surrounded by friends and loved ones. But things appear to be changing; Jacob is forging a future that might take him away from Ryker, and Ryker alternates between pride and fear when a new man comes into his fiancé’s life. A hockey season from hell has him doubting his life choices, but worse, he’s driving Jacob into another man’s arms. How has their perfect life suddenly gone so wrong?

Life has certainly thrown many twists and turns in Jacob’s path. Most of the goals he’d set for himself as a teenager had to change, but one has remained constant: finding his heart’s desire and marrying him. That aspiration was reached when Ryker said, “I do”. Planning their wedding was meant to be the best time of their lives, but Jacob unwittingly puts his trust in the wrong man and finds himself in danger. Is their love strong enough to survive the fallout?

https://www.goodreads.com › showWeb resultsValentine’s Hearts (Owatonna U Hockey #5) by R.J. Scott – Goodreads

Review: Summer Drifter (Whisper Ridge,Wyoming #2) by RJ Scott

Rating: 5 🌈

Summer Drifter is the second is Scott’s Whisper Ridge, Wyoming series and it’s my favorite of the two.

I find that both men were easier to connect with, had huge chemistry with each other from their first meeting in the road, and their continued complex dynamics just made this story so enjoyable on a variety of levels that it was hard to put down.

Quinn, with his bright pink hair, big plans, ginormous out there attitude and vulnerability was such a standout character…. Obviously!

He was made to love. By the reader and Levi. And we did. Even when he was making ,smh, incredibly poor choices, because of his inner turmoil you knew it was due to his traumatic past and confusion over what was best for all going forward. Poor choices done for the right reasons, at least in his mind. You could understand him.

The same went for Levi. His painful past history and fears were causing him to make his future based on his old memories and unwillingness to look past his pain to something more. Again we got him too. It took a bright pink haired Quinn to light the way to something new.

But in between there’s humor, horses, toddlers, young energetic boys, found family and a ranch to run.

It all melds together in one great story.

While Winter Cowboy laid the foundation, Summer Drifter filled out the universe and gave us a absolutely incredible love story and family.

This is not to be missed.

I highly recommend it.

Summer Drifter (Whisper Ridge, Wyoming, #2) by R.J. Scott – Goodreads

Series: Whisper Ridge, Wyoming

Winter Cowboy

Summer Drifter #2

Synopsis: One man craves family, the other isolation; neither of them was searching for forever love.

Experienced and much-in-demand horse trainer Levi doesn’t need or want people. With his horse and dog at his side, he lives out of his trailer and trains horses in the summer to earn just enough to head south for winter. Infrequent hook-ups with no-tell cowboys takes care of sex, but the moment any connection gets anywhere near complicated, he moves on. Losing a lover to violence has taught him that if he’s alone, he can’t get hurt, and in return, he avoids the pain of loss. Everything in his easy-going life is on track until he knocks over Quinn, a pink-haired stranger who pirouettes in front of his truck, sits in his lap and calls him cowboy with the sexiest voice he’s ever heard. Anger turns to frustration, lust turns to love, and by the end of the summer, Levi doesn’t know which way to turn.

Quinn loses everything when the cops find his brother’s body on the remains of a compound that belonged to a cult. Damaged and vulnerable, Max had been the only safe place for Quinn in his otherwise cold family, but finding out that Max might have had a son sends Quinn to Wyoming and the Lennox Ranch. When he’s knocked to the ground on day one at the ranch, he wonders if maybe he should have thought things through better. After all, he’d bought two horses and a house to get close enough to Lennox ranch just to see if he was an uncle. He craves love, connection and is excited to be part of a family, searching for a place where he can finally stop running. He never meant to fall for the closed-off cowboy, but somehow Levi steals his heart and Quinn falls in love.

Winter Cowboy (Whisper Ridge,Wyoming #1) by R.J.Scott

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Winter Cowboy, the first story in a new series by RJ Scott, has a full and varied narrative plot/theme list.

As the first book in the series, it’s required (and does) set in place the history and universe for Whisper Ridge and it’s foundation characters.

We start with Micah Lennox and his sister, Rachel, and her children. The Lennox ranch. The town and its people. Daniel, now the town’s doctor, along with Micah and Daniel’s deeply troubled past. A past that includes a traumatic accident, prison, death, and more.

That’s the past. Turns there’s the present with much for multiple characters to deal with on a daily basis. We see elements of PTSD, past evidence of domestic violence, child battery (never seen but referred to), cults, and murder. The aftermath all that takes on a person, no matter the age. As well as everyone, including Daniel’s family, dealing still with the ramifications of that car accident years ago that shattered lives.

I haven’t even mentioned therapy (thankfully and responsibly the author shows the importance of getting help for all involved).

And we haven’t we begun to talk romance yet. We can talk lovers reunited, enemies to lovers, second chance at love? All fav tropes of mine. Yep. All here. Even hurt/comfort. A bit of that too.

Yes, Winter Cowboy carries a full load but in the very capable hands of RJ Scott it all melds together in a cohesive and moving story.

If I had a wish , it would be that Daniel and Micah had more time as a reconciled couple in the story, well yes maybe more than a bit more. I really wanted to get more a feel of them as a couple as we spent so much time on the deep traumatized past that kept them apart and broke up their lives. It was brutal constantly revisiting that accident while no one had really moved on. When they finally forgave themselves and each other the story was almost over. And I wanted more of them new and exploring what it meant to have a “us” again.

There is a “bridge” chapter/prequel after the end of Winter Cowboy that leads us into Summer Drifter, book 2 , in the Whisper Ridge, Wyoming series.

After reading it, I can see we will be getting deeper into the past events mentioned in Winter Cowboy. Hopefully we will see Micah and Daniel too at the next stage in their relationship.

I’m now looking forward to the next in the series and more of the Lennox Ranch and the tantalizing glimpse I saw of one of the main characters.

Read Winter Cowboy, Daniel and Micah and all the friends and family that’s making Lennox Ranch home!

It’s a wonderful story.

Series: Whisper Ridge, Wyoming

Winter Cowboy

Summer Drifter

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/38770040

Review: Top Shelf (Boston Rebels #1) by RJ Scott and VL Locey

Rating: 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

Top Shelf (Boston Rebels #1) by RJ Scott and VL Locey is the first book is a new hockey romance series by two of my must read authors

Long and eagerly awaited, as is any new LGBTQ2+ hockey romance tale, Top Shelf more than delivers

As you all know hockey is my jam! And Rainbow 🌈 hockey love stories? Well, be still my heart 💜! There are many excellent authors in this genre and the writers RJ Scott and VL Locey are at the top of my list among them.

Why? Because like the others, they are passionate about the sport of hockey, it’s players and teams. They know the sport and it’s translates into excellence in fast, accurate action on ice scenes that gets the reader going and engaged with the team and it’s season while still threading through the storylines, full of romance, rocky paths and heartwarming emotions.

That’s all presented here as we meet a team in need of rebuilding. That’s a highly volatile situation for all involved. It means saying goodbye to older players not yet ready to go and learning to accept new younger players stepping into holes in teams not ready for them to be filled.

Add in several players admission of LGBTQ2+ identification when one player comes officially out? And for everyone the team becomes a new uncertain future for all, especially management.

This is the universe we are meeting throughout this story. Various players, a team and people in transition

First it’s the tight friendship, on and off the ice, of Xander and Eli. Brothers in all but name and Railers, they’ve had a third tagging along most of their lives. Mason, Eli’s younger brother

Mason, never much interested in hockey past the fact that Eli and his forever crush Xander played, is now grown. And determined to make Xander see him in a new light.

Xander has recently come out after hiding his sexuality. Here the authors excelled at showing Xander’s confusion and fragility over how exactly he becomes a truth he’s never allowed himself to have or be. He’s raw, more than a little depressed, and no one is picking up on his uncertain emotional state.

The team’s turmoil is adding stress all around to major players and again the elements and reactions feel so realistic. Our own emotions fall readily into the storylines filling out before us. We not only want more of these teammates histories but we need to know

That’s on top of Xander and Mason’s romance which has its own tensions with Mason’s new business (that remains unresolved in my mind) and Xander’s future

I honestly thought the realism here, all the various issues raised as well as the feeling that the relationship needs more work and communication was wonderful. After all, it’s new. Both men have so many new elements to deal with as well as making their relationship work that leaving this a HFN, a work in progress to return to makes sense

It’s great and leaves me wanting to bribe the authors for much much more. Not just the next couple in the series which is coming in Back Check- see below.

So yes, I loved my story, the new series, and team

So yes, I loved my story, the new series and team.

Top Shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56990636-top-shelf

Back Check:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57875135-back-check

Review: Top Shelf (Boston Rebels #1) by RJ Scott and VL Locey

Rating: 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

Top Shelf (Boston Rebels #1) by RJ Scott and VL Locey is the first book is a new hockey romance series by two of my must read authors

Long and eagerly awaited, as is any new LGBTQ2+ hockey romance tale, Top Shelf more than delivers

Add in several players admission of LGBTQ2+ identification when one player comes officially out? And for everyone the team becomes a new uncertain future for all, especially management

This is the universe we are meeting throughout this story. Various players, a team and people in transition

First it’s the tight friendship, on and off the ice, of Xander and Eli. Brothers in all but name and Railers, they’ve had a third tagging along most of their lives. Mason, Eli’s younger brother

Mason, never much interested in hockey past the fact that Eli and his forever crush Xander played, is now grown. And determined to make Xander see him in a new light.

That’s on top of Xander and Mason’s romance which has its own tensions with Mason’s new business (that remains unresolved in my mind) and Xander’s future

It’s great and leaves me wanting to bribe the authors for much much more. Not just the next couple in the series which is coming in Back Check- see below.

So yes, I loved my story, the new series, and team

Bring it On! Highly recommended!

Top Shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56990636-top-shelf

Back Check:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57875135-back-check

Release Blitz and Giveaway for Christmas Lights (An Owatonna U Novella) by RJ Scott & V.L. Locey

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Universal Link

Length: 26,000 words approx.

Cover Design: Meredith Russell

Owatonna U Series

Book #1 – Ryker – Amazon US | Amazon UK | Universal Link
Book #2 – Scott – Amazon US | Amazon UK | Universal Link

Blurb

Under the Christmas lights strung outside a snowy Minnesota cabin, Ryker and Jacob face a future where nothing will be the same again.

Fortunate timing means that Ryker and Jacob can spend a few days together over Christmas in a cabin on the family farm. What’s better is that Scott and Ben are coming as well, with Hayne and Ethan in tow. Ryker can’t imagine a better way to spend time with the man he loves, and the friends he misses, and somehow he knows that this Christmas will be the best one ever. Hockey on a frozen pond, kisses under Christmas lights, and sharing time with Jacob are the best gifts he could ever receive.

Long distance relationships are brutal, Jacob can attest to that fact. So, when Ryker gets a few days off over the Raptors’ Christmas break, the hard-working Minnesota farmer is beyond thrilled. When they find out that their buddies from Owatonna U. are making the trip as well, the holidays are looking to be just about perfect. Jacob has a question for Ryker burning in his heart, and he isn’t asking for much—just a few fun-filled days with old friends and a yes from the man of his dreams.

USA Today bestselling author RJ Scott writes stories with a heart of romance, a troubled road to reach happiness, and most importantly, a happily ever after.

RJ Scott is the author of over one hundred romance books, writing emotional stories of complicated characters, cowboys, millionaire, princes, and the men who get mixed up in their lives. RJ is known for writing books that always end with a happy ever after. She lives just outside London and spends every waking minute she isn’t with family either reading or writing.

The last time she had a week’s break from writing she didn’t like it one little bit, and she has yet to meet a bottle of wine she couldn’t defeat.

She’s always thrilled to hear from readers, bloggers and other writers. Please contact via the links below:

ChristmasLights

USA Today Bestselling Author V.L. Locey – Penning LGBT hockey romance that skates into sinful pleasures.

V.L. Locey loves worn jeans, yoga, belly laughs, walking, reading and writing lusty tales, Greek mythology, Torchwood and Dr. Who, the New York Rangers, comic books, and coffee. (Not necessarily in that order.) She shares her life with her husband, her daughter, one dog, two cats, a pair of geese, far too many chickens, and two steers.

When not writing spicy romances, she enjoys spending her day with her menagerie in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania with a cup of fresh java in one hand and a steamy romance novel in the other.

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It’s Here! The Release Blitz and Giveaway for Coast To Coast (Arizona Raptors #1) by RJ Scott & V.L. Locey

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Universal Link

Length: 57,412 words

Cover Design: Meredith Russell

Blurb

When opposites attract, it’s not just the team that’s in for a shake-up.

When a stipulation in his father’s will throws Mark back into a family that disowned him, he has only two things on his mind; buying his way out of contractual obligations and running in the opposite direction as fast as he can. When neither option pans out, he finds he is now a one third owner of the struggling Arizona Raptors hockey team, and that is just about the worst thing he could have happened to him. Not only does he hate hockey, but the Raptors are a bottom-of-the-league team, rife with jealousies and anger in a locker room that only knows self-pity. How is he supposed to help turn things around when the only way to start fixing things is to form an alliance with the estranged siblings he’d run from fifteen years earlier?

Then there’s Rowen Carmichael, a stubborn, opinionated, irritating man with superiority issues and questionable taste in music. Butting heads with Rowen, who he’d never even wanted to hire in the first place, is one thing, but there is no way in hell that he will allow the growing attraction to the new coach become anything more. Until with everything on the line, he has to make decisions that will change his life forever.

After years of collegiate coaching, Rowen is given an offer that he simply can’t refuse, although perhaps he should. When he’s presented with the chance to take one of the worst teams in the league and mold them into a future cup contender, the challenge is just too alluring to pass up. He leaves his beloved Ontario behind and moves west to the arid city of Tucson where he is faced with a broken team, shoddy management, and players overflowing with resentment and bigotry.

Never in his twenty years of hockey has he ever seen such a raging dumpster fire of an organization. Yet there’s something about this team and this city that compels him to roll up his sleeves and start dismantling. He has his eye on a new associate coach that’s bound to makes waves, and several key players who should be sent packing. Now all he has to do is convince the new owners of the team that his choices are for the best. If only Mark Westman-Reid, one of three siblings who now own the Raptors, wasn’t so damned rock-headed, so damned snooty, and so damned appealing his job might be a bit easier.