Trade Deadline (Hat Trick #3)

Title: Trade Deadline (Hat Trick #3) 

Author: Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn 

Publisher: Carina Press 

Release Date: August 17, 2020 

Genre(s): M/M Sports Romance 

Page Count: 304 

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 

Read book blurb here 

As I noted in my review of the second book in the Hat Trick series - Goalie Interference: "Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn write beautifully about hockey - its sheer physicality, the rivalries and friendships, the intensity of community -" and in a nutshell, that is what is missing from "Trade Deadline."

Daniel Bellemy is recently amicably divorced from his wife Tabby after ten years together, and he has moved back to his Miami hometown to play for the Miami Thunder on a one-year contract.  The team is at the bottom of the ratings and there are a lot of problems with team unity, unlike the close-knit Atlanta Venom.  Daniel comes to the team - not as a captain - but as a calming experienced team player with hopes of pulling them together, but this subplot is quickly cast aside as the focus of the book moves away from hockey. 

Daniel reconnects with Micah, his childhood best friend - and first crush / first kiss - and is finally able to explore his bisexuality without the intense media scrutiny of being part of a Stanley Cup winning team.  Micah is living the dream as a marine biologist and his job is all kinds of cute (daily dolphin selfies!) and interesting; Daniel's involvement in youth hockey is also very sweet.  But ...  

There is little hockey in this book - and little in the way of close friendships with his new team. The story really focuses on the relationship between Micah and Daniel and while it is .... interesting ... I do not find it particularly compelling.  There isn't a lot of tension and little standing in the way of their relationship since all their friends, Daniel's ex-wife Tabby and kids are very much okay with their romance. 

I'm willing to admit this may be a case of "it's not YOU, it's ME" because while I found the story enjoyable, I desparately wanted more hockey and a pinch more tension.  3.5 stars and I'm pinning my hopes on the next book in the series which will hopefully be Morley's story. 

Off the Ice (Hat Trick #1)

Title: Off the Ice (Hat Trick #1) Reissue 

Author: Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: March 25, 2019
Genre(s): Contemporary Sports Romance
Page Count: ~70,000 Words
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

Note: Carina Press re-issued"Hat Trick" on March 25, 2019 with a great new cover, wth it being "newly refreshed by the authors."

My initial review of "Hat Trick" is shown below with a rating of 4 stars. Upon re-reading the book, I realized just how much I enjoyed this story of two men who has an incredibly steamy kinky relationship coupled with a deep connection of love and respect. I appreciated once again their careful negotiations on coming out.

While I'm not sure exactly how the story was "refreshed," the secondary characters seem more integrated and the flow and pacing of the story feels more crisp. I'm revising my rating to 4.5 stars and giving "Hat Trick" a Recommended Read AND I'm looking forward to the second book in the series - "Goalie Interference" - featuring the Venom goalie, Ryu Mori.

Original Review:

Tristan, a defenseman with the Atlanta Venom, knows hockey is not forever and is working on finishing his business degree. Taking Sociology 3201: Wealth, Power, and Inequality from Professor Sebastian Cruz, Tristan - tall, blonde, Wisconsin farm boy, rocking sweatpants and a Grateful Dead t-shirt - doesn't exactly fit into the hipster vibe of the other students. But then Professor Cruz - "tall and whipcord lean with warm golden-brown skin and wavy raven-black hair" - isn't what Tristan expected either.

Sebastian is out and proud while Tristan remains closeted, but they soon navigate a relationship that is hot, dirty and sexy with a side of dominance / humiliation kink that totally works for both men:

Tristan learned what it meant when someone like Sebastian Cruz said, Your ass is mine. He spent almost as much time nude—in bed, or bent over tables, or down on all fours—as he did dressed.[...] They couldn’t stay away from each other, or keep their hands and mouths off each other. Tristan was so obsessed with how amazing Sebastian made him feel, it might have scared him if Sebastian didn’t seem equally enthralled.

We get both POVs throughout and I loved how Tris and Sebastian's relationship is free of manufactured angst and strong on conflict resolution as they work their way through Tris coming out to his parents and his team. My only niggles were that at times the pace of the story felt slow, and the abrupt and somehow ....clumsy ... introduction of potential MCs for additional books in the series.  For example, in the matter of a few pages, we abruptly learn that team captain Bellize is getting a divorce and goalie Ryu is gay and looking for someone like Tristan.

Goalie Interference (Hat Trick #2)

Title: Goalie Interference (Hat Trick #2)
Author: Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: September 30, 2019
Genre(s): Contemporary Sports Romance
Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Blurb: Read book blurb here

"Off the Ice" introduced us to the Atlanta Venom and gave us a hot-as-all-f@ck romance between defenseman Tristan Holt and Professor Sebastian Cruz. In "Goalie Interference," we are back in net with Venom veteran goalie Ryu Mori and smoking' hot newbie Emmitt Armstrong just called up from the AHL. With the Vemon starting position up for grabs, there is no love lost between the two goalies.

Ryu appeared briefly in the first book in the series, yet his character seems so lightly fleshed-out here, although we get more of a glimpse into Emmitt's personality. But since we don't know much more at this point other than Ryu and Emmitt are attracted to one another and quickly become f@ck-buddies, it's hard to become personally invested in their story at this point. However the authors do a good job of keeping us up to date on Tristan and Sebastian, as well as truly funny asides by and about Morley, aka "Tripod," and no, he's NOT a photography enthusiast.

But finally around 50%, Ryu and Emmitt begin wondering if their arrangement could possibly bloom into something more. As Emmitt thinks:

All this time he'd thought they were about as different as two people could be. It was kind of fucking with his head, because the no-strings-attached, sex-as-stress-relief thing would only work if they barely tolerated each other on a personal level.

And Ryu asks "How could a relationship survive them being in constant competition, let along one of them being chosen above the other?"

Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn write beautifully about hockey - its sheer physicality, the rivalries and friendships, the intensity of community - but at times, the romance plot feels very one-note because, while there's abundant sexual chemistry, Ryu and Emmitt continually worry about who will be named the primary goalie and who will be in goal during the playoffs and little else. But the story all comes together beautifully when the Venom reaches the playoffs, Ryu and Emmitt truly become a couple, and the books ends with a great HEA.

I'm hoping the next book in the series featuring Morley: "I think sometimes if I ever did wanna date a guy, it'd definitely be a hockey player, 'cause think how sweet that'd be."

Indeed, dude, indeed. 4 stars.