Today we Welcome Author Jeff Adams to Love bytes . He is here to talk about his new release Playing the rebound ( Hat Trick #2)

offers an Excerpt of that story and also gives away a copy of his new release!

Welcome Jeff ! 🙂

Hi everyone! Thanks, Dani, for letting my drop by today to talk about my new novel, Hat Trick 2: Playing the Rebound. If anyone has any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments. I’ll drop back by to answer anything that’s there. I’m also happy to give away an ebook if Hat Trick 2 to some lucky commenter.

 

Hat Trick 2: Playing the Rebound finds Simon and Alex in their sophomore year at the University of Michigan. I moved them forward by about 18 months from where Hat Trick stops. This gave them some time to be settled into their college environment (although there was a quick glimpse of their freshmen year in the free short Hat Trick Overtime: A Classic Winter’s Night).

 

Jumping forward also lets Simon and Alex celebrate two years together. The first year of a relationship can go by so fast, that in many ways the second annviersary almost seems more siginficant becuase you can really be settling into a routine. That can either be good or bad for a relationship, but for Simon and Alex it’s good. Alex pulls out all the stops–or at least reasonable stops for a college student to pull out–to make sure it’s an anniversary that will be unforgettable. It’s known from the first book, that Alex is the major planner in the relationship (he did set up the first out of town date to a Pittsburg Penguins game after all), so it’s not surprising that he’s the one who has planned out the day.

 

The guys are definitely romantics. That was set up in book one between the dates the went on and how their alone time played out. The romance is front and center A Classic Winter’s Night too as they end up on an impromptu date after a game. For Playing the Rebound, it was important to show the guys growing into a more adult relationship and the anniversary celebration was just a part of it. There’s a constant give and take between Simon and Alex as they balance school, work, the hockey team and time for each other. They may not always get as much time together as they want, but they do make the most of it. As adults know, the balancing act isn’t always an easy one and these guys find out about that early on.

 

Speaking of being adults, with Hat Trick 2 moving into the “new adult” territory rahter than the “young adult” genre of the first novel, we get to see the guys be intimate rather than fading to black. It’s only a couple scenes, but it does let the reader see what the boys get up to behind closed doors. It’s something readers said they wanted, and now that they’re more grown up (even though they were high school seniors and 18 in the original) it makes sense to let it be part of the story.

 

One of my favorite moments in the book happens early, before the anniversary surprises start, where the guys end up talking about the concept of “home.” It mirrors a moment I had, though I was five years older than Simon and Alex when it happened, where I suddenly knew exactly what “home” was for me. As they make the realization on “home,” it’s a very sweet strengthening of their bond.

 

I admit, I love writing their romance and hate throwing major conflict at them. It’s one thing to have to deal with the small stuff, like making sure they get time together. It’s another to toss them something that’s going to have one of them meltdown. Of course, I do have to throw them those challenges and hopefully you’ll find they rise to the occassion well to deal with them.

 

Here’s a brief excerpt from Hat Trick 2, showing the beginnings of the anniversary celebration.

 

“You’re lightning fast this morning,” I said to Alex when I got back to my locker. On days we had early practice, we usually walked out together. But Alex was already dressed while I was still toweling off.

“Crazy day. Got two tests, meeting up with the new study group and gotta make time to work on the lab that’s due at the end of the week.”

“Don’t your profs know it’s our anniversary and you should get a break from all this?”

“If only.”

We planned our celebration for Sunday since we’d be very busy this week. Sunday was gonna kick ass since we’d spend it at the Penguins/Red Wings game in Detroit.

“Okay. I’m off,” he said. We traded a quick kiss. “Happy anniversary. I’ll see you tonight. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

He slung his backpack over his shoulder and was gone. I smiled. Yes, these were busy times, but, man, did I always feel tremendously loved. We had a great thing. Going to the game Sunday would be a blast. We’d warmed up to the Red Wings since coming to Michigan. During the season, we’d catch a few Wings games, and always when the Penguins were in town. It was perfect that we’d celebrate our anniversary on a game day.

As I pulled my sweatshirt on, Danny came up to me.

“Happy anniversary, man.” He clapped me on the back.

“Thanks.” Didn’t expect to hear that. I knew people were aware of it. Sure, I’d mentioned it just a moment ago. We’d even updated our online statuses this morning. But it wasn’t something you expected to hear tossed off like happy birthday.

“Great practice today. I loved the cycling we had going, it wasn’t so much like you were a forward and I was a D but more like we were in whatever position made the most sense in the moment.”

“Yeah, it was good. I’d never seen a cycling drill quite like that before.”

“It was great. Glad I was back with you guys for that one,” Trent said, walking up to us. “The five of us are really finding a groove. It’s great we haven’t hit a plateau.”

“Hopefully we don’t,” I said. “Alex and I still find nuances to our game even though we’ve paired for years now. Ideally the five of us will improve together all year.”

“I didn’t feel that with the partner I had last year,” Danny said as he rustled around in his backpack. “He kinda slacked off midway through the season.”

The guy he was talking about got cut at the end of the season.

“I like being back with you guys,” Trent said. “It’s comfortable, but challenging, too.”

“You’ll find Alex and I always pushing each other to get better, so we’ll keep up the challenge.”

“And now that I’ve got Jose with me,” Danny said, “we should be a solid unit. Ah, here it is!” He exclaimed, handing me a small light purple envelope with a “2” printed on it in silver ink.

It was only a number, but I recognized Alex’s handwriting immediately.

“What’s this?”

“He said you’d ask that,” Danny said. “I’m supposed to tell you to just give it time.”

“Uhmm, okay.” I took the envelope and ran my fingers over the two. “Thanks.”

“See you later,” Danny said. He walked towards the exit. “Come on, Trent, let’s grab breakfast before class.”

“But don’t you want to see what it is?” Trent hadn’t moved. Danny returned and spun Trent around.

“Hey,” Trent said, sounding like a kid being led away from candy.

They were quite a pair. Danny, the tallest player on the team at about six-four, versus Trent, who was among the shortest at probably five-seven or five-eight. Danny still worked on guiding Trent to being less socially awkward in times like these. Trent was more clued in now than he was in our freshman year, but it was still a work in progress, which somehow Danny was in charge of.

“Come on,” Danny said. “Whatever’s in the envelope isn’t for us.”

Danny gently pushed Trent along, giving me an exasperated look. Once they were gone, there were only a couple other guys finishing up. I carefully opened the envelope and found a single sentence written on a card, which was a darker purple than the envelope.

“Sticky cheese helped me tell you I had a crush.”

Clearly a reference to the night Alex and I discovered our crushes on each other. It was random in this context though. If Danny had the second envelope, where was the first? And how many were there in total?

I pulled out my phone and typed off a message to Alex. “What’re you up to?”

I waited for the response while getting my sneakers on. Stuffed inside the left one was another purple envelope. It was “1.”

“It was two years ago today.”

Now number two made more sense. My phone double buzzed announcing Alex’s response. “I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.” This was followed by a winky face. I imagined the cute smirk on his face that would’ve accompanied that if he were here.

It was going to be an interesting day. I’d mellowed on my stance on surprises, which was good since he’d clearly cooked up something.

I had an excellent boyfriend.

 

Buy Link:

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About the Author :

Jeff Adams caught the writing bug in middle school and finally became a novelist with the Hat Trick series. Jeff and his husband Will left the hustle and bustle of New York City to return to the more peaceful lifestyle of Humboldt County, California, during the summer of 2014, which should allow for more time to write. Extending his love of hockey beyond novels, Jeff covers the Detroit Red Wings, as well reviews LGBT books that feature hockey, for PuckBuddys.com. You can learn more about Jeff, visit jeffadamswrites.com and follow him on Twitter at @hockeyguynyc.

Website: http://www.jeffadamswrites.com

 

Hat Trick website: http://www.HatTrickNovel.com

Hat Trick on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HatTrickNovel

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hockeyguynyc

Amazon: http://amazon.com/author/jeffadams

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/writerjeff

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