REVIEWED by Jen B.
TITLE: Ryker
SERIES: Owatanna U Hockey #1
AUTHORS: R.J. Scott and V.L. Locey
PUBLISHER: Love Lane Books
LENGTH: 181 Pages
RELEASE DATE: September 26, 2018
BLURB:
This New Adult book is the first in the Owatonna U Series, a spin off from the best selling Harrisburg Railers Hockey Series.
Ryker is hockey royalty, Jacob is a poor country boy. Can two vastly different people find common ground and become the men they want to be?
Ryker comes from a long line of championship-winning hockey players. Playing college hockey to develop his game is his only focus, and nothing will stand in the way of him working to become the best player. He has no room for relationships, people that point out his flaws, or anyone who calls him on his dreams. He certainly has no place for love, and meeting Jacob is nothing but a useful distraction on the side. After all trying to get his Owatonna Eagles teammate into bed is less work and more play. When tragedy rocks his family, his charmed life crumbles, and the only person he can turn to is the same one who claims to hate him.
Jacob Benson has only known hard work and stifling conservative values his whole life. Born and raised in the small rural community of Eden Crossing, Minnesota, he’s the only son of a hard-working but struggling dairy farming family. Jacob is using his skills in hockey to finance his way to an agricultural science degree. These four years at Owatonna U. will probably be the only time he has to enjoy life, gain acceptance about his sexuality, and live openly before his inevitable return to the farm. Running into a pretty rich boy like Ryker Madsen is putting a damper on his enjoyment of life away from home. Ryker’s flip, conceited, carefree attitude grates on Jacob’s every nerve. So why, if Ryker is everything he dislikes, does he want nothing more than to explore the sinful dreams that his annoying teammate stars in every night?
I love the Harrisburg Railers series, so it was a no-brainer to grab this spinoff opener. Especially, since we already know Ryker a bit, as he is Jared Madsen’s son, who plays a huge part in the Railers series. If you haven’t read those, I highly recommend you start there, because it will give you a much better understanding about some of the other players, namely Jared’s other half, Tennant “Ten” Rowe, NHL hockey superstar, as well as a few of the other players talked about as well.
But this story is about Ryker and his challenges as he navigates college and his career path to the NHL. He’s unhappy where he’s going to school, knows what he’s missing and wants to find, mainly better team dynamics, and wants to experience it before he ends up with the team who drafted him, which just so happens to be the team with the worst reputation, and the one who causes some major upheaval in the last Harrisburg Railers book, which ends up overlapping this one towards the end. Before he makes any decisions, he decides to attend a hockey camp to help keep up his skills. That is where he meets his complete opposite, Jacob.
Jacob is not as taken with Ryker as everyone else is. He is completely put off by the fact that Ryker basically has everything handed to him while Jacob is the complete opposite. Jacob is on a mission to save his family’s dairy farm, something he is even more passionate about than hockey. Hockey is a means to an end for him – he needs it to attend school. He works two jobs in order to help pay for the school and so he can play hockey. Needless to day, he doesn’t have much time for anything else.
Ryker is a bit stymied by Jacob’s attitude toward him, but Ryker is persistent, and it eventually pays off. What a great first time relationship story this was! I loved these two exploring each other and their sexuality. Neither had much experience at all, and I actually enjoyed watching them stumble through what they thought they wanted but didn’t quite know the best ways to accomplish things. They go through some ups and downs, as kids their age all do, but young love prevails. I was a bit disappointed with the ending, however, as it seemed rather abrupt and somewhat up in the air. If the next book was a continuation, I may have brushed that aside, but that doesn’t look to be the case. However, I am really looking forward to Scott’s story, and maybe we will see more of Ryker and Jacob too. I love this writing duo, who have seemingly mastered the hockey trope, and I really can’t wait for the Harrisburg Railers to continue and to see more of those guys again!
