Reviewed by Jess

TITLE: The Nature of the Game

SERIES: Stick Side #2

AUTHOR: Amy Aislin

PUBLISHER: Self-published

LENGTH: 280 pages

RELEASE DATE:  May 7, 2019

BLURB:

Six years ago, an ultimatum forced Dan Greyson to make a choice that cost him everything he loved most. One of those things? His boyfriend, hockey player Ashton Yager. Now that they’ve crossed paths again, Dan isn’t about to let the opportunity slip away. Ash’s reappearance in his life is just the catalyst Dan needs to escape the rut he’s fallen into…and win back Ash’s trust and love.

Ashton Yager, once burned and now a little bit shy, didn’t mean to publicly come out as bisexual. But now that he has, he’s got to deal with the consequences, including the fact that it might’ve cost him his NHL contract. With his job on the line, he needs to keep his head down, work hard, and play the best hockey of his life. Rekindling things with Dan? That’s not exactly keeping a low profile. It’s also never going to happen, not after Dan walked away once without an explanation.

When a hurricane forces Ash to seek shelter out-of-state, he and Dan find themselves in the same B&B, where old feelings resurface. But with everything Ash has on the line, does he dare play with fire again?

REVIEW:

Last year, Amy Aislin’s first book in this series, On the Ice, made my Best of 2018 list by a long shot. It was well-written, romantic, well-plotted, and completely readable, making it a memorable sports romance that defined my affection for the genre. Luckily, with this second book in the series, Aislin has not lost her touch! This is another gorgeous romance with characters we like and believe and a second-chance-at-love story that will make us all swoon. It is just as good as its predecessor.

Dan, who we met briefly in the first book as Mitch’s older brother, is stunned to run into his ex-boyfriend, Ash, after their hard breakup six years prior. He’d been hoping the avoid the other man, even though he’s in the same hockey league as Mitch’s boyfriend, Alex. Nobody knows the history between the two men, so when Dan and Ash reconnect while they are both in town, they don’t get a second glance. But Ash hasn’t forgotten the way Dan broke up with him right before they were going to start a life together, and he certainly hasn’t forgiven him.

Since both men still have broken hearts, their path to falling back in love is long and slow. We get interspersed scenes of their initial relationship when they were in their early twenties, and we see how they were a perfect match—drawn to each other as both friends and lovers in an inexplicable and exciting way. We also see how the years have affected them. Dan still works for his mother, feeling more smothered than ever under her thumb, and Ash is recently divorced and still single, knowing his only real love left him years before. When Dan hops on a plane to Tampa to help Ash renovate his hurricane-damaged home, their closeness intensifies, and they have to decide if going at it again is worth it.

The very last few chapters of this book had me holding my breath, because I knew the heartbreaking sucker-punch was coming. And while seeing Ash and Dan’s original breakup play out moment-by-moment from both points of view was as painful as I knew it would be, it didn’t have the payoff it would’ve carried if we didn’t know about Dan’s reasons for leaving in the first place. I think that’s the one stumbling block this story has. We know from the beginning that Dan was blackmailed into abandoning a life with Ash, and the rest of the story’s tension hinges on Ash simply not wanting to hear Dan’s excuses. It’s a convenient plot device, and one that works just fine as we see them rebuild their trust and love, but it would’ve hit so much harder if both we and Ash were waiting for the truth until the very end. The romance, the reunion, the relearning of one another—it all pays off beautifully. But the road to getting there needed a little repaving.

This is an example of a sports romance in which the actual game takes a major backseat. I think the first book tied hockey very well into the storyline. We felt Mitch’s passion for the game and understood his sacrifices because he loves hockey so much. But hockey didn’t seem as important to these characters. Ash seems more invested in charity work and outreach than he is in hockey, and Dan’s only connection to the game is through his brother. I didn’t have a problem with this, since I’m not a major sports fan, but if you read sports romances for the added game-related tension, you won’t get that here.

I just really love this book. It feels classic and timeless. The love between Ash and Dan is palpable and perfectly inevitable. I can’t wait to see what happens next with this series, because Aislin is rocking it!

RATING:

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