REVIEWED by Jen B.
TITLE: Assist
SERIES: Pucks & Rainbows
AUTHOR: L.A. Witt
PUBLISHER: L.A. Witt
LENGTH: 458 Pages
RELEASE DATE: December 26, 2019
BLURB:
A rookie, his teammate, and his best friend from a rival team. What could possibly go wrong?
Seattle Snowhawks rookie Justin Reid has it bad for his teammate Shawn Kelleher. It’s just his luck that Shawn’s got a crush too… on Justin’s best friend, Vancouver Narwhal center Keith Adams.
When Shawn lets it slip at the worst possible moment that he wants Keith, Justin is hurt, but what can he do? He steers Keith in Shawn’s direction and lets chemistry do the rest.
What Justin doesn’t know is that while Keith is into Shawn, he’s also secretly wanted Justin since forever. After some stumbling, they realize there’s something very hot and very mutual going on between all three of them. It’s fantasies coming true left, right, and center, and it just doesn’t get any better than this.
Except this scorching hot triad is anything but simple. Not while the closeted son of a hockey legend is fighting to make his own name in the shadow of his deeply homophobic father’s legacy. Not in the midst of grueling schedules and a team’s fraternization rules. Throw in pesky emotions showing up where they aren’t wanted, and it’s a play that’s doomed from the start.
Shawn, Keith, and Justin all fought their way into professional hockey. Is what they have together worth fighting for too? Or will fear let heartache win this game?
ASSIST is approximately 117,500 words. It’s book 2 of the Pucks & Rainbows series, and can be read as a standalone.
REVIEW: I’m a huge hockey fan, and a huge L.A. Witt fan, so when she started a new hockey series, I was all on board. I really enjoyed the first book, and was eager to jump into this one. While the first couple does make appearances, and even though I recommend reading the first one just because, I don’t think it is necessary to get up to speed with this installment.
The players: Shawn and Justin are teammates. Justin has a crush on Shawn, but Shawn has a crush on Justin’s bff, Keith, who plays for a different team in the league. When Justin learns of Shawn’s interest in Keith, feeling as though he never had a chance, he pushes Shawn and Keith together. Keith has secretly been in love with Justin for ever but also thinking he doesn’t stand a chance, returns Shawn’s interest.
The issues: As can be seen from the player info, there is a lot of miscommunication with these guys. That continues for most of the book, although it doesn’t prevent them from all ending up with a friends with benefits situation. Justin is against actual relationships due to the many failed attempts by his family members. So, he insists on friends with benefits only. Shawn and Justin are roommates on the road, so it is easy for them to hide their trysts. Keith is deeply closeted afraid to lose his family and his hockey legend (homophobic) father. Not to mention that he is on a completely different schedule than Justin and Shawn. Needless to say, the friends with benefits avenue works well for them…until it doesn’t. As expected, feelings get in the way *cue more miscommunication* and they all take a step back. Thankfully, one of them steps up to bring them back together, because they really do have amazing chemistry.
My issues: This was a longish book. For me, it felt like there was just a bit too much inner turmoil with each of the characters that made it drag out. I stuck it all under the miscommunication label, but really, I wanted to beat each of them in the head with their own hockey sticks at one point or another for them to just see what was in front of them, as opposed to only seeing what they believed. Example is Justin thinking he was the odd man out. Clearly, Keith loved him long before either of them actually realized it, and if anything, Keith was the odd man out. Either way, rehashing it so many times made the story drag out unnecessarily and kept the flow of the story feeling like it was a car slipping in the mud, moving forward but not ever gaining much ground. That does all change at the end though, when they get their acts together and take charge of their lives.
What I loved: These guys were great together, had amazing chemistry and it was easy to see how the relationship benefitted each of them. Given their crazy schedules and separate locations, having three of them all be on the same page and understand that was what I believe made it work so well for them. Even though Keith was, by circumstances, the odd man out, it never felt that way when they were together, either with one or the other or with both of them. Their teammates were awesome and left me wanting more interaction. Getting to see Asher and Geoff again. Finding out there are more books planned.
All in all, while I struggled through this one a little, I did enjoy quite a bit about it. I was super excited to see there are more stories planned. I quickly added them to my list and hope we don’t have to wait terribly long to see what’s next.
RATING:
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