Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE:  Ice Angels

SERIES: A Holiday Hockey Story

AUTHOR:  Ryan Taylor and Joshua Harwood

PUBLISHER:  Wainscott Press

LENGTH:  165 pages

RELEASE DATE:  October 29, 2021

BLURB:

Drew and Cleevs love hockey, but they love each other more. How can the men find a way to save what matters most?

Todd Cleever and Drew Simon are crazy about each other. They started dating three years ago when “Cleevs” was a rookie defenseman for the Chicago Ice. Drew, the team’s captain, was a few years older than Cleevs. Both men were deep in the closet, but it didn’t take long for them to fall in love.

Cleevs was traded to the Bethesda Barracudas a year later, causing a heartbreaking separation. Ever since, they’ve skated around the problem with occasional stolen nights together and brief vacations under the guise of “friends,” but two years of living apart have taken their toll.

As the holiday approaches, Drew and Cleevs decide things have to change. Still, with their careers and two professional hockey teams in the way, how can they score the game-winning goal and save everything they cherish most?

If you like fierce love, a smallish age gap, exciting hockey, and a steely determination to make things work—not to mention enough steam to fog up all your windows and a fantastic HEA—this is the book for you. The novella contains about 43,000 words of sparkling holiday romance.

REVIEW: 

Ryan Taylor and Joshua Harwood’s Ice Angels is set in the same hockey universe as Nice Catching You, The New Next One, and Fire in the Ice.  You don’t have to have read those books to enjoy Ice Angels, but the context enriches the experience. Additionally, the events here overlay those in the other books to some extent, so the additional context is helpful.  If you haven’t read the other books, you’ll likely be doing that next once you read Ice Angels.

Ice Angels is a heartwarming romance that tells the love story of hockey players Todd “Cleevs” Cleever and Drew Simon. At the time the book opens, Cleevs and Drew have been together for three years, in secret, mainly because Drew has been deeply closeted. However, we see they are starting to break under the strain of the sneaking around and hiding, as well as their separation due to their respective hockey schedules. Drew plays for the Chicago Ice and Cleevs for the Bethesda Barracudas so they live in two different cities during the hockey season.  They barely see each other and when they do, time together is sparse and they have to sneak around. The pain of their situation is apparent and poignant.  

One of the most refreshing aspects of this romance is that we see from page one that Cleevs and Drew have an unshakeable bond. There’s never a doubt these two will stay together. “Getting together” and “staying together” are not what this story is about. Rather, it’s about the sacrifices they make to have all the parts of their complicated lives fit together. Sacrifices that are no longer tolerable.

Mr. Taylor and Mr. Harwood spin out a beautiful love story and a rock-solid HEA that will leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy. The found family aspect of these shared universe stories is on full display in Ice Angels, and it’s truly one of the best parts of the book. Prior couples play significant roles here, and the personal and professional support this family of hockey players and their partners have for each other is a beautiful thing to behold.

While a lovely holiday romance in its own right, Ice Angels presents a larger social message. Through Cleevs and Drew, we see firsthand how society’s treatment of the LGBTQ+ community directly impacts people’s lives. The world of sports, here hockey specifically, may be making strides towards acceptance. However, what Cleevs and Drew have to go through should break our hearts because it’s unfair (to say the least).

The messaging here isn’t new. We see it in a large number of MM romances, especially sports-related ones.  But the way Mr. Taylor and Mr. Harwood position this story is unique. Ice Angels isn’t about falling in love. It’s about fighting for the right to be in love, out and proud.  Something that Cleevs and Drew should never have had to fight for in the first place.  Read Ice Angels as a beautiful holiday story of love and resiliency, but feel the powerful impact of the subtext too. 

Overall, Ice Angels is an overarchingly wonderful romance, peppered with plenty of hot, sexy, emotional scenes. I highly recommend you read all the books in this universe, but Ice Angels is in a class of its own.

RATING:   

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