Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Hot Shot
SERIES: The Elmwood Stories
AUTHOR: Lane Hayes
NARRATOR: Nick J. Russo
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 7 hrs and 48 mins
RELEASE DATE: September 4, 2024
BLURB:
The rookie superstar, the desperate cowboy, and a naughty proposition…
Denny
The press calls me this year’s hot shot, the rookie who scores at will and conjures plays out of thin air. Truth is…
I’m a PR nightmare. Seriously. Ask my agent.
My anxiety is off the charts. I can’t talk to the media without breaking into a cold sweat, but once I get through the season, I can regroup at home. Life is simpler in Vermont.
Well, not anymore. There’s a new cowboy in town. Literally, a cowboy. At least, Hank looks like one—he owns a horse, wears a hat, and did I mention he’s hot?
And get this…he has a proposition for me.
Hank
Proposition is a strong word. I prefer to call this a mutually beneficial arrangement. See, I could use Denny’s help with a family business venture, and though I was planning to offer cash, the jock has a sexier idea.
Not gonna lie, I’m interested.
This could be a fun distraction while I’m stuck in Elmwood. Nice enough place, however, the locals are wary of an outsider taking over the neighboring mill. Long story short…they don’t trust me. But they love their hometown hockey hero.
I get it.
I’ve never met anyone like Denny—skittish in street clothes and a feral beast with cunning instincts on the ice. He’s fascinating, sexy, smart, and—Whoa! I’m not falling for the hot shot rookie. No way, no how, no chance…
Too late.
Hot Shot is an MM bisexual, age-gap, small town romance featuring a hot shot rookie, a sexy cowboy, and a proposition that changes everything.
REVIEW:
Note: This is the fourth book in this series. There are major spoilers for the previous books. If you don’t care about spoilers, it can work as a standalone just fine. I recommend the whole series though – particularly the audios ;
Well I just LOVED this story. Our MC Denny is a character we first met as a quiet and unhappy teenager who had moved to Elmwood to live with his grandmother after his father died and his mother was struggling. Annie, Denny’s grandmother is a HOOT and a contrarian character fixture throughout this story. Hank is new in town. Before his father bought the lumber mill in nearby, Hank had spent his life in Colorado and ran an equine therapy business. His love of horses and how they can help people turned out to be an advantage for Denny as well 😉 I loved getting the full backstory on both of these characters organically as their relationship goes from drunken Denny propositioning Hank to sort of a extortion deal of Denny and Hank spending time together to them becoming friends and then friends with benefits to lovers. Yes, it’s a sort of circuitous route to their HEA, but there is a lot going on! Denny’s in the playoffs. Hank is trying to win over the folks for the small town who insist he’s just there to extract the money and natural resources and then leave them high and dry. That could not be further from the truth, but it takes a while for Hank (with the help of Denny and some of the other hockey players and their husbands) to convince everyone that their assessment of Hank is dead wrong.
As usual there are lots of fun and funny moments in the small town. Anyone who has spent time in a small town knows the drill. Everybody’s up in your business. For the most part that can be a good thing. Support for those who need it. Much cheering and encouragement and celebration for those who are doing well. Bringing ideas to fruition that will help the whole town. These are the hallmarks of what Elmwood and surrounding towns really live. Hank and Denny are both sort of assuming their relationship has an end date. Hank will leave and return to Colorado from whence he came. Denny will go back on the road with his NHL team. He’ll go back to dealing with his anxiety alone. Or will he 😉
Nick J. Russo did a fantastic job of narrating again these wonderful characters in this small town. His consistency across all these stories has been great 🙂 I loved all the cameos from previous couples. I loved seeing Denny and MK all grown up 😀 The emotions are all over the place in this book and again, Mr. Russo is on top of his game here conveying the anxiety, the love, the humor, the mama-bear energy and the fun in these stories. Even the grumpy characters come around 😉 Highly recommended. Fans of this series and this author/narrator combo will not be disappointed. It’s another winner!
RATING: 
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