Reviewed by Jen

TITLE:  The Last Guy on Earth

SERIES: Hockey Guys #3

AUTHOR: Sarina Bowen

PUBLISHER: Tuxbury Publishing LLC

LENGTH: 374 pages

RELEASE DATE: February 18 , 2025

BLURB:

One cold December day, two men are blindsided by a hockey trade; one is the most decorated goalie in the league, while the other one is the youngest coach in the majors.

Jethro Hale is the last player Coach Clay Powers wants to see on his roster, but the G.M. pulls a fast one. And it’s not like he can even explain why. Nobody knows about their love affair fifteen years ago.

Cue the all-star awkwardness, the painful memories and the reawakening of deep feelings on both sides.

Unfortunately, their attraction still burns brightly. But it can never be. A player and a coach? The scandal would overshadow the team’s banner year.

If only they could resist each other…

If you love grumpy heroes, high stakes hockey, struggling single parents and smoldering kisses, grab your copy of The Last Guy on Earth.

REVIEW:  This is a story that spans a good number of years. Jethro and Clay were teammates/roommates early on in their careers who basically became friends with benefits as they discovered their sexuality with each other. When Clay was drafted, Jethro didn’t hold him back and Clay took that as unreciprocated feelings. Fast forward 15 years, and Clay is now a coach in Colorado that makes a trade for Jethro from New York in the last years of his career/contract. The reunion does not go well.

Jethro has a number of issues he is dealing with, the least of which is being suddenly traded by a team he thought he would be with until the end of his playing. He has custody of his young teen nephew due to his sister’s drug addiction putting her in prison and rehab, and he shares that with his father, whom he also recently reconciled with. Needless to say, the sudden move across country has affected them as well. Dealing with a disgruntled teen who was uprooted and still dealing with the loss of his mother and how to navigate the disappointment brought on by the mom has not been easy. This combination has put Jethro in a major slump in the hockey department, which only adds to the problems with his new teammates.

Clay was in love with Jethro and devastated by Jethro’s lack thereof. He doesn’t handle Jethro now being on his team very well, and it takes a while for them to find a truce. It becomes clear pretty quickly that these two still have feelings and revelations are made by both that put them back on the same page. They have both put their personal lives on hold over their careers for obvious reasons, and although the team and league are experiencing a number of advances in the gay player department, there is now the issue of them being coach/player to deal with.

Real life hockey is a bit different in this aspect, but I think people often put too much emphasis on it being due to homophobia. While there is surely some that still exists in the various sports locker rooms, hockey is just an entirely different ball of wax. There is such an enormous amount of commitment to the sport to play at the top level. These guys play 82 games a season, not counting playoff runs. They have to be committed to top level bodily health to maintain their ability to play and prevent injury. They are on the road a lot, for long stretches of time throughout the season. Not to say they don’t have any relationships, but it takes special people to be able to handle that and many haven’t found that or want the distraction. Perhaps some day we will see more players come out, but even the straight players, coaches, etc. tend to keep their private lives very private. Meanwhile, we can enjoy stories like this were we see some getting their happy endings with people after all of their hard work and commitment to the sport.

This story jumps back and forth for a bit in the beginning as we learn about their past and how it is affecting their present. This was a little slow at times, but it felt important to the story and worth paying attention to.

Ms. Bowen gives us a solid love story that spans time and shows that good things do come to those who wait, whatever the reasons for that may be. The hockey aspects were spot on.  I’m not sure how I missed the first two books in this series, but even though those characters make appearances in this story, I don’t believe they need to be read in advance to enjoy this one.  Hopefully, Ms. Bowen has plans to give us more hockey goodness in her future, because this one was very well done.

RATING:

BUY LINK:

Amazon