Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: The Husband Game
SERIES: Relationship Goals
AUTHOR: Brigham Vaughn
NARRATOR: James Edward Jones
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 12 hours and 39 minutes
RELEASE DATE: March 25, 2025
BLURB:
I cannot believe I missed this series when the books originally were published. I am so glad to catch up here with the audiobooks. As much as I enjoyed the first book in the series, I think I loved this one even more! It’s another opposites attract, enemies to lovers, hurt/comfort and fake engagement to a real HEA tropes story, but completely different from the previous book and I thoroughly enjoyed August and Nico’s journey.
Nico Arents is living and loving his best life. He’s an out bisexual hockey player on a team with out players and management that is completely supportive. He loves living in Toronto where he can work hard and play hard. He’s got a great family with his teammates and their SOs and he’s a feisty one! He is an exuberant and snarky player on the ice who keeps thing interesting 😉 That includes his banter and blatant antagonizing and flirting with straitlaced referee August Manning.
One night after a game and August is feeling down because his ex is getting married to someone else after calling him boring, Nico and August run into each other in an alley. After an incredibly hot kiss, they agree to a hookup at an anonymous hotel. They have an incredible night together and agree that it can never happen again. Then there is a grainy picture in a gossip rag that claims Nico has something going on with someone involved in hockey and what looks like a VERY compromising position in that alley. Luckily August isn’t exactly recognizable in the picture, but this can’t get out. An official and a player?? August has everything to lose. He calls Nico and the confirm their agreement and August vows to get rid of the possibly identifiable piece of clothing from the picture. Team PR isn’t happy about it, but Nico won’t out August – for a number of reasons.
The next time they are together, Nico ends up getting checked and having seizure on the ice. August is the closest official on the ice and he’s terrified. He’s gutted that perhaps an earlier hit had been missed as something more and that it’s his fault that this happened to Nico. He can’t leave Buffalo and goes to the hospital to find Nico and see what is really happening. They of course won’t let anyone but family in, so he goes a little crazy and tells them that he’s Nico’s fiance. But Nico is already in surgery. It turns out he had a brain tumor and had been ignoring the symptoms but now it has to come out. Sky, Nico’s old girlfriend, best friend, and pregnant billionaire heiress influencer knows all about August and Nico’s hookup and she encourages him to just keep up the ruse until Nico is in the clear. But then Nico’s parents – his mom and her wife and his dad and his wife – show up unexpectedly and the jig is up. Or is it?? Sky sells the whole thing and August stays in Buffalo while Nico is recovering.
Nico doesn’t remember the game, the hit or being engaged. The doctors tell him that’s to be expected, but he’s frustrated that he’s still got headaches and can’t remember. He’s got left-side weakness – which sucks since he’s left-handed – and he’s not going to get right back on the ice. Then the inevitable happens and someone blabs about August and Nico being engaged. Kate, the Marketing and PR boss for the team shows up and tries to help August navigate the situation. He feels doubly guilty about deceiving not only Nico’s family but Nico himself. To try to spin this so he doesn’t lose his job that he’s worked his whole life for, he takes Kate’s advice.
Eventually Nico is released from the hospital to go back to his penthouse apartment in Toronto. Of course his fiance has to be there to care for him, so August moves in. With Nico and 4 overprotective parents who don’t know the engagement is fake. And eventually Nico figures it out after August has tried several times to come clean. He’s not exactly mad and he’s super happy to have August running interference with his parents. Together they agree to keep this as they are and August will help Nico during his recovery. Nico also wants sex 😉 August doesn’t want to refuse him, but Nico is still recovering. So maybe that needs to be a little more of a back-burner issue.
There is also the issue of August’s career. With the new Code of Conduct, this is really bad for August. August decided to be an official because he didn’t think he could be a gay and out professional hockey player. He doesn’t exactly regret it and he’s happy that things are changing are there are queer out players, but now he will likely lose this too. If he’s lucky it’ll be a suspension rather than a lifetime ban – but who knows.
Nico and August have one big problem though. Despite August’s best efforts, he has actually fallen in love with Nico and now he’s going to lose it all. But Nico isn’t going to let August go that easily 😉
These two! I love an opposites attract bantering couple soooo much! Nico is hilarious. Yeah, he’s young and has the world by the tail with downhill pull as my dad used to say. He’s a rich young guy who is a playboy and talented hockey player. He’s got a supportive family and he’s got his team who is also his family. August also has a loving family, but he’s always gone the more traditional route. He’s wanted a husband and a family and a steady live. He and Nico are so good for each other! They really complement each other and I loved how August supported Nico and how much of a champion for August Nico turned out to be. I also loved Julius, August’s twin and Sky, Nico’s bestie ex. Nico’s family were so lovely also. The way Nico’s recovery was not glossed over and the struggles he had to get back on the ice and to physically recover I thought were realistically and sensitively handled.
Edward James Jones did another fantastic job here. I loved Nico’s voice especially. He’s a trickster but he’s also a solid guy when it comes down to it. His inner monologue kept me laughing. August really is so buttoned up – except when it came to Nico 🙂 Their interplay was fabulous. I took of a quarter star for the mispronunciation of toque 😉 Bob and Doug McKenzie would approve! This is another great performance though and I heartily recommend this series in audio!
RATING: 
BUY LINK:
One thought on “Recent Release Audio Book Review: The Head Game (Relationship Goals #2) by Brigham Vaughn (Author) & James Edward Jones (Narrator)”