Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: One-Time Shot
SERIES: Smithton Bears
AUTHOR: Lane Hayes
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 186 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 27, 2025
BLURB:
The jock, the geek, and the hockey project…
Jett
My pro hockey dreams are hanging by a thread. I need to have a great season and that means no partying, no distractions, no fun. The grad student pestering me for science-y help on his thesis is the definition of no fun, so…okay.
Pros and cons of agreeing to this
Positive use of free time. (At least that’s what my agent says.)
Malcolm likes big words and his first language is math. He’s also bossy, clumsy, and he doesn’t know the first thing about hockey.
But he’s also cute and he’s got a great sense of humor and—oh no.
I cannot have a crush on the geek. No way. Not now.
Malcolm
Yes, I’m a serious student, but a hockey project is not serious. Who cares about big hunky hockey players zipping around a sheet of ice at warp speed? Not I.
According to my professor, however, the only way to attain the required data is to study the specimen in his natural habitat, AKA, the ice rink.
My thesis should lead to a bevy of job offers.
Jett. He’s impossible—too big, too handsome, too gruff and yet disarmingly charming and—
Okay, fine. I like the jock…a lot.
Lately, I find myself wondering if there’s such a thing as a one-time shot at forever.
One-Time Shot is a low-angst, geek-jock MM college hockey romance featuring a charismatic hockey star and an adorkable scientist.
REVIEW:
Malcolm is a physics grad student. He wants to be published in a college textbook, but he needs to do some research that will be palatable to students and the “real world”. His supervising professor suggest sports and he suggests hockey would be good. So Malcolm is determined to have his hockey player – Jett Erickson, senior star of the school’s team. But Jett turns him down flat.
Malcolm is determined to convince Jett. His roommate Layla helps him stalk Jett’s movements. He ends up trying to exercise with Jett and Jett takes pity on him. Finally Jett relents and agrees. But he has conditions. He will teach Malcolm hockey 😉 Malcolm thinks this sounds like torture! But he agrees. And thus they embark on the experiment. That leads to more 😉
This is an adorable start to a new series of college-age guys finding their way in unexpected ways 🙂 Generally I’m kind of over college romances, but these two are embarking on their lives after college and so it didn’t feel like they were so “young”. It’s a little bit of a slow burn and takes them a while to give in to their attraction to each other 😉 Both characters are believable though and I enjoyed getting to know them. Malcolm is a typical scientist – focused on his data, experiments and thesis. But he’s sweetly funny – and amuses Jett immediately. Jett is determined to NOT get involved with Malcolm’s experiment, but he gets worn down by the cute guy stalking him. Once he agrees, well he can’t help but be intrigued by a guy who is super cute and waaaaay out of his league intellectual. He’s also a closeted bi-sexual – well mostly closeted. And he can’t stop his attraction to Malcolm and he doesn’t want to. He really needs to focus on his hockey though so he can get a pro contract. Surprisingly though his relationship with Malcolm actually seems to HELP his game. Turns out that Malcolm and Jett are good for each other. It’s a low angst, sweet and humorous romance with a lovely HEA that is right in this author’s wheelhouse 😀 Recommended. I’m looking forward to the next book 🙂
RATING: 
