Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Something to Prove
SERIES: Smithton Bears
AUTHOR: Lane Hayes
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 224 pages
RELEASE DATE: July 29, 2025
BLURB:
The hockey star, the influencer, and the deal of a lifetime.
Ty
I’m going to the pros, baby! Deal made, contract signed. Now all I have to do is finish out my final season at Smithton and stay out of trouble. I like to have a good time, but don’t worry, I’ll behave.
What I won’t do is talk to that double-crossing influencer who’s been badgering me for an interview. No thanks.
I know Walker’s type—sweet as pie on the outside, a shark on the inside.
Get this…he wants to make a deal that sounds a lot like a bribe.
Not interested. No way.
But I am curious.
Walker
I’ve never worked so hard for an interview in my life. Ugh!
Look, I get that Ty doesn’t like me. As in…he won’t return my calls and avoids me like the plague on campus.
Too bad. I’m not giving up.
I don’t want to beg, but I’m willing to barter. Every man has his price—and something to prove.
Even Ty.
Something to Prove is a low-angst, geek-jock MM bisexual college hockey romance featuring a hockey star and the adorkable influencer who’s determined to win him over…
REVIEW:
Note: This is the second book in this series. Technically it could be read as a standalone, but the first book sets the stage for the friction between Walker and Ty. That being said, there is plenty of explanation of the situation in this book to ensure the reader isn’t lost.
As much as I enjoyed the first book in the series, I think I loved this one even more!
Walker is such a surprise 😉 He’s the social media/influencer who has put Smithton on the map with over 1M followers. He needs a hook with the school’s hockey team and Ty being signed to the AHL is just the right story to showcase. He really needs to get Ty on his side and agree to an interview, but Ty is having NONE of it. He feels he’s still sticking up for his teammate Jett and the debacle of being outed the previous year so he’s not willing to play Walker’s game. Walker is willing to bargain however he can to get Ty to agree, but then an unexpected run in with Ty in a compromising position turns things even more unproductive.
After some back and forth and some pretty heated discussions, Ty finally agrees. Though Ty is out as bisexual to the team that has drafted him after college, he’s still not ready to go public or really talk about his sexuality – which Walker agrees to. Ty has been reluctant to be part of Walker’s social media world. Despite his agent’s recommendation that he make the most of this bonus exposure, he’s just not interested. Until he is. The more time these two spend together though the more the chemistry between them heats up, and the more challenging their “friendship” cover becomes when they are seen out together. Because by then, he and Walker have become something more than friends – even more than friends with benefits.
Walker’s life is not an open book. He’s got things he definitely doesn’t want known/exposed. When the media gets a whiff of Walker’s biggest secret, things get a bit messy. Walker doesn’t want all Ty’s worked for to be jeopardized because of their relationship and he doesn’t want his family’s privacy invaded. Ty, however, finds that he’s not willing to give up. I loved how he convinced Walker that he wasn’t going to allow the outside world to dictate his life. He never wanted to see Walker hurt and he figured out that HE got to decide what was most important to him. And that is Walker.
The epilogue is “chef’s kiss” and I loved seeing Malcolm and Jett again. The rest of the Bears hockey team are around for the fun and games too 🙂 I’m really looking forward to the next book in this series, because Gus is the definition of a HOT MESS and I can’t wait to see how he makes peace with his roommate 😉 Highly recommended!
RATING: 
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