Saturday, June 6, 2020

✱✱Book Review✱✱ Coach by Declan Rhodes


Coach
by Declan Rhodes 


Adam Kennedy is a hockey goalie with unusual raw talent and Nate Slater is his player-coach with past professional experience. Adam is gay and Nate is straight. Their lives are about to change.

Minor-league hockey star forward Nate Slater knew he was on the edge of fame until tragedy struck. A three-player ambush ended his playing career, and he retreated from his beloved game disillusioned about human beings and life in general. To nobody’s surprise, he couldn’t stay away for long and he grabbed hold of the comeback ladder on the lowest rung, player-coach for a team in his city’s recreational league.

To others, the Galeforce Flyers were a ragtag team of questionable talent. For Nate, they have unexploited skills that can take them to the top of their league, and he agrees to be their star forward and coach. Perhaps the most promising player is Adam Kennedy, a kid only two years out of college who plays goalie with elegant dexterity.

Although he knows in his heart that everything turns out well in the end, Adam is experiencing a rough patch in his life. Fired from his job, and low on cash to pay his rent, he considers a humiliating return to life with his parents. After his teammates step in and lean hard, Coach Slater offers the empty second-floor in his house as a temporary solution to Adam’s housing dilemma.

The quiet Adam is a good housemate for the sometimes brooding Nate. The kid is gay and the coach is straight. They maintain their distance in the house until the night Adam spots his coach…dancing.

Coach is a 58,000-word standalone gay hockey romance with first time and friends-to-lovers themes. It includes steamy scenes and a guaranteed happy ending.





Momma Says: 4 stars⭐⭐⭐⭐

Coach is one of those feel-good romances that you can fall into for an afternoon and come out with a smile. After reading the blurb, I was a little worried that this would be a gay for you story, which don't always work for me, but Coach and Adam are just too adorable together. Coach is kind of gay curious and I love that he doesn't get too far into his own head about his attraction to Adam and figuring it all out. He has kind of a laid back vibe that works really well for this story. Adam is one of those characters that you just want to hug right from the start, so this relationship was bound to be full of oohs and aahs. This romance has plenty of feels without getting too heavy on the angst, some steamy goodness, and for the hockey fans, there's plenty of that too. Personally, it was maybe it bit too much with the hockey play by plays, but it didn't take anything away from the story and it's written so that even I can understand what's happening on the ice. I really enjoyed the characters here, and I loved that they're hockey players but they don't necessarily fit the mold of alpha male sports figures that we see so often in sports romance. None of us are just one thing, and the author shows that with these characters. All in all, another engaging sports romance from Declan Rhodes. 


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