⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5)

I have become such a huge fan of JJ Mulder and her Offsides and SCU Hockey interconnected series’. I was lucky enough to get an ARC of this fourth book in her second series, and I flew through it. Every time she releases a new book, I worry I won’t like the male MC’s as much as the previous one. I’m wrong every time. Falling in love with Nate and Marcos was easy.

We’re introduced to Marcos in the second book of the SCU Hockey series, and I was so grateful to finally get to know him better in his book. JJ does such a good job highlighting the broad spectrum of LGBTQ+ identities in her books, and this one is no exception. Marcos is dealing with a severe touch aversion, worsened by PTSD after his best friend is assaulted at a party he takes him to (covered in Book Two). Nate didn’t even know he was attracted to men but the spark is instant with Marcos, who is resistant at first. Nate’s Golden Retriever energy is so easy to fall for as a reader, as is the fact that he never makes Marcos feel less than for what he thinks is a very problematic flaw.

This story gives readers a lot of hope that there is someone out there for everyone, and that with the right person there isn’t anything you can’t work through. This book differs from the others in the series with a portion of it taking place at Nate’s uncle’s horse ranch in Wyoming. Horses and hockey in the same book?! Sold.

I loved that in her last two books, the epilogues take us multiple years into the future. The fifth and final book in this series is set to be released in October, and I will be so sad to see this universe come to an end. I know I’ll be rereading these and the preceding series, Offsides, for years to come. What I like most about this world JJ has created is that it imagines a better one where being LGBTQ+ and out in professional sports is becoming more commonplace. I hope the actual world of professional sports catches up soon, because as both a MM romance and a sports fan, it’s a wonderful world to live in.

Please read these books. JJ Mulder is a MM romance writer who deserves to be widely beloved for her contributions to the genre!