Reread thoughts: ugh, I just adore Casey and Landon, and their friendship and relationship so much! Upping this to 5 stars.


My previous thoughts from when I read an ARC in 2023:

Time to Shine is peak grumpy/sunshine friends-to-lovers queer hockey romance!
 
This book was such a joy to read. Like with any hockey book, I understood none of the hockey stuff but that wasn't needed for me to fall in love with its characters.
 
Both Landon and Casey are mid-twenties, and while both are hockey players, they are otherwise complete opposites. 
 
Landon's pretty reserved, quiet, and prefers to just blend in which is his plan when he's called up to play for Calgary. He's nervous about proving himself, and he tells himself he's only there to do a job and then go home. He's still dealing with losing his sister when he was a teenager, and his life is now fully dedicated to his career.
 
Casey on the other hand is sunshine personified. He's outgoing, charming, and maybe a bit too loud. Everyone loves him, at least in small doses, he's a star on the team, and to most people he seems to have no worries at all (spoiler, he does.) He loves hockey, people, and sex, and he's openly bi, something that's never an issue to anyone in this book and it was honestly refreshing to have no homophobia in a sports romance.
 
No one can resist Casey's charm, and his insistence on Landon staying with him has the two opening up to each other and slowly becoming friends. These two guys just fit together, and they were absolutely wonderful.
 
Casey is the loml, he's so bright and good, and I adore Landon as well. Casey loves sex and has a lot of it while Landon is aspec and has never really been interested in sex until Casey. The way they navigated intimacy and consent was wonderful and had aspects I'd never read before but absolutely adored. The communication between the two was *chef's kiss* and they had so much fun together, in and out of bed.
 
Honestly, this book was just so fully delightful and wholesome.