3⭐️ 2🌶️
MOOD: lighthearted, funny
TROPES: bi-awakening, golden retriever/black cat, rich/poor, slowburn
GENRES: contemporary, sports, university/college, lgbtq+ romance

MAIN CHARACTERS: Gerard Gunnarson and Elliot Montgomery

THE GOOD: Elliot and Gerard are fine. Separately they are decent characters. Elliot and his "Holy Snickers" and lack of a brain can be amusing alongside Elliot's stubbornness and drive to be independent. Do they work as a couple? Sure. Is it interesting to read? Kinda? If this was instalove or even instalust the I think parts of the story would make more sense or work better than they do. The side characters were more interesting. This makes sense for a series approach but also, I should want to read the book I'm currently reading. 

THE NEUTRAL: So many dated references. I don't know if this is one of those things where the 90s references have come around again but I have read many new releases (ARCs) in the past 2 years and I don't remember seeing so many references that I would consider dated - I recognized them because I'm old. It just threw me to open with Ferris Bueller move to Central Perk (I guess I get that one cause Friends is streaming) but there were at least 4 other references that I'm not sure would make sense in a few years. There were two characters named Jackson which is an odd choice. I also could have done without the Epilogue but that's a personal choice and I get that the author was going for even more Happily Ever After. Also, are the rugby players 6'11"? Gerard is 6'5" and makes a comment about them being 6 inches taller than him - that math feels odd. Yes, that through away scene towards the start of the book distracted me.

THE MEH: The Ice Queen chapters took away from the story more so than added to it. This one is going to be very specific but as a librarian at a university - the student workers aren't called librarians and the books aren't organized that way (at least not at most universities, I'm sure some have a fiction section or popular reading section but most, if not all in the USA, follow the Library of Congress system). It's one thing for the other students to call Elliot a librarian but he wouldn't call himself that - it got annoying.

IN GENERAL: This was an okay book. That's kind of it - there was nothing that stood out, and a lot of things felt very generic. I finished it (I do DNF) and I did get stuck at chapter 26 long enough to read 3 other books. I've read better hockey books (Hockey Bois comes to mind and that has actual hockey in it) and the college setting is always kind of meh for me since it usually doesn't add to the story in any significant way (Off the Ice is different cause it's teacher/student but that is college also).

CW: sexual content, bullying, racism (mentions)
DISCLAIMER: I received an advance review copy. This is my honest review.