TITLE: ⟫ Forbidden Hockey
AUTHOR: ⟫ S Legend

SERIES: ⟫ Heartbreak Hockey Book #5
RATING: ⟫ 4/5

BLURB: ⟫ GRITTY. RAW. A LITTLE EDGIER THAN THE AVERAGE HOCKEY ROM-COM

What do you do when a man takes your breath away? Literally?

Travis Nolan

I’m tarnished. Ex-con. Trailer trash. Rebel-rouser. I’ve spent years trying to be the kind of father my son deserves—don’t know if I’ll ever get there, but it’s my only path to redemption.

The last thing I need is a dangerous attraction to Dirk Boulder, one that’ll carve my name onto the Devil’s guest list. But when the man who once tore my son’s life apart resurfaces, I have to decide: kill the monster and betray the man I love, or walk away from vengeance and leave my son vulnerable.

Dirk Boulder

Hockey is life. I’ve had a great career in the AHL with the Kelowna Wildcats, and my found family—while a little over the top at times—is made of stuff money can’t buy. But something’s missing.

I’m used to having the wind knocked out of me on the ice, but nothing prepares me for falling for my best friend’s dad, Travis Nolan. Of flipping course. The only man I can’t have.

My older brother, the only real parent I’ve ever had, will never go for it. Betraying him after all he’s done for me seems like the greatest treason of my life.

Feral Soulmates
The rules were simple: live in denial, dance around our attraction, relieve the agonizing desire with innocent flirtations, and unending proximity. Never, never, touch each other.

But even the thought of the other with someone else? Yeah, that’s a big effing no. Was it jealousy that tipped the scales, or love with a gravitational pull so hard we were too human to resist?

Probably both.

We’re bruised, reckless, and beautifully ruined for anyone else.

REVIEW: ⟫ To some extent, this is much more grounded in reality. The main aspects of the story take part back ‘home’ with hockey in the background explaining absences. About there is where reality ends. We have had hints of Dirk and Travis throughout the previous stories in the series and I must admit, I was looking forward to their story. However, it was incredibly frustrating – these characters are all so enmeshed with each other, they are barely capable of independent thought.

When Travis and Dirk were together, they were quite explosive. I appreciated the fact that Travis challenged himself with his thinking – it would have been very easy for him and Dirk to fall into a Daddy-dom situation but that was definitely not the vibe. I loved how he could take Dirk away from all of the things that made him doubt himself and yet respected him as an adult. He struggled with it on occasion – not helped by the fact that they were hiding from not only Dash but Dirk’s brother, Hunter.

Maxwell is fascinating and I am looking forward to the story of him and Eddie. I did enjoy this story but it felt unnecessarily dragged out and that annoyed me. This is where the series ends (for now) but I will keep an eye out for the next book which is due next year and I am exploring S Legend’s back catalogue for addition to my TBR.