TITLE: ⟫ The Legend Next Door
AUTHOR: ⟫ Jesse H Reign

SERIES: ⟫Totally Pucked #2
RATING: ⟫ 4.5/5

BLURB: ⟫ I didn’t think hockey was the game for me…now I’m obsessed.

My new neighbor, Ben Stirling, is a beautiful, famous ex-player. A living NHL legend. A single dad with sad eyes and a smile I feel in my knees.

I’ve never met anyone like him. He’s what would you’d get if you squeezed masculinity through a sieve. He’s the grit. The pulp. The hard stuff that leaves a sweet taste in your mouth. On top of that, he’s kind and funny, and did I mention he’s the most beautiful man I’ve ever laid eyes on?

Obviously, he’s straight.

And obviously, that’s fine.

It’s not like I’m going to flirt with him. Or fall for him.

REVIEW: ⟫ Okay, so as soon as I saw that Jesse H Reign had a new book out, I bumped it up my TBR pile and I am so glad that I did. I was wondering how this was going to go, with a widower who has a young son and a younger man who seemed more than a little easy-going in terms of what he wanted from life.

However, I should have trusted in Jesse – and from the first page, I totally did! Ben just about broke my heart in the first few chapters – the pain, loss and anguish he was feeling came through so clearly that I was almost in tears. Luca was an absolute delight and he reminded me of my nieces and nephews at his age – it’s so nice when an author writes a child as a child rather than a young adult. The bond between Luca and Ben was incredibly touching and he was an amazing father.

Then we have Jeremiah – or Jelly as he is affectionately called. There isn’t a thought in this man’s head that he doesn’t spill out of his mouth, or worse. Jelly was absolutely delightful – from his self-pep talks, his affection for Luca, and his absolute adoration of Ben. The whole ‘biggest fan’ made me giggle far too often, and I loved when Jelly was forcing Moop to watch Hockey as a zealous new convert.

The bi-awakening was underplayed, which I appreciated – this wasn’t so much about Ben discovering that he liked men as well as women. It was more about him recovering from the loss of his wife, realising that he can find love again, and being open to whatever form that took. The two of them together were really beautiful – I really loved how Jelly encouraged Ben to talk about anything and everything – especially silly things. And the way that they reacted to each other – I’m actually thinking of a scene where they’re not even in the same house that was incredibly sexy and touching at the same time.

We had a small cameo with our duo from ‘Poetry on Ice’ which reminded me of just how much I loved reading them. But this book – this book was all about Ben, Jelly and Luca making a new ‘three person’ unit, and I am here for it. Big up supportive in laws who had no issue with Ben moving on, even with a man – and I look forward to the next in the series.