REVIEW: 'Off the Ice' by Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn
Title: Off the Ice
Series: Hat Trick #1
Authors: Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn
Published: October 30, 2017
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Cover Artist: Natasha Snow/Natasha Snow Designs
Genre: Contemporary Romance; Erotic Romance
Length: 275 Pages
Tags: Gay; M/M; D/s; May/December; Coming Out; Athlete/Sport: Hockey; Standalone; HFN; Kink: Spanking, Mild Degradation, Role Play - Teacher/Student
About Off the Ice
Tristan Holt is nothing if not pragmatic. Despite a flourishing career as a defenseman for the Atlanta Venom, Tristan knows he can’t play hockey forever. One day he’ll retire—if an injury doesn’t force him to hang up his skates first. His backup plan? Finishing his business degree. But he doesn’t count on a very inappropriate attraction to his standoffish sociology professor, Sebastian Cruz.
Sebastian is on the bottom rung of the Sociology Department at Georgia State. He has his sights set on tenure, and he can’t afford to be distracted, especially not by a sexy student with a body straight out of Sebastian’s dreams. No matter how much Tristan tempts him, that’s one line Sebastian won’t cross. At least not until summer classes end. After that, everything is fair game.
But Sebastian lives loud and proud, and Tristan is terrified of being the first out player in the NHL. Neither of them can afford to risk their hearts when they can’t imagine a happily ever after. The problem is, unlike hockey, when it comes to love, there are no rules.
4 HEART READ
REVIEW:
More a traditional romance, with a side order of hockey, fans of the writing duo of Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn will be thrilled with Off the Ice, the first in their new Hat Trick series. There is a definite style in the combination of these two fine authors which is an interesting contrast to how each of them writes on their own. Very polished, the authors’ final product is a story with a great message, interesting characters, and fiery romantic scenes (it’s okay to infer I’m saying the sex is hot!).
Alternating between both main characters’ points-of-view, Off the Ice is the story of closeted NHL hockey player Tristan Holt and out-and-proud university professor Sebastian Cruz. A good deal of the novel is about their initial attraction, the build up to establishing their relationship, and the sparks that fly when they get together.
With a message about accepting yourself for who you are and doing what needs to be done to assure your integrity, Off the Ice will resonate with readers.
Both Tristan and Sebastian have issues to deal with, but when they come together, face the problems, and work for a resolution...well the chemistry between these two is spectacular.
There’s a slight age gap and power differential and toppy Sebastian sees the submissive in Tristan almost right away. Once he encourages Tristan to speak up about his desires, Sebastian leads them into an adventurous romantic relationship.
These boys get down and dirty in the best possible way, and it certainly kept me scrolling along.
Gale and Vaughn establish a really nice flow to this book. I love how Sebastian and Tristan progress from their initial lust to the security of a more established relationship. Watching Tristan grow comfortable enough to make his needs known, and how Sebastian assures Tristan he’ll get the job done, really illustrates the chemistry between these two guys. And it continues outside their sexual relationship as they face every day issues throughout the story.
The authors set the stage nicely in Off the Ice with the promise of future novels surrounding players from the Atlanta Venom hockey team. The goalie Ryu Mori, who is also closeted, and the team captain Daniel Bellamy, who is coming out as bisexual, promise to be intriguing stories and I’ll be looking forward to reading them both. Hopefully very soon!
A copy of Off the Ice was provided to Kimmers’ Erotic Book Banter, by Riptide Publishing, at no cost and with no expectations in return. We offer our fair and honest opinion on behalf of our readers.
If you enjoy the writing duo of Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn you might also enjoy their standalone erotic romance, Permanent Ink.
Meet the Authors
Avon grew up in the southern United States, and now lives with her very patient husband in a liberal Midwestern college town. When she’s not writing, she’s either doing some kind of craft project that makes a huge mess, reading, watching horror movies, listening to music or yelling at her favorite hockey team to get it together, already. Avon is always up for a road trip, adores Kentucky bourbon, thinks nothing is as stress relieving as a good rock concert, and will never say no to candy.
At one point, Avon was the mayor of both Jazzercise and Lollicup on Foursquare. This tells you basically all you need to know about her as a person.
For more from Avon be sure and visit her website.
Piper Vaughn wrote her first love story at eleven and never looked back. Since then, she’s known that writing in some form was exactly what she wanted to do. A reader at the core, Piper loves nothing more than getting lost in a great book—fantasy, young adult, romance, sci-fi, she loves them all (and has an over-two-thousand-book library to prove it!). She’s an avid tea drinker, a hockey fanatic, a vintage typewriter collector, and loves to travel so much she has “wanderlust” tattooed on her ankle and dozens of countries on her bucket list. Recently, she discovered the world of nail art and realized she’s pretty handy with a paintbrush—as long as it’s a miniature one.
As a bisexual and Latinx person, Piper takes great pride in her heritage. She grew up in an ethnically diverse neighborhood and strives to put faces and characters of every ethnicity in her stories, so her fictional worlds are as colorful as the real one. She currently resides in the suburbs of Chicago with her husband, son, and a cat that has Piper wrapped around her little paw. Above all, she believes that everyone needs a little true love in their life … even if it’s only in a book.
For more from Piper be sure and visit her website.
