Off the Ice by Avon Gale
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 Stars

I really, really LOVED this story.

Tristan Holt has decided to take a few college classes during the NHL's off season. When he can't get his sociology professor, Sebastian Cruz, out of his head, he decides to make a move and ask him out the day the semester ends.

Sebastian is trying to get tenure at the University and he's got it bad for a student. How bad would it be to start seeing each other after class is officially over? It probably won't last anyway...

I totally dug the whole Hot For Teacher aspect, as well as the age gap.

I loved every part of Tristan. I loved how he stood up for himself when accused of cheating. I loved how worried he was about his professor's feelings. I loved how much he was embarrassed to express what he needed from Seb but did it anyway. He was a great teammate. He cared about his game and his team and his friends and loved his family. I loved how emotional he got over missing Thanksgiving with them.

I grew to love Seb at the end. I think if he wasn't such a complete jerk at the start I would have given this a full five stars, but I was turned off on his character until the very end when I felt he finally showed some real emotion.

This was a great writing partnership between Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn. I have thoroughly enjoyed Gale's previous hockey books and this was right up there. A must read!

*Galley copy generously provided by the author via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Cross posted on http://gaybook.reviews/ *

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