Power Forward

Title: Power Forward
Author: Wolf Specter
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: January 6, 2016
Genre(s): Hockey/Shifter
Page Count: 200
Reviewed by: Gigi
Heat Level: 2 flames out of 5
Rating: 1.5 stars out of 5
Blurb:

The closet’s a tough place to be for a pro hockey player… Rising star Blair Boyer can’t stand his new teammate. He’s loud, arrogant, and thinks that just because he’s big he can throw his weight around. But Blair has bigger problems to worry about, like trying to hide his sexual orientation from his teammates.

Separated from his pack, a lone alpha whose wolf is slowly going mad… Nikita Tarasov: brash, tattooed, Russian. He’s the latest acquisition of the Seattle Breakers hockey team, but he’s hiding a secret that can’t get out. He’s a lone wolf, an alpha separated from his pack. And that separation is driving the wolf inside him crazy.

Then Blair makes a discovery that could get him killed. Blair and Nikita butt heads at first, but it’s undeniable: they have incredible chemistry on the ice. And maybe off it, too. Until Blair accidentally stumbles over Nikita’s secret one night. Now the man he was determined to ignore holds Blair’s life in his claws.

As the attraction between them slowly develops and sizzles, Blair has a lot to worry about: there’s a reporter sniffing around, his werewolf teammate might murder him, and he has to hide his entire life from his team. Sooner or later it’s all going to come crashing down…

Power Forward is a 45,000 word stand-alone short novel with NO CLIFFHANGER. Contains plenty of hard-hitting hockey action and steamy scenes between an alpha wolf shifter and his chosen mate.

I read the whole book. This was a first-time author for me, but the thought of Hockey! and Shifters! together in one book had me intrigued enough to read it without GR friend’s reviews.

It was mildly interesting. A big, grouchy wolf shifter named Nikita and a short hockey player named Blair. Blair sees himself as a caregiver, someone who needs to fix everyone else’s problems. These two were getting to know each other, Blair, with his caretaker gene, watching out for Nikita while he goes on his necessary wolf runs and both of them tearing up the ice as a great scoring team.

Nikita is gruff for the entire book. No warmth or compassion. No words of thanks for what Blair is doing. And just when things start to get interesting…

Spoiler: Their first and ONLY sexual encounter takes place in the middle of the night in a forest next to a tree. Nikita fucks Blair doggy style in the open air. “It’s the way my people do it.” And this is 90%. Yes, you heard me, 90%.

Oh, and then? THE BOOK ENDS! There is a little talk of these two coming out as a couple with their team captain, but that was it. Finished!

According to the blurb:

Power Forward is a 45,000 word stand-alone short novel with NO CLIFFHANGER.

So, apparently, that’s it. End of story.

So, so disappointing. This could have actually been a really interesting book. If Nikita would have expressed some emotions and the book explained the weird bond the two men had, I would have really like this one.