Hat Trick (Gigi’s Review)

Title: Hat Trick
Author: Meg Harding
Publisher: Loose-ID
Release Date: May 10, 2016
Genre(s): Contemporary/Hockey
Page Count: 241
Reviewed by: Gigi
Heat Level: 4 flames out of 5
Rating: 2 stars out of 5
Blurb:

Nathan Barres has always loved hockey before anything else. When a one night stand with Felix Moore gives him emotions, he flees the scene. He’s not expecting to see Felix ever again. So when an injury knocks him out of the game for several weeks, he’s less than pleased to see the Winnipeg Wolves newest trainer is none other than Felix.

Almost two years later, and the feelings are still there. Nathan does his best to shove them to the back burner and ignore the temptation Felix presents. That is, until Felix makes him an offer that’s just a little too tempting–with amazing results. He’s a hockey player after all, and they’re nothing if not superstitious. If Felix is his good luck charm, who is he to resist?

M/M hockey romance, hip-hip-hurray! Gotta love ’em, even if there are a few flaws here and there. Unfortunately with , 90% of the book was a flaw because of a personal pet-peeve. Communication breakdown. As in miscommunication and NO communication.

Hockey player Nathan meets Felix and they have a wicked-hot one night stand. Since Nathan was playing in an away game, he never expected to see Felix again. 18 months later, Felix becomes the new hockey team’s physical therapist. Whoops! What does Nathan do now, since he walked out of Felix’s hotel room in the middle of the night without saying goodbye?

The book is told entirely from Nathan’s POV and he constantly assumes what Felix is thinking. Against Nathan’s better judgement, he start a friends-with-benefits arrangement with Felix. Nathan is head-over-heels for Felix but assumes Felix is just in it for the sex. *sigh* And it goes on and on and on from there until about 90%.

Here, I’ll let Felix explain:

“Let me get this out. I think we’ve had some serious miscommunication (emphasis mine) going on here. So. Just” —he heaves a loud sigh, repeats himself— “let me get this out. I like you. I’d like to date you. All the messing around? I figured I’d get what I could if you didn’t want the rest. And, you know, maybe you’d want more eventually. When you said you were going on that date, I thought you were pretty clearly telling me that I meant fuck all. So. I’m not over you. Never have been. Thought that was obvious.”

Here, I’ll let Nathan’s teammate Renner explain:

“We think the two of you need to work out your bullshit. You’re not getting out of that room until you fix things. We’d like you to try doing this thing called talking and this other thing called listening.”

If you are on-board with the Three’s Company miscommunication thing, this is your book. If you are a hockey fanatic, there is a lot of hockey here and you may enjoy it for that alone. But if only being able to hear one internal monologue, who is 100% clueless, drives you nuts, this book is not for you. Even with hockey as the backdrop. *sad trombone*