Hat Trick (Belen’s Review)

Title: Hat Trick
Author: Meg Harding
Publisher: Loose-ID
Release Date: May 10 th 2016
Genre(s): Contemporary/Hockey
Page Count: 241
Reviewed by: Belen
Heat Level: 4 flames out of 5
Rating: 2.7 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?

If you are a fan of M/M hockey romances with steamy encounters and don’t mind miscommunication as a plot device then you may just want to check this out.

After winning an away game, Winnipeg Wolves hockey team Captain Nathan Barre meets a gorgeous man named Felix in a bar and they end up having a smoking hot one night stand. Because Nathan isn’t out to the public (but he is to his teammates), and uncomfortable in a city not his own, he slinks out before morning never expecting to see Felix again.

Nineteen months later and Nathan still hasn’t gotten Felix or the night of mind-blowing-best-sex-of-his-life off his mind. When Nathan is injured in a pre-season game and steered towards the trainer’s room he never expects to find Felix. Over the next few months the two men spend time with one another on Nathan’s rehab and they get to know one another, getting together for lunches, work outs and hanging out with the team. The attraction is always there for Nathan, and when Felix suggests they have sex again Nathan goes for it, against his better judgement, knowing he really wants more.

Told entirely from Nathan’s POV the reader gets to see Nathan fall more and more in love with Felix, and also become more and more upset when he believes Felix doesn’t return his feelings.

This story is filled with your typical kind of “guy” miscommunication where both men obviously have feelings for one another but neither believes the other really cares, even though they’re sleeping with each other every chance they get because they can’t keep their hands off each other, and they go to lunch all time, and they spend most of their free time together. But – oh, no, that only means that they’re friends with benefits.

This back and forth doesn’t resolve itself until the story is 92% finished.

And then only because one of their friends literally locks them in a room together to talk things out…and when that doesn’t work he comes and lays down the truth.

“We also know that you’re totally in love with each other. It’s occurred to us that maybe you don’t know that. So, hey, we’re making you aware. Nathan, you’re madly in love with Felix. Felix, you’re madly in love with Nathan. The two of you are big, jealous babies who have way complicated a simple situation…Now that you have this information, maybe you two could discuss it and figure out where the hell you wrongly crossed the wires.”

Strangely, this time the miscommunication didn’t make me want to kill someone. Sure it was annoying, but the writing style had me so discombobulated that I didn’t really focus on it, to be honest. The writing is filled with short sentence bursts and had such an odd (to me) cadence of storytelling that I actually didn’t pay that much attention to the miscommunication happening.

Now, that aside, there were a couple of things I loved about the story – the super hot sexy scenes and the side characters, especially Renner. I would LOVE to read another story featuring Renner as the MC!

If you can handle miscommunication and like hot, sexy times, friendly banter and hockey you should check it out for yourself.

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