Thank you to Regina Kyle, Sarina Bowen, Jenn Gaffney and the rest of the World of True North team for the advance reader copy of Showstopper, the seventeenth story in the Vino and Veritas series.

I am so excited to be returning to Moo U within the Vino and Veritas world! I am such a sucker for college romance and throw in a hockey player! Damn, I love a good college hockey romance.

Check out the Goodreads synopsis…

“I swore I wouldn’t do this again. Mix sports, school, and sex. But right now the only thing standing between me and the NHL is six feet of frenemy packed into a pair of form-fitting jeans that have me thinking all kinds of things I shouldn’t. Mostly how to get him out of them.

I don’t just want Kolby. I need him. Because I’ve got to pass this theater class–yeah, I said theater–if I’m going to keep my spot on the team. When tutoring sessions turn into dates-not-dates over Shipley Cider at Vino and Veritas, I realize it’s going to be harder than I thought to keep my hands on my stick and off of Kolby. Worse, I think I might be falling for him. But I’m not ready for that. I want to keep this thing between us on the down-low for now.

But Kolby hates secrets. Especially his own…”

Check out my more detailed thoughts below…

• Characters: Adam is a hockey player at Moo U. He is bisexual and that almost cost him his future in the NHL after a big curfuffle at his previous university. Fresh off a transfer to Burlington U, I love how Adam was ready to carve a new path for himself. He wanted to be out on his own terms, and not rush anything something I think we could all respect. Then Kolby walks into the picture. The extremely hardworking, inspiring actor to be. I loved Kolby, not how secretive he was being. But similar to how I could understand Adam’s desires to be secretive, I understood Kolby’s as well.
• Setting: The story is set in Burlington, Vermont. Mostly at Moo U, what the university is affectionately called. I loved this little crossover between the worlds of Moo U and Vino and Veritas. Being at Moo U brought so many of my favourite settings including The Biscuit, the arena, and the Hockey House. But I equally loved getting to spend some time at Vino and Veritas with some younger guys rather than all the mid-20s and up in previous instalments. I loved that Kolby worked at the bookstore side of V&V because they had so many cute book moments. There may have been a really cute shout-out in there.
• Pacing: The book was paced pretty well. The timing in this book was done pretty well.
• Romance: I loved their sort-of meet-cute that had Kolby denying Adam’s class change at the registar. Then the next thing you know the boys are in an improv class together. I love how improv really allowed for them to be playful and open with each other. It really helped them begin to discover how well they worked together. These boys once they tumbled into a bed together, really really struggled to stop. I absolutely adored the electric chemistry they had. This book is much more than just a romance it is a coming-out story too. It really deals with the fine line between the balance of coming out on your own terms versus living life in secret. While this book was extremely hot, it did not lack any emotional intensity. I especially adored many of the sweet gestures the boys did for one another.

Showstopper receives four out of five stars.

You can pick up the story below…

https://geni.us/AmazonShowstopper

Thank you again to Sarina, Jenn and the rest of the team for the review opportunity. Thank you for reading and supporting my blog!