Book #1 in the Toronto Thunder series
Beth Bolden
Amazon
March 26, 2026
March 26, 2026
Tropes: fake relationship, enemies to lovers, football player x hockey player, bad boy settles down
Come hell or high water, Nate’s gonna be Ramsey’s perfect (fake) boyfriend . . .
The night Nate Bishop met Ramsey Andresen, he didn’t know who he was.
Didn’t know he was a hockey player. Didn’t know he’d be sticking around in Toronto. Most definitely didn’t know they’d hook up and Ramsey would walk right out of his life. Leaving him aching for more and hating that he can’t forget him.
They meet again at a Thunder team party and Nate’s not only shocked by Ramsey’s presence, but the way he acts like he belongs. He’s gorgeous and perfect and unobtainable, his existence rubbing Nate’s face into everything he can’t have.
He knows his teammates aren’t happy they don’t get along. But the last thing Nate expects is for Ramsey to suggest a plan to get them off their backs.
Not a fake friendship, but a fake situationship.
As they spend more time together—at first a necessity because of the charade, and then because they can’t stay away from each other—Nate starts to learn more about Ramsey’s secrets.
And each shadowy corner that Nate shines light into makes him like Ramsey even more. Until like slides easily into love, and fake becomes something real. Something precious. When they shatter the illusion, can they face the reality that they want each other, completely and forever, after playing pretend for so long?
Character art from Author's FB page
It feels like we’ve been waiting so long for Ramsey from Portland U to meet his match and he certainly did in Nate. Ramsey is now a professional hockey player in Buffalo, but he’s on injured reserve so he’s hanging out in Toronto with his best friend, Wes, but he’s lost without hockey. Nate is a Captain for the Toronto Thunder pro football team.
Ramsey is an enigma full of contradictions over strong walls covering this soft core of vulnerability that he doesn’t show many people. His best friends Wes and Brody were the closest but even they don’t know everything about him. He’s been in self protection mode for so long that his chameleon façade has just been who people think he is.
Their initial meeting was just this connection that they didn’t expect, didn’t actually want, and it scared them both. They both reacted differently, but it left a mark and neither of them could stop thinking about it.
So when they meet again, there’s this tension and unresolved feelings and spark between them that they can’t deny no matter how hard they try. Nate is broody and has up all his guards and tries to avoid Ramsey because he doesn’t want to get hurt. But there’s something about Nate that can just truly see inside Ramsey, and Ramsey knows it. And it just makes Ramsey want to uncharacteristically garner Nate‘s attention. To the point that Ramsey comes up with a plan to make nice and get everybody off their back by staging a "fake casual relationship". Well, once these guys start to let their walls down and actually spend time together, their chemistry and perceptviness regarding each other deepens. They don't really let the other get away with anything. And it’s not long before fake becomes more real physically and emotionally, but they both have their fears and insecurities and their friends also keep reminding them about how complicated their lives are and the potential for messiness.
Ramsey is an enigma full of contradictions over strong walls covering this soft core of vulnerability that he doesn’t show many people. His best friends Wes and Brody were the closest but even they don’t know everything about him. He’s been in self protection mode for so long that his chameleon façade has just been who people think he is.
Their initial meeting was just this connection that they didn’t expect, didn’t actually want, and it scared them both. They both reacted differently, but it left a mark and neither of them could stop thinking about it.
So when they meet again, there’s this tension and unresolved feelings and spark between them that they can’t deny no matter how hard they try. Nate is broody and has up all his guards and tries to avoid Ramsey because he doesn’t want to get hurt. But there’s something about Nate that can just truly see inside Ramsey, and Ramsey knows it. And it just makes Ramsey want to uncharacteristically garner Nate‘s attention. To the point that Ramsey comes up with a plan to make nice and get everybody off their back by staging a "fake casual relationship". Well, once these guys start to let their walls down and actually spend time together, their chemistry and perceptviness regarding each other deepens. They don't really let the other get away with anything. And it’s not long before fake becomes more real physically and emotionally, but they both have their fears and insecurities and their friends also keep reminding them about how complicated their lives are and the potential for messiness.
It’s fun watching Ramsey. just try to do normal dating things because he’s never done that and he’s just so adorable. And Nate’s just such a good guy. He tries to take care of his teammates and be a good friend and he wants Ramsey to want more, but he’s so scared of getting hurt. This is a whole different experience for Ramsey and he is just trying to feel his way through it. I loved seeing these two just kind of stumble into more real and honest versions of themselves with each other.
Will someone have to give up something they love in order to get something else? And how do they prioritize all their needs?
This is a football and hockey crossover about transparency, trust, vulnerability, understanding, safety, and partnership. I absolutely loved Nate and Ramsey together. and they were such a great match. I enjoyed seeing these layers of protection be stripped away from Ramsey to see this soft core of a man who just loves hard and wants to be loved, but was just so afraid of rejection. We’ve seen his loyalty and care with his best friends, Brody and Wes, but seeing him in a romantic way is different. I loved that Nate could just read Ramsey like a book for the most part and call him out on his crap, and Ramsey knew it so most of the time didn’t even try to get stuff over on him. This is the first time Ramsey‘s actually been able to be himself honestly without repercussions. Now they both find support both personally and with their careers along with an intertwined group of friends from this series and Portland U series. I am also looking forward to more with more of the football guys Lane, Trevor, Wes, Mo, and Jordan, and maybe we will see some more hockey guys too.
This is a football and hockey crossover about transparency, trust, vulnerability, understanding, safety, and partnership. I absolutely loved Nate and Ramsey together. and they were such a great match. I enjoyed seeing these layers of protection be stripped away from Ramsey to see this soft core of a man who just loves hard and wants to be loved, but was just so afraid of rejection. We’ve seen his loyalty and care with his best friends, Brody and Wes, but seeing him in a romantic way is different. I loved that Nate could just read Ramsey like a book for the most part and call him out on his crap, and Ramsey knew it so most of the time didn’t even try to get stuff over on him. This is the first time Ramsey‘s actually been able to be himself honestly without repercussions. Now they both find support both personally and with their careers along with an intertwined group of friends from this series and Portland U series. I am also looking forward to more with more of the football guys Lane, Trevor, Wes, Mo, and Jordan, and maybe we will see some more hockey guys too.
Perfect Storm
Book #1 in the Toronto Thunder series
Kim's 4 star review
Available on: Amazon, Kindle Unlimited, paperback, and audio narrated by Darcy Stark (est November)
Tropes: sexual discovery, best friend’s little brother, hookup pact, roommates to friends to lovers
When the sexy little brother of Aidan’s best friend suggests a hookup pact, it's the perfect storm for a bi-awakening . . .
Toronto Thunder quarterback Aidan Flynn always believed he was straight, until his close friend and favorite wide receiver signs with a team across the country. Distance opens his eyes and unlocks a desire he can’t deny. Even if his feelings aren’t returned, Aidan still wants to learn more about this part of himself.
Frustrated and a little heartbroken, the last thing he expects is for his crappy mood to get called out by his best friend’s little brother. Or for Levi to offer, on one drunken night, a pact: if Aidan never gets together with his guy, Levi will show him everything he’s been missing—and wanting—in bed.
It’s a stupid promise, fueled by booze and heartbreak, and Aidan expects that Levi will never call him on it.
Except Levi does. He shows up at Aidan’s house in Toronto less than two months later, not only willing to fulfill his side of the pact, but now signed to the Thunder as Aidan’s new right tackle. Aidan assumes it’ll be easy to get rid of him, but Levi is charming and persistent, and he not only ends up living in Aidan’s house, but sleeping in Aidan’s bed.
It’s easy and fun and the best hookup Aidan’s ever had in his whole life. It’s so good, in fact, Aidan starts to experience feelings he believed were long gone, traded away with his friend. Maybe with Levi in his life, love isn’t such a lost cause, after all.
They’re great on the field and between the sheets. But when Aidan’s past returns, he must decide whether Levi also has a place in his heart.
Stealing His Thunder
Book #2 in the Toronto Thunder series
Book #2 in the Toronto Thunder series
Available on: Amazon, Kindle Unlimited, paperback, and audio narrated by Darcy Stark (est February)
Tropes: grumpy/sunshine, veteran x rookie, opposites attract, age gap (ten years), redemption arc
Can rookie Cam’s sunshine steal veteran Dawson’s thunder?
Kicker Dawson Hall is ready to leave his past in the dust. His last season was catastrophically bad, with the distraction of his divorce and discovering that his father-in-law wasn’t managing his money—he was stealing it, instead.
He signs with the Toronto Thunder, poised for his redemption arc, but he’s grumpy and frustrated he has to undertake one at all. He should be better than this. He is better than this.
The new rookie punter’s hero worship might be just another annoyance, but Cameron Green is sweet and kind and more than a little naïve. He’s a country boy suddenly dumped amongst all the skyscrapers, with no idea of how the real world can chew him up and spit him out. It’s practically Dawson’s duty to mentor him and if Dawson soaks up a little of his sunshine, too?
Well, nobody could blame him for that. Not after the year’s he’s just had.
But when Dawson starts craving more and more of Cam, his crush dangerously teetering into passion kind of territory, he’s forced to not just confront his own past, full of disappointment and distrust, but his future, too.
He wants his redemption, and that perfect vision of a season feels just within reach. But it turns out he doesn’t just want Cam for single season—even if it’s everything he believed he wanted—he wants Cam for every season.
A lifelong Oregonian, Beth Bolden has just recently moved to North Carolina with her supportive husband and their sweet kitten, Earl Grey. Beth still believes in Keeping Portland Weird, and intends to be just as weird in Raleigh.
Beth has been writing practically since she learned the alphabet. Unfortunately, her first foray into novel writing, titled Big Bear with Sparkly Earrings, wasn’t a bestseller, but hope springs eternal. She’s published twenty novels and six short stories.
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