Off Season is a friends to lovers, grumpy/sunshine hockey romance. With a touch of hurt/comfort, a ten year age gap, interfering teammates and all the found family vibes. It is book two in the Chicago Thunder series and can be read as a standalone.

Ethan is a stoic and grumpy veteran hockey player and Chicago Thunder Captain who is struggling a bit after losing a conferece final. He is also anxious about his future, and the fact that he needs to go to England for a family wedding where his ex will be attending. He’s been hurt and has abandonment issues and he keeps people in a distance so that they can’t get close enough to hurt him.

Jacob has also suffered loss, but he keeps it locked down under a veneer of sunshine and energy. He runs his own bakery with his brother that has become incredibly busy due to their relationships with the hockey players. But Ethan saw how they struggled financially so he helped them get out from under the pressure of debt.

But now Ethan needs a favor. And their friends  bring up the idea for him to go to England with Ethan and be his fake boyfriend for his family wedding. And since they are friends and they do have a calming influence on each other, it seems like the perfect idea. They’ll just have to kind of ignore the crush they both have on each other and have been hiding…unless they go ahead and explore it and have a vacation fling.

These guys both had deep emotions and past pain that had affected them but they dealt with it differently. Ethan is a man so afraid of getting hurt and actually feeling real emotions that he keeps himself guarded and somewhat distant. While Jacob is the guy who wants the romantic fairytale and tries to live life instead of having regrets.  Ethan feels he needs to focus on his career and struggles with feelings of inadequacy and feels like Jacob deserves more. Jacob can see Ethan's full potential but is so afraid of rejection.

This is a sweet, sexy, grumpy-sunshine, hurt-comfort,, close proximity, fake boyfriend, friends-to-lovers, vacation fling, sports romance with two guys that are just so in need of love and support. I enjoyed seeing them connect, drop their walls, and just let go while on vacation. But there is this dark cloud knowing that when time is up they would be heading back to their normal lives, They both have such emotional wounds and fear of getting hurt. It will come down to them being brave enough to be truly vulnerable, face their fears, and fight for what they really want and need. 

They have plenty of friends encouraging them. I am looking forward to more stories in this universe and am already interested in the next couple.