The Last Guy on Earth
February 18. 2025
One cold December day, two men are blindsided by a hockey trade; one is the most decorated goalie in the league, while the other one is the youngest coach in the majors.
Jethro Hale is the last player Coach Clay Powers wants to see on his roster, but the G.M. pulls a fast one. And it's not like he can even explain why. Nobody knows about their love affair fifteen years ago.
Cue the all-star awkwardness, the painful memories and the reawakening of deep feelings on both sides.
Unfortunately, their attraction still burns brightly. But it can never be. A player and a coach? The scandal would overshadow the team’s banner year.
If only they could resist each other…
If you love grumpy heroes, high stakes hockey, struggling single parents and smoldering kisses, grab your copy of The Last Guy on Earth.
This is a forbidden hockey love story built on layers. We get flashbacks from fifteen years ago with two young players connecting, trusting, and exploring. And then this whole unrequited love and loss aspect. And then we have the current situation where a legendary hockey veteran is quickly traded to a new team where the coach is this man from his past.
Jethro has always had some self-worth issues due to his dysfunctional family and even now he’s struggling to keep pieces of his family together because he’s the only stable one. And now his life has been thrown into chaos with the new team, new city, and a lot of pressure.
Clay is the head coach, and he makes no secret of the fact he did not want Jethro traded to his team and his presence knocks him off his axis. That’s just another situation affecting Jethro. But even though Clay’s usually in control, at least on the outside, his anxiety over being in Jethro‘s presence and dealing with his old feelings, as well as trying to help a new goalie gel on the team in time for playoffs is a lot for him to deal with.
Both of these guys have focused on hockey and struggled with relationships and their prior situationship was the most real they have had. And now that Jethro is more mature and understands who he is and what he wants, Clay has to be the levelheaded coach because the stakes are just as hard now as they were. You could tell how much they affected each other and their strong, physical and emotional connection was still there, but circumstances both past and present made it so hard for them to do anything about it. Even if there are some other people brave enough to start living their truth, it made it even harder for them because they felt like they weren’t brave enough to do the same.
Jethro has always had some self-worth issues due to his dysfunctional family and even now he’s struggling to keep pieces of his family together because he’s the only stable one. And now his life has been thrown into chaos with the new team, new city, and a lot of pressure.
Clay is the head coach, and he makes no secret of the fact he did not want Jethro traded to his team and his presence knocks him off his axis. That’s just another situation affecting Jethro. But even though Clay’s usually in control, at least on the outside, his anxiety over being in Jethro‘s presence and dealing with his old feelings, as well as trying to help a new goalie gel on the team in time for playoffs is a lot for him to deal with.
Both of these guys have focused on hockey and struggled with relationships and their prior situationship was the most real they have had. And now that Jethro is more mature and understands who he is and what he wants, Clay has to be the levelheaded coach because the stakes are just as hard now as they were. You could tell how much they affected each other and their strong, physical and emotional connection was still there, but circumstances both past and present made it so hard for them to do anything about it. Even if there are some other people brave enough to start living their truth, it made it even harder for them because they felt like they weren’t brave enough to do the same.
I adored these two. I loved seeing the difference between the situationship when they were younger versus them understanding it more as they’re older. Even though it still seems impossible and there are challenges, you can tell that they now realize the actual value of it, especially Jethro. There’s definitely some angst when they’re reconnected and some unresolved feelings and even a bit of an enemies-to-lovers vibe but once the smoke clears, it’s just so obvious that these two are just trying to navigate around strong feelings and the fact that they’ve never truly gotten over what they had to ever have a healthy relationship with anyone else.
I really liked Jethro‘s growth arc because he really was struggling with so many changes in his life and his dysfunctional family issues. And even though Clay was able to hide his anxiety from most people, Jethro could see under his facade. Clay has opportunities for growth too in his own life. And Jethro was the one person who could see all the deep anxiety that Clay hid from the rest of the world.
This is a heartfelt, inspiring, one-that-got-away, second chance, forbidden coach and player hockey romance. It’s really built on past pain, unresolved feelings, deep emotions, and a connection that might have been thought lost and bent but never really broken. It’s also about a veteran trying to figure out what he’s going to do with the rest of his life and find a new purpose. It brings back the other hockey guys and I enjoyed hanging out with the Colorado team again.
I really liked Jethro‘s growth arc because he really was struggling with so many changes in his life and his dysfunctional family issues. And even though Clay was able to hide his anxiety from most people, Jethro could see under his facade. Clay has opportunities for growth too in his own life. And Jethro was the one person who could see all the deep anxiety that Clay hid from the rest of the world.
This is a heartfelt, inspiring, one-that-got-away, second chance, forbidden coach and player hockey romance. It’s really built on past pain, unresolved feelings, deep emotions, and a connection that might have been thought lost and bent but never really broken. It’s also about a veteran trying to figure out what he’s going to do with the rest of his life and find a new purpose. It brings back the other hockey guys and I enjoyed hanging out with the Colorado team again.
I love Sarina’s Hockey Guys and this is no exception!
Clay is the youngest head coach in the league with a powerhouse team behind him. When he learns of the newest trade to his team, he isn’t sure how successful it will be when it’s his ex and the two men haven’t spoken since Jethro was called up to the majors fifteen years prior. He is vocal about his displeasure in the trade, but what’s done is done and he is told he will have to figure it out and get Jethro on the ice.
Jethro has a lot going on at home, and a trade to a new state was not something he relished having to do, especially with as long as he had been with his previous team. With a bit of a chip on his shoulder, the grumpy goalie moves his family to Boulder to play on a Denver hockey team. He is struggling with feeling like he has been tossed aside by his team and what that means for his career. None of which adds to his less than approachable demeanor when he arrives at his new team.
Jethro and Clay were so much fun! I loved the flashback scenes - giving us a sense of who these two were before they got their breaks. I had a hard time at first setting myself into the past, but quickly settled into the pacing of the flashback scenes and looked forward to the sweet moments between the men when they were younger.
There was so much tension as the men navigated their current situation while being unsure about what really pulled them apart so long ago. The side characters and side plots gave extra emotional depth to the story and gave Jethro and Clay things beyond their own immediate circumstances to consider as they debated the merits of starting something up in the present. I loved the way these two supported each other and saw things they were otherwise able to hide from the world.
This was a fantastic grumpy/almost-sunshine, second chance hockey romance. I loved the way this timeline overlapped that of The New Guy. Having read the previous books in the series, it was interesting to see it from this perspective that was in shadow in the previous books. It is always fun to return to this team and I hope we get to see more from them!
The New Guy
The Hockey Guys #1
The Hockey Guys #1
A new male / male hockey romance from 24-time USA Today bestseller Sarina Bowen!
My name is Hudson Newgate, but my teammates call me New Guy.
That was my nickname in Chicago, too. And Vancouver. That’s what happens when you keep getting traded. Brooklyn is my last chance, especially after my poor performance last season.
But I can make this work. The new guy knows to keep his head down and shoot the puck. The new guy puts the game first.
What he doesn’t do is hook up with the other new guy—a hot athletic trainer who lives in my building. Gavin needs this job with my team. He’s a single dad with responsibilities.
We can’t be a couple. My arrogant agent–who’s also my father–will lose his mind if I’m dating a dude. And my team needs me to score goals, not whip up a media circus.
Too bad Gavin and I are terrible at resisting each other…
TOMMASO
The furniture district is my personal hell. I don’t know my ass from an ottoman. But when a hot designer comes to my rescue, I realize my problems are bigger than the house I’m trying to furnish.
A scorching kiss over fabric samples makes me question all my choices. But is it too late to change my entire life to get more of them?
CARTER
I need this gig, but my cocky new client leaves out a couple crucial details:
He doesn’t mention that he's a famous hockey player. And he doesn’t own up to the way he’s always trying to undress me with his dark, broody eyes.
The man throws out more mixed signals than a broken traffic light. I've never been more sexually frustrated in my entire life. I need to back away before I do something stupid, like lose my heart.
Oops. Too late.
These are M/M standalones set in the Brooklyn Hockey world.
Check out other M/F books here:
Brooklyn Hockey series
Sarina Bowen is a 24-time USA bestselling author, and a Wall Street Journal bestselling author of contemporary romance novels. Formerly a derivatives trader on Wall Street, Sarina holds a BA in economics from Yale University.
A New Englander whose Vermont ancestors cut timber and farmed the north country in the 1760s, Sarina is grateful for the invention of indoor plumbing and wi-fi during the intervening 250 years. She lives with her family on a few wooded acres in New Hampshire.
Sarina's books are published in over a dozen languages with fifteen international publishers.
