I can't resist m/m hockey romance. When this well written story opens local league hockey pros Mac and Fritzy are enjoying the off season and their first time living together as a couple. But everything is in flux. They are teetering on the verge of committing, coming out, being promoted to the National Hockey League and being forced to retire.

The ups and downs of the out-for-you plot is grounded by a very sensuous love story. These two guys are always loyal and totally in to each other. The se More...

Not an m/m romance; rather a classic bildungsroman with added hot gay sex. The author highlights the universality and currency of the genre by setting the story in the hypermasculine culture of professional hockey, and using Mac being gay as the societal conflict and opportunity for growth and maturity. A genuine affection for the sport and its men shines through the whole book. By the end I was completely hooked, both on Mac, and on hockey. Through the last 20% I couldn't look away from my e-re More...

Well,this one will be the start of my Isa K. bookshelf, reviews are mixed, but I'm reviewing for me and no-one else, so 4 stars it is!

Mac and Fritzy are two ice hockey players who are obviously in the closet as far as their team-mates are concerned, and spend an idyllic summer together in the team house before the new season starts.

The problems start for the two of them when Fritzy is 'spotted', and moves away to a club from where he could have a shot at the NHL. Mac doesn't know what to do wi More...

3.5

Given the fact that I was on a hockey RPF bender just days before reading this book, this book was a complete one-eighty. While most of the hockey related stories that I've read so far were uplifting, escapist fluff about professional hockey players who've made it big in the NHL, this book is about the bleak lives of those players who fail to make the cut and end up at the bottom of the food chain, playing in the lowly, local leagues either to keep the delusion alive or because their love f More...

I wholeheartedly agree with what my friend Emma said on her review...

I don't think that this is a classic romance fiction about Mac and Fritz. When the story starts, Mac and Fritz are already together. And I never have doubts regarding their love to one another -- even with slight miscommunication in the end. Sure, Mac is insecure about coming out as a hockey player and he also contemplates whether it is the right time to tell Fritz "I love you", but I feel that it has never really been the big More...

In normal m/m romance stories, one of the major plot is how the main characters would come together. Uniquely, this story begins with the Mac and Fritzy already inside a relationship, albeit a secret one. I find myself wondering as I read if they aren't going to end up together because it seems that often times, characters who start their relationship from the finish line would come apart to pave the way for the true love of their life to come sweep them off their feet later.

I couldn't get much More...

Totally loved this. Loved Mac's voice. Loved the trusting relationship between he and Fritz.

Fritz himself was a lovely mess of contradictions: at times arrogent & powerful yet others humble and insecure. And all that lovely blushing. Not getting to spend any time in his head made me feel much admiration for Mac and the way he totally believed that Fritz was his.

The obstacles they faced were realistic. I would have liked Sarah to have been fleshed out a little more, but I did enjoy the charac More...

Originally posted at: http://www.longandshortreviews.com/bo...

Hockey has always fascinated me, and the way that the author peppered facts into this story seamlessly just caused that fascination to grow. Fritz and Mac are both hockey players and both in their late twenties so they’re on the downward slide of their careers. Being openly gay in Hockey could hurt their career, so they both work hard to keep their love a secret.

This story simmers and builds up slowly with every second very realistic More...

3.75 [rounded up]

This had such authentic locker room feel to it. I really enjoy hockey stories and this for me was probably the best representation of what it's like to be a hockey player working your way between leagues.

You must read the free prequel There's Cock In This Book first. That's where we meet Mac D and Fritzy for the first time and they start their relationship. Fun stuff. Even if it has the most ridiculous title ever.

So here we meet the boys again. They're working away at lame sum More...

Mac and Fritzy are hockey players in the junior leagues. Although they're both in their early twenties, Mac is approaching the end of his playing career, whereas Fritzy is on his way up to the big leagues. Neither wants to come out for fear of what it would mean to their futures in hockey. Because they live together in a large dwelling that houses all the single guys on the team, they have to be extra careful not to arouse suspicion. Although they're inseparable, they hope the guys just see them More...

I wanted to read this book because I have read Guttersnipe by the same author and while I had some issues with it, I thought it was anything but boring and plot wise at least quite creative. Guttersnipe was anything but traditional romance and I wanted to see how this author handles traditional romance and when friend offered to loan it I jumped at the chance.

Basically I was bored out of my mind for most part of the story. Maybe it is because I have read so many "sports players coming out" stori More...

3.5 stars.

I am a fan of romance and decidedly not a fan of sports, so I was surprised to find that my favorite parts of this book involve hockey culture and politics rather than the central relationship. Isa K.'s depiction of the unglamorous lifestyle of a minor league professional athlete is interesting, particularly since all the books I've previously read about athletes have featured major league players. It is actually a rather harrowing picture. Mac's love for the game is greater than his s More...

I really enjoyed reading this story. I was immersed into Mac's thinking and rationalisation as well as get a feel for the world of hockey.

(view spoiler)[I understood Mac's reluctance to come out to his team and everyone else. The author made it easy to understand the dynamic of such a testosterone driven world and what difficulties one needs to face to continue in such a world while being different. I liked that Mac admits to being able to compartmentalise his attraction for the same gender and his role as hoc (hide spoiler)] More...

This review was originally written for The Romance Reviews and can also be found there.

I've discovered my love for hockey stories quite a while ago, but nothing tops those focused on a gay couple. I guess it just rocks my boat and the first story I've read by this author concerning the subject set up a high standard that just wasn't reached by this one.

I got a different impression about the characters and what might have been a plus in the short THERE'S COCK IN THIS STORY than in this lengthier More...

4.25 out of 5.0 stars


SHORT REVIEW: An unforgettable character with a big heart has a secret romance amidst the grunge and obscurity of the AAA minor hockey leagues in this smart, hot, vivid novel.


TITLE: How To Quit Playing Hockey

AUTHOR: Isa K

PUBLISHER: Loose Id

GENRE: Contemporary, Sports

LENGTH: 50,235 words

SETTING: unnamed small American town

THEMES: coming of age, long distance relationship, in the closet, coming out, sports

TONE: dry, witty, realistic, poignant and yearning, gritty

VIEWPOINT: one More...

This was fun. Isa K.'s voice is both self-assured and impertinent, which inspires confidence right away that you're in good hands until the ride comes to a full and complete stop.

I found Marc to be irritatingly neurotic, and then charmingly neurotic; there's a bit with a ukulele that more or less sealed the deal as far as my opinion of him was concerned. After all, it's not his fault he has a chronic and debilitating nervous condition, right?

Fritzy was adorable. And just when you think he's too More...

Okay, I know nothing about hockey. Seriously nothing. But Isa K obviously loves the sport and I think I kind of do now as well. What I really loved about the depiction of the sport here is that the guys aren't major league. They don't spend their downtime buying sports cars and hot tubs which (rightly or wrongly) is how I imagine major league sports stars spend their days. Mac and Fritzy have Real Jobs. And by real jobs, I mean shitty dead end jobs that pay the bills off-season.

And how sad is M More...

I can't quite decide how I feel about this novel.

It was good in that I felt the two men - Mac and Fritzy - had a solid and loyal relationship, with the only issue causing them hesitation was whether they should be out or not, especially as Fritzy had a chance to make the big leagues.

But I admit, I didn't really enjoy the story as much as I could have, because for a large section of the novel, the two men were not actually together; they were forced into a long distance relationship, leaving us More...

3.5

This book was yumminess with Mac and Fritzy front and center. I love sports stories and the complexities that come with working in that industry while in the closet. This story explores that hardship of love associated with the dream career and the dream of freedom to be who you are.

Mac does a lot of maturing throughout the story and I am a complete sucker for Mac and Fritzy's relationship...love them together.

I just live hockey books. Add m/m romance to that and I am a happy girl. Overall this was a good book. Mac and Fritzy were both great characters. Up until the ending I was very pleased. Last chapter was just too choppy. I needed more to wrap this up for me.

3.5 stars. Good m/m romance about two closeted minor league hockey players whose idyllic summer together ends with the start of the new season as one is sent up to the majors and the other faces the possibility of being cut from the team and trying to define a post-hockey life.

Sometimes my ebook reader can be so cruel. I'm reading along and all of a sudden I turned the page and The End was all that was there. I wasn't ready for it!

I read the story of when these two got together so I was so glad when I saw that their story was going to continue a bit longer. So many things to love about this one. :)

3.5 Stars.

Premise was good and I love sports themed books but, I didn't feel like there was really enough page time between Mac and Fritzy for it to really be great.

It was good to catch up with these guys again.

Three star book with some four star moments.

3.5 stars

Good sequel to There's Cock In This Book but now I'm greedy and want more....

I love a good hockey story, and I really enjoyed this one. I want to know more about their lives after the novel ends, but I really liked the MCs