Rating: 3.5 (Rounded down, because I'm petty)
Plot: 3/5
Spice: 3/5
Characters: 4/5

Overall reco: As of the reading of this book I have spent just shy of 2 weeks reading all the books in the interconnected series for this author (Offsides & SCU Hockey) that are out. I became more excited for each couple and enjoyed each of the books immensely. I don't normally power through a series like this, usually I'll read the first one or two and then jump to another series and come back at some point. This I raced through excitedly.
Remy and Grayson were the first that were not immediately in the Carolina's and if it was that authors intention to make use feel that disconnection that Gray felt about that. I felt it. My favorites were so close and so far. and it honestly felt like a horrible tease. The little snippets we got of the other characters that we had spent so much time with honestly distracted me from enjoying Remy and Gray. Maybe if we had been given better or more epilogue's for them in their books I wouldn't have felt so completely desperate for little bits of them that I wouldn't have felt so hollow about this book? I'm not sure.
Overall, this book felt a bit more hollow to me. I'm not sure if it was supposed to be that way. It felt like even with the happy ending it wasn't that happy. Sure, it felt realistic,

with 2 dudes on 2 different teams

  only getting to spend short amounts of time together. But when they were finally together it just felt like they weren't settled. Maybe it was because 

the book effectively ends with Remy getting cut from his team. As I was reaching that I was expecting him to immediately jump on a plane an go to Gray and use get a reunion. Even if it was a two night thing.. He doesn't need to be in Calgary a moment longer, and Z even mentions it to him. Maybe it does happen, but we don't get to see that and that felt really bad. Thank god for the epilogue, because if this book had ended like Corwin's and that phone call was the actual end of the book, I'd be so pissed. if you've read the book, JJ Mulder has a second epilogue out on their IG. Look it up. It covers some of the questions that are left hanging 

(Other Notes)
I want to like JJ Mulder. To be truthful, I do like their books and this world. I like that there is the pushback about queer men in sports because that is still and thing and sometimes I want my stories to have that realism. My issue with JJ Mulder is how they end the books. If this book hadn't had an epilogue I would have been devastated. I'm still pretty salty about how the other books have ended. Not with how the story wrapped up but with the abruptness of the endings. Does the story wrap up? Mostly. The larger plot device pushing the over all narrative gets resolved but then you get no breathing time with the characters after. No fall out for that resolution, as small as that resolution is sometimes, no breathing room with just the two characters coming to terms with it. Like.. 

What the fuck does Nigel do now? How about Nico and Anthony, especially now that he's retired but what about all that down time for shoulder issues or coming to terms with retirement? What happened to Remy after that phone call with Gray? Don't get me started on that Troy and Sam got engaged OFF FUCKING SCREEN and then had a wedding OFF FUCKING SCREEN. 

Sure the downloadable bonus chapter does cover the Remy question and a little bit of what's next for Tory/Sam and others, but.. Look we shared the lives of these characters for a bit and I'm not expecting everything. But holy shit, I feel like I'm being edged about characters, which only makes me want more about them. The previous characters DISTRACT me from the current story being told, and that is kind of bullshit.
Sorry for this little rant but fuck.. I feel like I've been cut off from family and now have to stalk social media to get any updates on them.