I am struggling to rate this book because I'm not sure I should be. I feel like this is a good book... but not for me. I've come to the conclusion that DDLB is just not my cup of tea. However, if you do like DDLB, I think this will be a great book for you! The kink is represented well and the characters are syrupy sweet with each other.

However, if you are a sports fan—especially a hockey fan—I would advise staying away from this one, even if you like DDLB. That's because almost every aspect of hockey is portrayed incorrectly in this book. The players barely seem to travel, and when they do, they play series of games back-to-back to the same team. That ain't how hockey works, folks. Back-to-backs are rare, and teams never play the same team twice in a row unless they are in the Cup finals. The terminology is off, and almost no focus is put on the games.

I mean, the team supposedly wins the Stanley freaking Cup and we don't even see that happen!

And the way the team forms is flat-out wrong. Even if you're mega-rich, you can't just "create" a sports team in a closed league like the NHL. You have to wait for an expansion to happen. You can't just offer other players contracts, you need to wait for an expansion draft. Expansions usually happen in cities that already have a hockey fanbase—it's a prerequisite to have an AHL team that's reasonably popular. And expansions don't happen to really small cities like Bellport seems to be (I know it's not a real place, but honestly, why not just use New Orleans?).

I also think the friendships evolve in a weird way. Pretty much every time a character meets another one and they become friends, it happens instantly, or even off-page. For example, Atlas had a good portion of the hockey team at his graduation cheering for him—which is great, don't get me wrong—but the book never actually shows him getting to know any of the other players on the team besides Bishop, the other male lead. We just have to accept they are friends in the end, somehow.

If you don't know anything about sports, that's fine... just don't write about them. Don't make one of your main characters a sports star. It's okay. You can think of something else. The overall writing is not bad though. If you don't care about inaccurate portrayals of sports, and you like DDLB, you should give this book a shot. I really think you will like it.