Trade Deadline by Avon Gale, Piper Vaughn
Hat Trick #3

This is book 3 in the Hat Trick series. I would say this can be read as a stand alone novel. The other characters make a few brief appearances but nothing drastic where you feel like you are stepping into the middle of a story.

Daniel Bellamy has just won the Stanley Cup but still feels something is missing in his life. He goes for a career chance and moves back to his hometown to play for the Miami Thunder. There, he meets Micah Kelly, his first kiss from many years ago.

Give this book a try if you're in the mood for
-Friends to lovers – these men were friends years ago and are rekindling it
-M/M romance
-Second chance-ish – though a full relationship wasn't established, they had a first kiss together

This book was just kind of meh to me. I didn't think the characters were together as much as I wanted them to be. There was a lot of alone time for each of them, with it being a little more on Daniels side versus Micah. Which was a good thing for me because unfortunately I found Micah just so bland. I didn't like his character much at all. I didn't really see why or how they loved each other?

I did like the hockey bits. My husband plays hockey so it was nice to see that in a book.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC. All of these thoughts regarding the story are my own.

2.5 rounded to 3 stars.