Soft Hands (The Sin Bin: West Coast #2) by EM Lindsey

Luka, Marko, and Nolan are explosive together in Soft Hands.

From the blurb:

There are a few things Nolan Ouellet has come to accept about himself.

One: that his future with the NHL was irrevocably destroyed thanks to his reckless actions as a teenager destroying his knee.

Two: that he will never fall in love because the very idea of it sends his skin crawling.

Three: he will bed as many NHL players as humanly possible before he retires his game.

And four: he will never apologize for who he is and what he wants.

Then two men come barreling into his life and turn everything he knows upside down.

He still won’t play for the NHL, and he still won’t change who he is because he’s fought too long and too hard to accept his identity. But suddenly his future is starting to look a little different than he originally planned.

And that scares the absolute hell out of him.

When he met Marko Rudenko and Luka Wagner—two veterans of the Denver Huskies—they were supposed to be a game, just like everyone else. But now all he can think about is how to keep them around without compromising the person he’s become and ruining the love Marko and Luka have for each other.

Soft Hands is the second book in the Sin Bin: West Coast series which can be enjoyed on its own but is best read in order. Soft Hands features a goalie with a hard outer shell and soft marshmallow insides, a confused alternate captain who just wants to give up a little control, and a former NHL prospect who knows who he is, but maybe not what he needs. Soft Hands contains aromantic acceptance, no cheating, plenty of love and communication, and as always, a happily ever after.

Angel's Review:

Soft Hands by EM Lindsey was about Luka, Nolan and Marko. 

Luka and Marko are both hockey players on the same team, for months they've been fooling around together but they weren't prepared for their feelings for one another. After a trip to Paris where they finally talked to each other about what they were feeling, they finally decide that they are boyfriends now too instead of just best friends who sleep together. After thinking they figured things out between them they get thrown when they realize both of them are interested in Nolan, but how can they convince him they want him? 

Nolan is a former hockey player, after an injury right before his first official game he's no longer able to play. Since he can't be a player anymore he becomes a coach to younger kids to teach them how to skate and play hockey. Due to his best friend dating a hockey player he now hangs out with  other players quite frequently, and two players in particular catch his eye. He doesn't know what to do about it. 

I really enjoyed this story between these characters. EM knows how to write characters that have backstory and emotion and depth and relatability. I felt for all of these characters, for Luka and getting frustrated with Marko when he wouldn't talk to Luka, for Marko when he has such a hard time saying what he feels, and for Nolan who wants these two men badly buy doesn't want to be forced to feel things he just doesn't feel. I have heard of aromantic before but I didn't really know what it meant for the people who identify as that and now I do. Or I at least know more about it now, I've mentioned this in my other reviews but I love learning things in the books I read and I feel like I'm always learning something in EM's books. I have never read one of their books and haven't come away from it the same way. 

The writing was really great, had exceptional details and background characters. I didn't read the book before this but I could still enjoy this story on its own. I do feel that you would probably get more from this book if you read the first book before this one but that's up to you. 

I can't tell you how many times I wanted to share these characters, if they just communicated with each other from the start a lot of the events that happened could've been prevented. But... That's how life goes sometimes. 

Overall another excellent book written by EM, I'm curious about the hockey coach's story. 

Rating: 5 Stars

Heather's Review:

One of the things I love about every Em Lindsey book I pick up is that they take the time to really get inside each of their main characters' heads and figure out what makes them tick and what they want in a relationship - and it's never cookie cutter...

In Soft Hands, Luca, Marko and Nolan all struggle with what they want out of their relationships with each other and how that manifests, given that none of them want or need exactly what most people think of as traditional relationships, even traditional polyamory and it was lovely to see how their core beings ran with their attraction and interest and how trust was built in their own ways to create something that worked for them...

Well paced, and beautifully written, with communication and space getting equitable shares in balancing their relationship, plus a few extra twists along the way, Soft Hands was sweet, spicy and a great read!

Rating: 5 Stars

Soft Hands is available as an ebook, audiobook, paperback and to read with Kindle Unlimited subscription.