If you like you're hockey romance with plenty of enemies to lovers vibes and filthy steam, then Iced Out by C.E Ricci is for you!
From the blurb:
All's fair in hate and hockey.
My path to success never included an enemy as a teammate, especially one as infuriating as Quinton de Haas.
Clawing under my skin is his favorite pastime, only feeding the animosity between us as the years pass.
We’re as completely opposite as two people can be; the golden boy and the black sheep.
Constantly at odds or at each other’s throats.
The only thing we can agree on is hockey is our true love, and we’ll do whatever it takes to come out on top.
I never imagined that drive would lead me to do the unthinkable: falling into bed with my not-so-straight rival.
But athletes are a superstitious bunch, and when our hook-ups lead to victories, we tell ourselves we can’t stop.
Besides, it’s all for the sake of the team, right?
*Iced Out is the first in a five book standalone college sports romance series featuring two misunderstood rival teammates, pages of snarky banter, and more secret spicy times than any book should be filled with. Not suitable for anyone under 18 years of age.*
Jacqueleen the Reading Queen's Review:
"𝑯𝒆'𝒔 𝒘𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒆. 𝑹𝒖𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝑰'𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒆.
𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕"
Iced Out was a plethora of my favorite tropes.𝗘𝗻𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗛𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝗥𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲, 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝗯𝗶-𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲. All these together and you have my kryptonite, which makes me wonder why it took me so long to get to it. I loved how we get a good amount of the enemies time without truly compromising on the steam factor. Hate sex anyone? There is no shortage of sexual chemistry between Quinton and Oakley, but what I don't think either of them expected is their chemistry working outside the bedroom as well. They make each other laugh. Their snarky banter turns from something that ignites fury to igniting something else all together. The steam is this one is just ugh *chefs kiss!*
"𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑫𝒊𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒄𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝑰'𝒎 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒑 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓."
We all know what intense passion like that tends to lead to. Of course these are college jocks, so communication is never going to be their strong suit. They'd much rather keep their true feelings private and only convey them with their bodies and the brief touches in public that have somehow begun. Things were going so well towards the end, but I still had the start of this book stuck in my head and I was waiting with bated breath for it to come back and bite them in the ass. And it did. Spectacularly. And it broke my heart.
I am glad that groveling ensued because the situation truly was fucked up and I would not have a believed it for a minute if one of these MCs portrayed doormat behavior. They are way too alpha male. But that doesn't mean they don't have feelings and those feelings were definitely hurt. I did love the epilogue though. It was the perfect ending for the two of them and I couldn't be happier with it. I'm also ecstatic that the author lists all the MCs for the next 5 books in the series and I was definitely surprised when I read a few of the pairs. Lets just say that after finishing this one, Caught Stealing is sure to bring the drama!
Rating: 5 Stars
Iced Out is available to buy as an ebook, paperback, or to read with Kindle Unlimited subscription.
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