Dump and Chase by VL Locey

Dump and Chase, the third book in V.L. Locey's Watkins Glen Gladiators series is here and features Deandre Jones and the pastor of a local church that his team has volunteered to help with.

From the blurb:

Working side-by-side on a charity project might just prove to be the foundation of a new romance. 

Deandre Jones is enjoying his single life quite nicely, thank you. He’s a defenseman on the Watkins Glen Gladiators, gets to travel, dates frequently, and isn’t tied down to anything other than his mom and brother back in the windy city. He has time to do the whole family and kids thing. Right now he’s happy to be footloose, even if his mother has different ideas. As the playoffs near his focus should be on hockey, but for some reason, he can’t seem to give the sport its due. Ever since he volunteered to help the incredibly handsome assistant pastor of a local church work on an addition to the parish, his attention seems to be locked on curly hair and bright blue eyes instead of breakaways and body checks. 

Gabriel Hansley has quite the full plate. Not only is he the first openly out bisexual assistant pastor for a small but highly active parish, but he’s also got his son to tend to as well as his work at the church, which keeps him hopping all day long. And that’s a good thing as the nights alone are hard for the young widower. Just when he’s about to give up on finding a person to share his life with—chaotic as it can be—he finds himself hammering nails beside Deandre Jones. As they work side-by-side under the bright spring sun, he’s getting warmer under the collar with each shared smile and terrible carpentry pun. 

Dump and Chase is a low-angst, slow burn, age gap queer hockey romance with a not-quite-as-confirmed-as-he-thought bachelor, a harried single father, plenty of nosy but well-meaning parishioners and teammates, tons of joyous song, and a harmonious happily ending. 

Heather's Review;

I have to say that it was somewhat refreshing to read a book with a church that truly embraces everyone, but for me the focus on the church and other aspects of Deandre and Gabe's lives left little room to develop a relationship and I struggled with their connection and some of the language of the book.  This is a very slow burn and a very slow build from strangers to friends to eventual lovers with so much going on in between.  

I do like both characters and when they eventually had time to focus on their relationship, I truly enjoyed that part, but even at the end there was a lot more than romance going on and I felt that somewhat eclipsed their relationship.  It was interesting seeing these two busy people try to work themselves as a couple into their separate lives.

While this wasn't my favourite book of the series, it was well written and sweet and definitely worth reading as part of the series!  I did love the HEA!

Rating: 3.5 Stars rounded up

Dump and Chase is available in e-book format and can be read as part of your Kindle Unlimited subscription.