Stealing His Thunder (Toronto Thunder Book 2) by Beth Bolden

Ok, so maybe it starts out as a little hero worship, but Cam can't stop his admiration and attraction to veteran kicker Dawson. When they begin a friendship and friends with benefits relationship, Cam is certain they are falling in love, but it take Dawson a little time to overcome his past hurts and see what's right in front of him.


From the blurb:

Can rookie Cam’s sunshine steal veteran Dawson’s thunder?

Kicker Dawson Hall is ready to leave his past in the dust. His last season was catastrophically bad, with the distraction of his divorce and discovering that his father-in-law wasn’t managing his money—he was stealing it, instead.

He signs with the Toronto Thunder, poised for his redemption arc, but he’s grumpy and frustrated he has to undertake one at all. He should be better than this. He is better than this.

The new rookie punter’s hero worship might be just another annoyance, but Cameron Green is sweet and kind and more than a little naïve. He’s a country boy suddenly dumped amongst all the skyscrapers, with no idea of how the real world can chew him up and spit him out. It’s practically Dawson’s duty to mentor him and if Dawson soaks up a little of his sunshine, too?

Well, nobody could blame him for that. Not after the year’s he’s just had.

But when Dawson starts craving more and more of Cam, his crush dangerously teetering into passion kind of territory, he’s forced to not just confront his own past, full of disappointment and distrust, but his future, too.

He wants his redemption, and that perfect vision of a season feels just within reach. But it turns out he doesn’t just want Cam for single season—even if it’s everything he believed he wanted—he wants Cam for every season.


SNik's review:

Second in series (Toronto Thunder), but can be read as a standalone. Teammates. Neighbors. Slight age gap. Slow burn. Dual POV. 

Cam is a rookie punter from a small town in Montana but he is struggling to find his place in a big city and his first NFL team, while slightly crushing on the team’s veteran kicker. Dawson should have been mentoring Cam, but he’s stuck in his head about his recent divorce, his last team dumping him, and being stolen from by his former father-in-law. 

Cam and Dawson start a tentative friendship as Dawson takes Cam under his wing, but the attraction his hard to ignore and they try to keep it casual. What I especially enjoyed was how mature Cam was, he was just maturity and joyfulness full stop, and whenever Dawson needs to lean on him he can. Dawson is slower to acknowledge his feelings, but he tries to be honest as he struggles with overcoming his difficulty trusting and falling in love. I appreciated that their relationship was sweet and grew organically from their closeness, sharing meals, driving to work together, or watching movies on the couch.


Heather's Review:

I love an age gap sports romance and Beth Bolden gives us a great one - the rookie and the veteran... opposites, teammates becoming friends and then more.  This was a lovely, fairly low angst story that rather than steal anyone's thunder actually brought Dawson back to the game he loved and really gels the love story between Cam and Dawson.  I am also loving the Torontoness of it all!

I am loving this universe and can't wait for book 3!

Stealing His Thunder is currently available as an e-book and paperback and can be read as part of your Kindle Unlimited Subscription