Author Brigham Vaughn only pinged my radar at the end of last year when I randomly picked up one of her hockey romances – Head Game (book two in the Relationship Goals series) – and was very pleasantly surprised to find a fresh take on an old chestnut (the fake relationship trope) featuring characters who acted and communicated like grown-ups. I’ve since read another book in that series (I plan to read them all), and when I saw she had a new book coming out – the first in her new Scoring Chances series – I decided to read and review it.

Goaltender Interference (not to be confused with Ari Baran’s recent release with the same title!) is entertaining and very readable, featuring an opposites-attract pairing in the hockey romance equivalent of ‘oops, that guy I slept with last night is my new boss’ trope.

Connor O’Shea, captain of the Boston Harriers, comes from a family of hockey greats. He’s always felt the weight of responsibility – to his family and to his team – on his shoulders, and has been an exemplary captain and teammate. But his personal life is a bit of a mess. He and his ex-wife, Viv, are uneasily co-parenting their three children (aged fourteen, nine, and five), their marriage having ended when he realised he could no longer stomach her growing bigotry. Things hadn’t been great between them for some time, but when Connor’s brother, Kelly, announced his engagement to a man, Viv said some vile things which led to a heated shouting match in which Connor angrily announced his own bisexuality, and things just went downhill from there. Not that Connor has ever explored that side of himself; a crush on the team captain his rookie year at university led nowhere, and a youthful marriage and fatherhood meant he never wanted to – but now, at thirty-five, divorced, and with probably just a handful of years left in his playing career, Connor has been wondering if maybe it’s time he did.

He’s gone stag to Kelly’s wedding – the first one he’s been to since his divorce – and can’t help feeling somewhat wistful as he watches the happy couple on the dancefloor. He also feels like he’s spent most of the evening avoiding attempts by well-meaning family members to set him up. Ducking outside to avoid the latest one, he’s soon joined by Jesse Webber, the Toronto Fisher Cats’ goalie and unrepentant scandal-magnet, who flirts with him outrageously despite Connor’s obvious annoyance. Jesse is young and cocky, with a reputation for attracting trouble; he irritates the fuck out of Connor, but he’s also gorgeous, interested –  and based hundreds of miles away. A passionate kiss leads to a night of scorching hot sex, which definitely satisfies Connor’s curiosity about his sexuality – but morning brings news that is like a bucket of iced water over the head. The Fisher Cats has had enough of Jesse being a PR nightmare and has traded him. To Boston.

But the bad news doesn’t end there. Back in Boston, the team’s GM asks Connor to have Jesse stay at his place for the season because Jesse could use a steadying influence. Connor tries to find a way to refuse without saying ‘no’ outright – even if he hadn’t slept with Jesse, the idea of babysitting a “twenty-four-year-old fuckboy who seemed intent on squandering his God-given talent” sounds exhausting – but quickly realises he’s fighting a losing battle. The Harriers have been struggling for the last couple of years and desperately need new talent – hence the trade for Jesse – and the pressure is on Connor, as captain, to step up and turn things around. The owners expect Connor keep Jesse out of trouble, so that’s what he’ll have to do, treat Jesse Webber like any other goalie and just… deal with having the one guy he’s had sex with on his team and living in his house. No biggie.

Connor and Jesse have fantastic chemistry and neither of them has been able to forget their night together, but although Connor tries hard to keep things platonic between them, it isn’t long before their roommate situation turns into roommates with benefits. Even though they do start a sexual relationship quite quickly, the emotional connection between them is more of a slow burn as Jesse slowly starts making a place for himself in Connor’s life and Connor begins to realise he needs something more in his life than hockey and that he more than likes having Jesse around – he actually likes him. Jesse gets on like a house on fire with Connor’s kids, he’s smart (smarter than anyone has ever given him credit for), kind and considerate, and, Connor recognises, is trying really hard to make better choices.

Jesse seems to be one of those people who just can’t help getting himself into hot water, (he really is a disaster magnet!) but as the story progresses and Connor gets to know him better, he starts to realise that maybe it’s because Jesse has never really been taken seriously outside of hockey. He’s an incredible talent, for sure, and on the ice, he’s focused and determined, but off it, he’s a bit aimless. I liked that Connor sees beyond the “chaos monkey”, to the young man in need of a bit of direction and helps Jesse to see that he has a lot to offer off the ice as well as on it.

As in the other books I’ve read by this author, there’s a large and well-drawn cast of secondary characters who add depth and colour to the background of the story. In addition to Connor’s large Irish-American family, there the are numerous team-mates and off-ice colleagues who add a sense of authenticity to the hockey element of the book, and Connor’s kids are well-written and come off as mostly age-appropriate, especially Nolan, the eldest, who is struggling with secrets of his own.

Its a long book for a romance. Most these days seem to come in under or around the 300 page mark, but Amazon shows Goaltender Interference is 562 pages – which came as a bit of a surprise, because I didn’t really notice it while I was reading. Having finished it I can say that it is, perhaps a little overlong in places, but the author tackles some complex subjects that need the extra space, and the characters need the time to work through their issues, Connor especially. Post divorce, he’s realising he was a pretty shitty husband, that he doesn’t have any real sense of who he is outside of hockey, and is struggling to reconcile his Catholic upbringing with his newly discovered bisexuality. The religious theme in the story is well-handled and not at all heavy-handed, and I really liked the way Connor comes to a decision about his feelings about his faith and the role it plays in his life.

Connor and Jesse make a great couple, each of them bringing something to the relationship that the other badly needs. Jesse brings happiness and a levity to Connor’s life he hadn’t known he was missing; he pushes Connor to step outside his comfort zone and encourages him to take something for himself after so many years of putting everyone else in his life first. Jesse has a lot of growing up to do and benefits from Connor’s stablising influence as he finds a sense of responsibility, first of all towards the team, and then towards himself and the other people in his life.

The one bum note is the way things go near the end with Viv; given that her homophobia was a big part of the reason she and Connor split, her trying to change because (spoiler) feels out of character and a rather idealistic solution to what could – and perhaps should – have been a major sticking-point.

Other than that and the occasional bit of flabby pacing, Goaltender Interference is funny, sexy and thoughtful with likeable, three-dimensional leads and a lovely romance. It’s a great read and I plan to continue with the series.