Home Ice Advantage is the third book in Ari Baran’s Penalty Box series, and my favourite so far. It’s a rivals-to-lovers romance between two guys in their forties, both former players-turned-coaches working with a struggling hockey team in a rebuilding year. I admit that I struggled with some of the hockey nitty-gritty – which had me glazing over in places – but despite that and a couple of other niggles, I enjoyed it a lot.

Former pro-hockey player Ryan Sullivan enjoys coaching the local pee wee (age twelve and under) team – although he could do without the pushy parents. On the day of his forty-fifth birthday, he returns home from a game to discover that his wife has changed the locks and is petitioning for divorce. Completely blindsided, Ryan is sitting outside the house in his car wondering what to do next when he gets a call from the general manager of the Boston Beacons – the hockey team he’d dreamed of playing for as a kid – asking if he’d be interested in joining them as head coach. Going back home to Boston isn’t something Ryan has done for quite a while (and tries to do as infrequently as possible), but this is a huge opportunity and one that is unlikely to come his way again in the near future. The team is not exactly setting the hockey world on fire – languishing near the bottom of the league and made up of an uncomfortable mixture of newbies and older players nearing retirement – but Ryan spent the tail-end of his playing career coaching rookies, learning about all the “newfangled training regimes” and all the new pitfalls, and he has a ton of ideas as to how to really build a team and focus on development. If he can be assured he’ll be allowed to do it his way, without too much interference from the suits – he’s in.

Eric Aronson, another former player Ryan knows vaguely through their clashes on the ice and through Eric’s reputation for hot-headedness, is one of the Beacons’ assistant coaches and had pretty much expected to be promoted to head coach himself. Sure, Sullivan is a ‘name’ – a story, even – a guy who’d been told all his life that he was too small to play hockey and then not only proved the naysayers wrong, but proved them wrong in spectacular fashion with a Stanley Cup win, an MVP award, a place in the hall of fame and a load of other accolades to boot. Eric’s claim to fame might only be the times he’d lost his temper and done something stupid on the ice, but he’s been coaching here for several years, while the highest level Sullivan has ever coached is pee wee. Damn straight Eric is angry and frustrated at being passed over for the top job. He’s even more pissed off the next morning, when he and the other assistant coach are summoned to a meeting with Sullivan, who promptly starts talking about setting aside any awkwardness and creating a collaborative work environment. And worse – dammit – Ryan Sullivan is one hot silver fox.

Ryan can’t fail to be aware of Eric’s animosity and the reason for it, but as the weeks and months pass they reach a kind of détente and are working together – after a fashion – for the good of the team. But things come to a head after a game in which Eric gives a few players instructions that countermand Ryan’s, and Ryan has finally had enough of the other man’s resentment and hostility and decides it’s time to confront him. A vicious argument is cut off when Eric suddenly lunges for Ryan and kisses him – and amazed, Ryan (who has never so much as considered kissing a man before), finds himself kissing him back.

I will admit that this ‘inciting incident’ does feel as though it comes somewhat out of the blue, even though there are hints at a mutual attraction beforehand. Eric has certainly noticed Ryan’s looks and body and that Ryan has taken to looking at him when he doesn’t think Eric is looking, and Ryan finds himself actually seeing Eric for the first time, his tall, lanky body and striking features, his big, dark brown eyes and mop of unruly curls – and the author does a pretty good job of setting it up as a real coup de foudre for both men, an explosion of tension and emotion that doesn’t go the way they’d expected. And I liked that there’s no ‘this can’t happen again’ discussion which they both immediately disregard; Ryan and Eric don’t decide they want to be in a relationship but they nonetheless just… fall into one without realising that’s what they’re doing (idiots-to-lovers is such fun ;)) and best of all, they don’t have major personality transplants in order to do it. Eric is as prickly and snarky as ever (although his snark turns teasing rather than antagonistic) and Ryan remains earnest, sweet and dedicated to doing his best for the team.

Ryan and Eric are well-developed characters who experience the kind of growth I felt was missing in the previous book (Delay of Game), and I liked that they’re both mature individuals who are capable of communicating and behaving like adults. Neither of them has had an easy ride – Ryan might have been an NHL star, but his family life is toxic; his father is controlling and takes every opportinuty to belittle him despite everything he’s achieved, and his brothers – who all played hockey themselves to varying levels – are obviously jealous of him and follow their father’s lead. Eric was one of the very few Jewish players in the league, and while his relationship with his elderly mother is a loving one, he hid his bisexuality from her and his father for years for fear they’d think less of him, and now regrets not coming out to his father before he died. They’re different in so many ways, yet similar in how they’ve had to fight for what they really want, and I enjoyed watching them evolve as characters, Ryan learning to stand his ground, Eric to be more open. The conflict in the story is a mix of internal and external (Ryan’s awful family, job offers, uncooperative players) but there’s no third-act break-up, and it’s so refreshing to read a romance that doesn’t rely on manufactured misunderstandings for there to be effective obstacles for the lovers to overcome.

I had a few fairly minor issues with the story, however. I’ve already mentioned the over-abundance of hockey, which I freely admit is more of a ‘me’ thing than a book thing because I know very little about the sport. The fact that Ryan is having a relationship with a subordinate is mentioned briefly but is never really addressed, and there’s an odd scene in the last part of the book where a secondary character confesses he’s been in love with Ryan for years, which comes out of the blue and feels awkward. (Maybe it’s setting up a future book?).

It seems to me that Ari Baran has really hit their stride with this book. I liked the first two Penalty Box books well enough, but they’ve upped their game with Home Ice Advantage. The characterisation is stronger and more consistent than before, the romance is much better developed and the conflicts are realistic and well-portrayed. I’m always up for a love story featuring older (than the norm) protagonists,and I especially like reading about charaters who have been through whatever life has thrown at them and are coming out the other side as the person they were always meant to be. Home Ice Advantage is a terrific addition to the ranks of m/m hockey romance, and earns a strong recommendation.