Narrated by Nick J. Russo

Puck Love, the sixth and final book in Lane Hayes’ Elmwood Stories series (set in fictional, small-town Vermont) is a sexy, fun and relatively low-angst listen that nonetheless manages to pack and emotional punch in the right places. I’ve listened to a couple of the earlier books in the series, so can confidently say that you don’t need to have listened to all of them in order to be able to enjoy this one; characters and events from previous books appear or are mentioned, but there’s no overlap in the storylines, so this one works fine as a standalone.

If you’ve followed the series from the beginning, you’ll have already met Elmwood native Jake Milligan and seen him go from a teen hockey prodigy to the AHL and then the NHL, and now, in his early thirties, he’s one of the mainstays of the Boston team. He’s popular with the fans and well-liked by the players – except for one, who rubs him completely the wrong way and takes delight in needling him every chance he gets.

Denver’s Mason Trinsky is mouthy, irreverent and devil-may-care, and his and Jake’s on-ice rivalry has become legendary – the fans love it and have come to expect them to come to blows at least once in every game in which they meet. But Mason’s big mouth gets him into trouble when a meant-to-be snarky comment about Jake distracting him at an important point in a playoff game and causing him to miss a shot goes viral, sending his agent and PR people into damage-limitation mode. Their solution is for Mason to join the upcoming Elmwood charity camping trip to replace one of the coaches, who is injured. He doesn’t see a problem; he regularly coaches at the summer hockey camp and manages to successfully avoid Jake – until he learns that he’ll actually be partnered with Jake for the weekend.

Jake is similarly unimpressed at the prospect of spending a weekend in Mason’s company, but it is only a weekend, so he’ll deal. But Jake seems determined to find fault with Mason and everything Mason does annoys the hell out of Jake; and the undercurrent of reluctant attraction they’re each noticing for the other only makes things worse. Then a heated argument boils over into a very different kind of heated exchange and they decide to stop fighting it, both of them shocked by how much they want each other – and by how much they want this… whatever it is between them to continue. Jake has known he’s bisexual for a while, but hasn’t really taken many opportunities to act on the side of him that is attracted to men, while for Mason, being attracted to another man is completely new. If they’re going to explore that side of their sexuality, perhaps exploring it with each other isn’t a bad idea, and they agree to continue their arrangement over the summer – until the hockey season starts and they’ll have to go back to being nothing more than rivals on the ice.

Puck Love is a light-hearted and very entertaining rivals-to-lovers story featuring a central couple with great chemistry, lots of well-written sexy times and plenty of good-natured snark. I liked Jake and Mason individually and as a couple, and the way the author slowly has them opening up to each other is nicely done as both men come to realise that actually, they know very little about each other and that there’s a lot more to the other than they’d thought. Mason has always viewed Jake as an uptight goody-two-shoes; Jake thinks Mason is an irresponsible loose cannon, but as they slowly start to shed their misconceptions and become friends (with benefits), they start seeing each other more clearly. Mason is funny and outgoing, but there’s a lot of vulnerability beneath the brash exterior; his childhood wasn’t the greatest and he still has a lot of mixed feelings about his mother (who is back in his life), and he’s only now starting to come to terms with the fact that maybe he’s not as straight as he’d thought. And although Jake’s life has been, in many ways, a lot easier than Mason’s, he’s spent so much of it focused on hockey that he hasn’t taken much time for himself. He’s realising that he’s nearing the end of his playing career and facing an uncertain future – and while he has a great family and lots of people around him who love him… he’s lonely.

While Puck Love is a fairly low-angst story, there’s enough seriousness to give it some weight, and the more emotional moments near the end, as Jake and Mason face the prospect of giving each other up, are poignant and well-done. I did, however, find the final few chapters a bit dissatisfying because so much is glossed over so everything can be tied up in a neat bow; there’s a lot of telling instead of showing and I was surprised when, in the Epilogue, Mason, who previously stated he didn’t want children, starts talking about adopting some. I know people change their minds, but there’s no build up or basis for it so it felt a bit out of place.

There’s a strong secondary cast, mostly consisting of characters from the previous books, but one of the best things in the story is Mason’s relationship with his younger brother, Eddie (who has Downs Syndrome), whom he adores.

Nick J. Russo is one of my favourite narrators and someone I know I can rely on to deliver an excellent performance. He differentiates between the supporting characters very effectively and portrays the recurring characters consistently, so they sound the same as they did in the previous books. He does a great job bringing the two leads to life; there’s an edge to his voice when Jake’s uptight manner is in evidence, although this softens as the story progresses and he begins falling for Mason, and he gives Mason this gruff, booming tone that perfectly fits his larger-than-life personality. Mr. Russo always finds the right emotional notes in the stories he reads and isn’t afraid to include them – whether it’s a sob or a sigh or a smile, he brings out the emotional side of the story extremely well.

I enjoyed both the story and the narration in Puck Love and I’m happy to recommend it in audio format.

Breakdown of Grade: Narration – A; Content – B

Running time: 7 hours, 32 minutes