Pucked Up is the second book in E.M. Lindsey’s Punk as Puck series featuring a group of friends on a community sled hockey team. I loved the previous book, Zero Pucks, in which the author does a great job of setting up the enemies-to-lovers romance that is the focus of this story, and I was really looking forward to reading about team captain Boden and the new coach he hates so passionately – but unfortunately, Pucked Up didn’t live up to my expectations. The humour I enjoyed so much in book one is muted here and while I liked the two leads together, the romance feels like it’s missing several steps and needed more time to develop.

Boden Morin has rules when it comes to men – no real names, no strings and no repeats. They’ve always worked for him and he has no intention of changing them. Not even for the gorgeous, older man he picks up in a bar and who rocks his world and just… sees him in a way Boden has never experienced. That way lies danger, and Boden has no intention of getting involved with anything (or anyone) who might divert his focus from his ambition to make it into the PPHL (para-professional hockey league).

Boden and his friends play for the Wolves, a community para-hockey team, and in the previous book, the team owner appointed a new coach, Frenchman Hugo Martin – whom Boden hated on sight. So intense was his anger and his emnity toward the newcomer that he tried to get his team-mates to dislike Hugo, too, and even encouraged them to disregard his instructions for their on-ice plays. It was completely irrational and quickly turned into an untenable situation – and Boden knew it, but just couldn’t squash the fury that was eating away at him and making him take out his frustration on everyone around him. Because, of course, Hugo is The Guy, the one who asked all the right questions, fucked like a dream, took care of him like no-one ever has – and who Boden hasn’t been able to forget in the weeks since that night. Arriving in the meeting room to discover that Hugo was to be the Wolves’ new coach was a massive blow – made worse by the fact that Hugo’s cool greeting indicates he doesn’t remember Boden at all.

Hugo lost his husband, Reid, seven years earlier, and has been kind of purposeless ever since. But he’s finally started to feel ready to move forward, that he needs to find a way out of his old life – which is why he accepts the coaching job when it’s offered to him by Arnaud Morin, an old friend of Reid’s. The last thing he’d expected was to discover not only that Arnaud’s son was the team captain – but also that he was the man who, in just one night, had made Hugo question his decision to never give his heart to anyone ever again. He hides his shock and does as Boden had asked, greeting him casually and pretending they’ve never met, surprised at and unable to explain the other man’s outright hostility. As the weeks pass and Boden’s attitude just gets worse, Hugo knows he has to do something to change things or the team is going to fall apart. He recognises Boden’s need for control and his need to fight for it, and knows there’s a (definitely unorthodox) way he can help Boden to calm down, quiet those angry voices and release some of his tension and hostility.

Boden and Hugo are carrying a lot of emotional baggage, but the story focuses more on Boden’s issues, most of which relate to the pressure of family expectations and his frustration at not being where he wants to be in his playing career. A hugely talented athlete and chamption Paralympian, Boden’s career has stalled following the incident that got him banned from competing in the event for eight years, and earned him a name as something of a liability. Not wanting to have to deal with questions about Boden’s temperament and unpredictability, the Wolves’ former coach never bothered to bring in scouts from teams in the PPHL, so Boden’s career has never really taken off the way it should have. To make matters worse, he’s the perpetual disappointment, the son and grandson of two fairly famous, able-bodied hockey players who fully expected him to be a hockey prodigy and follow in their footsteps into the NHL. Well, that’s never going to happen, and part of Boden’s journey is coming to accept that no matter what he does, his father is never going to fully accept him for who he is, a whole person who is content in the body he was given and is capable of making his way in life on his own terms.

Boden is fierce and funny and doesn’t hold back, and I absolutely loved the ride-or-die friendship between him, Tucker and Ford, who are more Boden’s family than his biological one has ever been. I liked Hugo’s calmness in the face of Boden’s fiery temper, his obvious care and his understanding of Boden’s needs – both in bed and out of it. They’re good for each other and I really did like them together, but there’s a big jump from hooking up to give Boden a safe way to release some of his pent-up rage to being in love, and while there’s no doubt about the sexual tension simmering between them, the progression from one to the other is rushed and I felt like there was a chunk of the falling-in-love part of the story missing. Also missing is some idea of what Hugo has been doing for the past seven years  other than “rotting” (his words).

Once again, the disability rep in the book is excellent. Unlike Tucker, who was born able-bodied but lost his legs and one eye in an accident and had to learn to adapt, Boden was born with Cerebral Palsy and has lived with its effects for his entire life. The author writes knowledgeably and matter-of-factly about the condition and doesn’t make it a focus of the story – it’s just part of who Boden is.

I can’t deny that I’d have liked there to have been more of a real progression in the romantic relationship between Boden and Hugo, but while Pucked Up didn’t hit the spot in the same way Zero Pucks did, it’s nonetheless an entertaining read if you adjust your expectations for the romance.