Book 993: Fire in the Ice (Bethesda Barracudas #2) – Ryan Taylor & Joshua Harwood

For book two (or book three if you believe Amazon and not Goodreads) we get to revisit Nick’s (from Nice Catching You first love, Tyler. He’s a winger/forward and has recently been traded to the Bethesda Barracudas where he’s come face-to-face with their younger teammate from high school, Kevin, a big beefy openly gay defenseman who has had a crush on Tyler since high school.

The story starts with Kevin and Tyler at each others’ throats. Even though they’re both openly gay (Tyler had a scandal where he got caught hooking up at a club at his last team) rather than being friendly they’re constantly trying to one-up each other and grind the other one down.

Half the team reads it as genuine hatred and the other half reads it for what it is, they want to f*ck. They finally do and keep the team on their toes with the passion and love in the bedroom and the hatred and icy treatment on the ice.

The hug was butch and manly, entirely appropriate for the moment, but the look in his eyes set me ablaze. Kevin was so hot he’d ignited fire in the ice, and the inferno consumed me. I couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel for our night together. (96)

This is the first book in the series where I started to get annoyed that Taylor and Harwood weren’t going to walk the walk-on verse characters. They talk it up a couple of times in this and they may have swapped roles once, but for some reason, this one was the beginning of the downfall of this series for me. I don’t know if it was how they interacted or talked to each other, but there were so many warning signs that I probably should’ve just stopped the series here.

That being said we did get more time with Nick and Jacob as well as other characters who we get to know in later books, so it wasn’t a total waste. I also enjoyed another character that had two dads thrown into this one. It wouldn’t have hurt if they threw in a character with two moms, but hey a nod to different family types is always welcome.

By far, my favorite part was the ending when Kevin and Tyler got engaged on the ice after the (semi?) final match. It was so well done after the drama of their relationship being discovered and the hoops the team had to put them through. I’m noticing a theme with Taylor and Harwood, they like the media circus, the team coming to the defense/support, and then the super romantic big sappy ending.

Recommendation: This was a decent read. I wouldn’t call it top shelf, but for a self-published Kindle Unlimited book, it’s definitely up there which, honestly, is a pretty low bar. As far as the series goes, this is right there in the middle not my favorite, Nice Catching You, and not the worst, Ice Devils.

Opening Line: “February was a slow month, so it was no surprise the news exploded all over sports media.”

Closing Line: “Life was sweet, and I hoped it would last for a very long time.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)

Additional Quotes from Fire in the Ice
“The man walking beside me was smart, funny, and hot as hell. A small hope bloomed in my heart that if I was extremely lucky, I might be his one day.” (44)

“Shifting forward, he pushed as far into my throat as he could, and I gagged a little. That was okay because there aren’t many guys who don’t get off on somebody gagging on their dick.” (58)

“Todd’s eyes were kind when I raised my head to meet them. He smiled. ‘I have two dads. And I have no problem with what’s going on between you and Jensie. If you make each other happy, it’s all good.'” (106)