Whoops, I accidentally read another MM Hockey Romance series 😀 For real though, I had no intentions of reading this one. I was originally planning to get started on The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields from my long anguishing TBR shelf, but needed something a little less dense and here we are.
I originally tried to read this around the time I read the SCU Hockey series by J.J. Mulder, but I couldn’t get through the first chapter. There was so much focus on Gerard’s dick (like WAY too much focus) and I just couldn’t get through it at the time. This time, however, I read the forward and powered through and I’m glad I did. It did get better, even if it wasn’t my favorite style of writing and the immaturity level was definitely questionable for some parts.
At its heart this is a grumpy/sunshine nerd/jock romance and Brice does a good job with those tropes. On one side, you have the bookish, snarkish, standoffish Eli who has a massive chip on his shoulder and on the other side you have Gerard, a human golden retriever with the memory of a gold fish and the largest hockey butt ever recorded and a massive dick (see the aforementioned first chapter annoyance)
On paper, Gerard and I couldn’t be more different. He’s a hockey god, and I’m a bookish nerd. He’s outgoing and charismatic, and I’m introverted and awkward. But somehow, we’ve found each other, thanks to a missing hockey stick. And now, I can’t imagine my life without him. (397)
Where Brice struggled was trimming down the backstory and the overall storylines. I think Eli’s upbringing was important and the big reveal a little over halfway through was a tiny bit shocking, but not in a big reveal sort of way. There was too much missing from Eli’s narrative for it to truly be the big reveal I think it was supposed to be. I think the same thing can be said with Gerard’s obsession with his own body. I mean guys are obsessed with themselves so it’s not that out of the blue that he’d constantly be focused on his dick and various body parts, but it just was a little over the top for me at least. When you add in all the hockey guys, Eli’s best friend Jackson, the Ice Queen blogger/paparazzi posts, I definitely think Brice could’ve written an even better novel with a bit more editing. (And I know this for sure because as he moved through the series he got better at trimming back and focusing on the main storyline.)
The romance between Eli and Gerard felt well paced and had enough tension between them that it worked for me. Eli couldn’t get out of his own way, which was to be expected with his stand-offish-ness, and Gerard was gung-ho to try whatever and was all in on his bisexual awakening. The few sex scenes were well done even if we don’t find out more about their sex life until later novels. I will say the title of the novel comes from a very specific scene that was both good, but also awkward AF and not something I felt was in character for Eli, but you get what you get.
Recommendation: If you can get past the first chapter / 20 pages it is well worth the read. Brice has a great sense of humor and he writes great characters, but it took me two tries before I could read this. The minor characters (3 pairs of which it seems will get their own novels) were great and all of them added to the overall story and only distracted a little bit. Aside from those first 20 pages, I felt the novel could’ve used a good bit of streamlining, but it wasn’t so scattered you couldn’t follow, just a few too many smaller stories/asides that could’ve made it stronger if they were left out or mentioned only in passing.
Opening Line: “Out with the Old. In with the New.”
Closing Line: “Well, that’s just the icing on the cake.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)
Additional Quotes from Icing on the Cake
“There’s one for a poetry slam this weekend at The Brew, another for the knitting club, and even one for a weekend trip to Boston to see the aquarium. I linger a bit longer on that last one; I’ve always wanted to see the penguins.” (24)
“Surprisingly, the woman meets Elliot’s death glare head-on, and it’s like watching two gunslingers at high noon, but instead of pistols, they’re armed with library cards and overdue book fines.” (35)
“The bag yields a few more treasures: a pack of highlighters, a copy of Pride and Prejudice, and an opened bag of trail mix.” (124)
