Nice Catching You: A Holiday Love Story (Bethesda Barracudas Hockey) Paperback – October 26, 2020

Ryan Taylor and Joshua Harwood always write great books so they are a one click for me. This may be their best book ever! The story just rushed out to meet you in the beginning. Jacob Meyer is sitting on a bus by himself reading a big law book. Nick Johnson and his hockey teammates are joking around in the seats behind him. Nick too is a third in his group as like Jacob the ex did not come to the college trip to the ski resort. The traffic is sluggish in the snow and the bus is creeping along when bam, there is a hit from the back of the bus and Jacob flies into the air only to be caught by Nick in a protective hug. There you have it. The "catch".The college decided to put the passengers up in a motel that night and since Nick's ex did not come and Jacob's ex did not come, the two of them had to share a room and a bed! See how this story gets hotter as you move along?Jacob knows nothing about hockey and is not really a sports person. Nick being the Captain of the team wants to impress him and get him interested. There is a lot of fun as Jacob meets the team mates and learns more about the game. Jacob is also happy to learn that Nick is gay like himself with one MAJOR difference. Nick is in the closet. Nick realizes that coming out as a gay hockey player may risk his scholarship and his ability to play hockey for the college. Although the college president speaks highly of LGBT rights and claims to support them, no active hockey players have ever come out as gay both in college as well as the professional leagues.Ride along with Nick and Jacob as they deal with all that goes with people who don't like gay men. Watch how the team dynamics work when Nick and Jacob receive threats. See what happened when Nick's friends shift and Nick realizes that he has support from guys that he did not realize were his friends and sadly those who Nick thought were friends were not.Although this is as work if fiction, the story of Nick and Jacob has many elements of truth. The absence of gay men in all the major professional sports is true but the flip side is that gay men are on the teams and this fact is well hidden and never talked about. The general consensus is that management wants good hockey players and sexual orientation is not a defining skill.This book is fun and easy to read. The story is well written and flows along easily. There are fun moments especially with the hockey players and their jargon. There are serious moments such as when Jacob's safety is threatened. All of this is rolled up in a fun and entertaining book. You do not want to miss this one. This book is so much fun till I think Ryan and Josh should write another hockey romance.

I liked it a lot. Sometimes a little wordy for my taste, that is just me. Still very inspiring story.

The authors have achieved a masterpiece with this book. It‘s not a cookie-cutter MM hockey romance. The story arc takes twists and turns in an expected—but enjoyable—way. It has two likable main characters, and they‘re surrounded by flawed, lovable side characters. There's very little wrong with this book. I‘d give it ten stars if I could.

The first half of the story has two college guys (a hockey player and a law student) fall in love over the course of two weeks. They start out as distinct characters, but they end up so obsessed with each other that their love becomes the only defining aspect of both their personalities. They did work well as a couple; no major problems with stupid angsting or miscommunication. Just a bit... vanilla.The second half of the story is Team Good versus Team Evil. There is one minor character who starts out on Team Sad and eventually joins Team Good. But characterization is totally binary. Either you are Good because you are a naturally good person and therefore are a vocal proponent of gay rights, or you are Evil because you are naturally evil and homophobic.SPOILERS belowThe reason I think this book is heavy on the wish fulfillment is the last 5-10% of the book. 100% of Team Evil (that have names anyway) gets fired or expelled, and several of them face jail time.Also, Team Good is not called out when they behave badly. They're Team Good, so everything they do must be goodExample A: The law student is hanging out with a friend. She reads a gossip article about his relationship with the hockey player. She asks him (paraphrased) "did he really sleep with a girl at some point in his life? [Or is that just crap the author made up?]" He replies "the article was written by Team Evil so you are a bad friend for considering they might be telling the truth at all. Also, I am low key bi-shaming by getting angry that you asked."Example B: a Team Good lawyer files a lawsuit against the school. (That's fine.) The school is not represented at the initial hearing. (Seems shady, but I'm not a lawyer.) The book explains the school's absence in a way that implies this is intentional. (Now it's definitely shady.) And they specifically requested a judge that some of the lawyers involved are hoping will be specifically sympathetic to them due to alumni relationships. (Uh, what?)In both examples, Team Good's behavior is excused or overlooked because... it's Team Good, duh!Overall, a mixed read. Very predictable, though. The only part that truly surprised me was at the end when they explicitly listed jail sentences and school rejections and other various forms of retribution for Team Evil.

My favorite thing about this book was how it was able to be swoony without too much fluff and sweetness. There were realistic aspects presented, such as how in the real world not everyone is completely accepting of the LGBTQ community. I love books where everything isn't always so perfect and that real problems exist. Nick and Jacob had great relationship growth. I liked the akward and shy college student vibe. While this book did contain hockey and law tidbits, the story focused mostly on characters. The relationships and interactions with some plot mixed in really made this book shine. Please read this and don't miss the rest of the series!

You can't beat a story about hockey players especially if there are men on men and someone is thinking about coming out! The book was well written and had a puck load of angst. However. I got a chill down my spine every time Jacob called Nick "honey"! You know guys use babe and baby and I've even heard a sweetie or two but never have I heard a guy call another guy honey. That's just too weird. Maybe just a Hun if they've lived together long enough. Anyway its a pretty good booklets hope for more m/m hockey romance books