Length: 50,000 words approx
Cover Design: Meredith Russell
Harrisburg Railers Series
Book #1 - Changing Lines
Book #2 - First Season
Book #3 - Deep Edge
Blurb
Stanislav “Stan” Lyamin is happy playing for the Railers. The towering goalie is well-loved, respected, and making a home for himself even though that home only contains him, his cat, and his growing Pokemon trading card collection. Stan prefers it that way.
He’d given his heart to a man in a secret affair, and that man walked away, leaving Stan shattered. Now Erik is back in his life, and he has the same tumultuous effect he had on Stan’s heart as before. This time it’s not just a kissable mouth and sweet blond curls that Erik has brought to Harrisburg, there’s a soon-to-be ex-wife and a precious baby.
Despite the vow Stan made to hate Erik forever, he’s now finding it harder and harder to turn away.
Erik Gunnarsson’s dream had always been to play in the NHL, he just never imagined he’d land a contract with the Railers. Who would have thought that fate would put him on the same team as Stanislav Lyamin; the man whose heart he’d callously broken?
Secrets and lies had defined their summer relationship, and the choice that Erik made to end it all haunts him still. In the middle of a messy divorce and with a baby in tow, Erik finds himself back in Stan’s life. Now all he has to do is be the best dad he can be, prove to the team that he deserves the chance to stay on the roster and try his hardest to get Stan to forgive him.
Is it possible to persuade a man who hates you to give love a second chance?
4 out of 5 stars
Poke Check is the 4th book in the Harrisburg Railers series. While these books could potentially be read as a stand-alone, I highly suggest reading them in order as you get to know each of the teammates throughout the books.
This book features our favorite Russian goalie, Stan, and Erik, the hockey player he had a brief training 'fling' with but meant so much more to both of them. Erik has recently been brought up to the Railers to play but things are not smooth sailing for him and Stan. The story evolves as their relationship is worked through and built back up. There are a lot of little bits that add to the story and give it a nice balance of semi-angst and almost a touch of sweet to the romance.
I enjoyed Stan and Erik's story quite a bit. It wasn't an over-the-top romance but had a good pace, and lots of cute moments with Stan's language issues, and with Erik's baby boy. I really adored the scenes with Stan and the baby, because they were just really sweet and showed what a softy Stan could be. Was this my favorite book in the series, no but it was probably just under my favorite spot. There is quite a bit of ice time with games, and training sessions but it's tempered with enough off the ice moments with either just Stan and Erik, or them with their team, or Stan's family.
The story was well done, good pacing, lots of interaction with the secondary characters and previous couples from the other books in the series. I do look forward to the next book in the series but these two authors. I definitely recommend both this book and the series to anyone who loves some hockey players in their romance!
Feb 14 - Gay Media Reviews, Reading In Sarah's Corner, Xtreme Delusions, Urban Smoothie Read, My Fiction Nook, The Smut-Brarians
Feb 16 - Hearts On Fire Reviews, The Geekery Book Review, Booklove
Feb 21 - We Three Queens, Sarandipity, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Making It Happen, Books After Fifty, MM Good Book Reviews, Jessie G Books
Feb 23 - My Book Filled Life
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Feb 28 - Valerie Ullmer, Jim's Reading Room, Padme's Library
March 2 - Mirrigold, Bayou Book Junkie
Excerpt
There are many people I would have rather seen standing on the ice of my practice arena than Erik. For example my beloved sister, Galina, my sainted mother, Arina, my cat, Lucy, or my new gay American heartthrob, Zachary Quinto.
Zachary would be wearing only a smile even though it’s cold on the ice.
But no, none of them were standing in front of me wearing a Railers sweater and curls. Those damn golden curls. They’d always tempted me beyond sense. As had his mouth. And the way he would tilt his head when he was trying to understand me out of bed. In bed? There was no language barrier. Our bodies had always been tuned to each other like radio waves to a satellite dish.
Even now, I felt the low hum of his presence in my veins. I had feared this moment would come. From the first time I’d heard his name mentioned as being a new member of the Rush, our AHL feeder team, I’d known he would eventually stand in front of me, tipping his head, with his curls, his eyes and his mouth.
Connor was looking at me as if he expected something from me. Ah yes, words. He wanted me to say something. How did “go fuck a donkey” translate into English?
“We are known to each other.”
I skated to my net, mask perched on my head, and tried to focus. The humming in my blood was unsettling. Closing my eyes, I let the blue ice under my skates talk to me. Opening myself up to the sounds of hockey, the stress of seeing Erik again lessened. I whispered to the pipes as I tapped them. Asked them in Russian if they were going to be my friends during this practice.
“Uh, hey, I know this is a strict breach of protocol and all…but is there a problem between you and Gunner?”
I glanced to the left. Tennant stood there, geared up, his stick casually resting across his shoulders. So Erik now had his American hockey nickname. Why didn’t I have a new American hockey nickname? Pah. I was being petty. It tasted bad on my tongue.
“Gunner is okay person from time back in space.” Was that right? English was hard to speak. It made no sense. How could there be three ways to spell one word? Russian was simple. Strong. Pure. A language of passion and spirit. American was whiney and tied my brain into knots. No, that was not true. American was a wonderful language. It was me who was whiney and unhappy. “Time back. In the back of time. Is bad time to talk. Go away.”
RJ’s goal is to write stories with a heart of romance, a troubled road to reach happiness, and most importantly, that hint of a happily ever after.
RJ Scott is the bestselling author of over one hundred romance books. She writes emotional stories of complicated characters, cowboys, millionaire, princes, and the men who get mixed up in their lives. RJ is known for writing books that always end with a happy ever after. She lives just outside London and spends every waking minute she isn’t with family either reading or writing.
The last time she had a week’s break from writing she didn’t like it one little bit, and she has yet to meet a bottle of wine she couldn’t defeat.
V.L. Locey loves worn jeans, yoga, belly laughs, Dr. Who, Torchwood, walking, reading and writing lusty tales, Greek mythology, the New York Rangers, comic books, and coffee. (Not necessarily in that order.) She shares her life with her husband, her daughter, one dog, two cats, two Jersey steers and a flock of assorted domestic fowl.
When not writing lusty tales, she can be found enjoying her day with her menagerie in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania with a cup of fresh java in hand.
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