Him by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy

Synopsis:
They don’t play for the same team. Or do they?

Jamie Canning has never been able to figure out how he lost his closest friend. Four years ago, his tattooed, wise-cracking, rule-breaking roommate cut him off without an explanation. So what if things got a little weird on the last night of hockey camp the summer they were eighteen? It was just a little drunken foolishness. Nobody died.

Ryan Wesley’s biggest regret is coaxing his very straight friend into a bet that pushed the boundaries of their relationship. Now, with their college teams set to face off at the national championship, he’ll finally get a chance to apologize. But all it takes is one look at his longtime crush, and the ache is stronger than ever.

Jamie has waited a long time for answers, but walks away with only more questions—can one night of sex ruin a friendship? If not, how about six more weeks of it? When Wesley turns up to coach alongside Jamie for one more hot summer at camp, Jamie has a few things to discover about his old friend…and a big one to learn about himself.

Warning: contains sexual situations, hotties on hockey skates, skinnydipping, shenanigans in an SUV and proof that coming out to your family on social media is a dicey proposition.

    

My Review:
4.5 stars — I have been wanting this book FOREVER, and when I saw it go on a brief sale for $2.99 (I think it’s close to $5 regular price), I was all over it like a fat kid on a smartie….  And it totally lived up to the hype!!  That’s something I always worry about, you know?  But I’ve read both of these authors individually and loved them, so I shouldn’t have been surprised that they would churn out a piece of gold when working together.

These characters had so much chemistry together, they seriously just felt right together.  And it wasn’t just the smoking sex scenes, it was the friendship chemistry too you know?  Even after being apart for 4 years, they seemed to just meld back into best friends like their friendship was easy.

I loved learning their backstory in little pieces from each of their perspectives…it was frustrating at first b/c a flashback would get cut off right as we were learning what happened, but in the end I liked the way it played out.

I can’t even tell you which one was my favourite, b/c I liked them both for very different reasons.  Jamie was just so accepting and logical…he never flew off the handle or jumped in to his emotions.  He took the time to reason things through and actually think about what he was feeling, and what it meant for him.  Wes was somewhat the opposite — letting his emotions get the better of him sometimes.  But somehow they really fit together.

I loved the challenges that they faced, both in their love lives and in their personal lives beyond that.  I LOVED Jamie’s family….LOVED.  Loved the emotions we got from Wes when he got to meet them.  I loved the many bits of hockey throughout this book — from playing it, to coaching it and helping kids become better.  I was dismayed that yet again (b/c it happened in one other Sarina Bowen book I think) they changed the name of one of the NHL teams for reasons that I don’t understand…it would be different if they changed them all (but the Boston Bruins were mentioned), or created an entirely new fictional team in a new town, but instead we got the Toronto Panthers…*sigh*  It’s a stupid thing to bug me, but I just don’t understand the logic of it I guess…

Now I just wish I had taken note of the date of the release of the next book, so it would already be in my greedy hands instead of having to wait a few days…I know, rough life eh?  A few measly days.  BUT I WANT MORE NOW!!!