Rating: 4
Steam: 3
PoV: dual, 1st person
Series: The Comebacks #1
Genre: contemporary romance, MM
Tropes / tags: age gap, rivals to lovers, small town
A.J. Truman’s new series is off to a great with Gross Misconduct – Jack and Griffin’s story was an entertaining rivals to lovers with a lot of humour and steam!
Griffin and Jack’s story was a bit of a rocky road, with a bit of misunderstandings and lack of communication going on. Their chemistry was amazing though, and I loved their banter. Jack was struggling with finding his path after his career in the NHL didn’t work out, and while the first impression of him was a cocky flirt, there were a lot more to him than that. I liked his character growth through the story and how he managed to find himself outside of being a hockey player.
Griffin and Jack’s interactions were entertaining, and it was fun to see how their initial animosity sparked a prank war at the hockey rink, which their teams went fully in on. I liked how they just couldn’t stay away from each other and the way they messed with each other’s heads at first. Griffin was exactly what Jack needed though; a steady and supportive presence that could somewhat relate to what he was going through.
They worked so well together, it just took them a while before they started to communicate and realised that there could be more between them than just hooking up in secret. The tension and push and pull between them was intense and kept me invested – and there were some very hot dirty talk and spicy scenes in this one!
I really enjoyed this take on a hockey romance with a recreational league instead of a professional one, and I loved being back in Sourwood. A.J. Truman always writes amazing friendships and found families, and Gross Misconduct had a good deal of cameos as well as new characters. Overall a fun read with a lot of heart in it, and I’m very excited to see who will be next to find their HEA in this series!
Book links:
Amazon | Goodreads | BookBub | StoryGraph
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