Rating: 4
Steam: 3
PoV: dual, 3rd person
Series: Scoring Chances #4
Genre: sport romance, MM
Tropes / tags: age gap, sexual discovery, secret relationship
I’d been looking forward to Thad’s story, and I just loved his and Graham’s romance!
Thad didn’t come across as the greatest guy in Gavin’s novel, so it was interesting to get Thad’s PoV here. The brothers surely had a lot of things to work and talk through, and it was interesting to learn more about their backgrounds and pasts. I liked Thad though, he was loyal and patient, and it was clear that he’d worked hard to get to where he was – even if it took a little ‘brotherly’ blackmail to get there.
I loved him and Graham together, even if it took a bit for them to get there. And that first kiss? Totally gave me butterflies, and it was one of the best first kisses I’ve read this year! Graham wasn’t ready to acknowledge any attraction or feelings he might have for Thad at that point though, hence the slow burn. Being a workplace romance there was some close proximity, and the tension and bit of pining between them was great. I absolutely adored their first date, and things quickly got romantic and swoony after that!
Both Thad and Graham had some fantastic character developments, and it was sweet to see how understanding and supportive they were of each other. Thad had been through a lot, and had put up a lot of walls, so it was lovely to see him letting Graham in and starting to heal.
Delayed Penalty was the kind of story that I didn’t want to put down, and I was smiling and swooning a lot! It was a tender romance and I loved the vulnerability and honesty Thad and Graham shared. I can’t get enough of this series, and I’ll impatiently wait for the next book to drop!
Book links:
Amazon | Goodreads | BookBub | StoryGraph
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