M/M Month Review: Offside Pass by Stephanie Hecht

Offside Pass
~Stephani Hecht

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 200 KB
Publisher: eXtasybooks
Publish Date: January 1, 2011
ASIN: B004IEA8LU

From Goodreads:
At one time Devon Canton and his two brothers were the talk of the NHL. Set to become the next superstars of the sport, they had lucrative contracts and numerous endorsements within their reach. Then the bottom fell out of their world and everything changed. Now struggling to make ends meet, they have been reduced to playing in the minor leagues. To make matters worse, they all end up playing for the same dead-end team, the Battle Creek Hawks. Not only hasn’t that team won a game in three years, but their arena is falling down around them and is in danger of being condemned. Then Devon and his brothers hit a new low when they get thrown out of their first game for getting into a brawl…with each other.

Battle Creek Times sports reporter Saul Davis knows the instant he see the three brothers beating the snot out of each other that he has a story. It only takes a little digging to find out how far the once promising hockey players have fallen. Intrigued, Saul tries to pin down Devon for an interview, only to be rudely rebuked. Unfortunately for Devon, that only makes Saul more determined to get to the bottom of the story.

Then Saul uncovers something about the brooding hockey player that could not only destroy the man’s reputation, but also ruin any chance of him every playing on the professional level again. Saul knows he should go ahead and run the story, but as he finds himself growing closer to Devon, he realizes that his feelings for the other man are too strong to ignore. When a rival reporter also discovers Devon’s secret, Saul recognizes that he may have to make the most painful decision of all – his own journalism career or Devon.

Offside Pass is the story of Devon, a hot hockey player who's been relegated to playing in the bottom of the barrel hockey league, and Saul, a sports reporter who knows nothing about sports...

Devon and two of his three brothers are hockey players who are constantly brawling on the ice. Devon's twin brother Chad is straight (and married), and their baby brother Trey is also gay. The fourth brother, Brock, is a drug addict who is estranged from the family. We learn he was also a hockey player until he was injured.

As the story opens, Devon, Chad, and Trey are headed into the arena of the newest team they've just been traded to. The team is last in the league and the arena looks like it hasn't seen maintenance in years. When they started out, the brothers were hockey superstars, but there was an incident that has caused them to spiral downward to where they are now - their last chance.

Saul has just taken a job as a sports reporter for the local newspaper, the only problem is he doesn't know anything about sports! He falls for Devon - hard. Devon is attracted but tries to stay away because Saul is a reporter and he can't risk the family secret getting out. But Saul knows something's not right, does a little investigating, and pieces the story together.

Offside Pass was a quick, sweet read. I'm not used to short stories, so the pacing was a bit fast for me, but within the story the romance between Saul and Devon was tender and simmered through most of the story, culminating in a hot, steamy release. I loved that the big hockey player was so affected by Saul. I also liked Devon's brothers, Trey and Chad, and hope Trey's story is next. The brother's constant brawling was pretty entertaining, and I liked the hockey players as they got used to the brothers and started winning games.

On a side note, this book could have used more editing - there were quite a few typos.

My Rating: