Off the Ice is the first audiobook I’ve listened to performed by Kirt Graves and I loved it. I read the book back in March of 2019. When Kirt Graves offered an Audible code I jumped at the chance to listen to this story and enjoy it all over again.

Kirt’s voice is so smooth and easy to listen to. His pacing was great and his vocal inflections were just right. I have several more books in my library that he’s performed and I’m very much looking forward to listening to them.

Below is the review I wrote at the time I read the book back in March 2019.

A copy of this audiobook was provided to me but my review was voluntary and not influenced by the narrator.

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This is the first book I’ve read by Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn, either as individuals or as a writing team. It sure was a great way for me to get introduced to their work. I don’t follow any sports—none, nada, zip, zilch—but for some crazy reason I really like reading sports themed romances.

The blurb for this book is pretty good but it doesn’t begin to convey the depth of this story. Tristan is a closeted NHL player who finds himself attracted to his harsh, demanding, and openly gay sociology professor. When they both realize the attraction is mutual, they have to fight the attraction until Tristan is no longer Sebastian’s student. The depth in the story comes with how the writers detail the slowly developing relationship between the two characters and how Tristan has to decide between coming out and losing the man he loves.

Writing reviews is probably not nearly as hard as writing a book but sometimes it is really difficult for me to come up with the right words to describe how much I love a book. Off the Ice is one of those books. The story made me laugh and cry big fat ugly tears but I loved every minute of it. Stories that affect me so deeply are the best kind and Off the Ice was one of those books.

The Hat Trick series was originally published by Riptide Publishing. It has been refreshed by the authors and is now being released by Carina Press. I’m eagerly looking forward to the next book in this series.

A review copy of the ebook was provided by the publisher via NetGalley but this did not influence my opinion or rating of the book.