I have found it very difficult to find time to read books for pleasure in the past few years, but I have always loved to read. When a book really pulls you in, you just can’t put it down, no matter what you do, and I found that recently in Rule #1: Never Accidentally Marry Your Teammate by Portia Blake. Side note, but all the best gay sports romances seem to be written by straight women. This book is the second in a series focused on a fictional NHL team from Boston, but each one seems to be a standalone.
This book follows Noah, a minor league hockey player, who gets recruited to the NHL for a team he’s obsessed with, and, in particular with a player, Finn. Long story short, Noah and Finn have a lot of odd and awkward interactions, get drunk before Noah’s first time playing an NHL game, and accidentally get married in Las Vegas after getting drunk a second time. Being that they are in the NHL, this news spreads fast, and the two straight men have to pretend to be married and somehow, after only being with women, gay. Obviously, as the cliche goes, they end up actually falling in love and marry each other by the end of the book, but not before Finn accidentally publicly tries to annul their marriage and almost ruin both of their lives.
I really enjoyed getting to read about Noah and Finn’s escapades around Boston and the contrast between Noah’s modest New Hampshire upbringing with Finn’s wealth. Noah’s parents are also much less accepting than Finn’s, a hallmark of many queer romance books and a detail I thought added to the realism of it all. The book also had pretty short chapters, making it easy to pick up, even if you didn’t have a lot of time. My only issue with this book was that it was pretty cliche, but other than that, it was a quick and entertaining read, despite being a decently long book. The book switches between the two POVs, which is really great when almost all of their interactions involve miscommunications and secretly reciprocated desire. Noah had been unsure of his sexuality from the start of the book, but Finn slowly discovers his queerness, and it unfolds in a way I think feels realistic. Every scene was either really adorable or really awkward, making it a great book for a rainy day or the beach.
