Time to shine

Getting called up to play for the Calgary Outlaws is goalie Landon Stackhouse's time to shine. But soon after Landon joins the team, he fears he is messing up big time. Not only is his first game filling in for the team's lead goalie a disaster, given his reclusive nature, Landon finds bonding with his new teammates a challenge. However, Casey Hicks, the team's young star left winger, is having none of it and immediately sets about befriending Landon. As a goalie, Landon is trained to never let anything get past him. So how has Casey managed to sneak through Landon's defenses and become such an important part of his life? Reid shoots and scores with a heart-meltingly sweet romance centered on the simple joy in finding someone who loves you for the person you truly are and not the person you keep trying to become. As an added bonus, Reid includes love scenes guaranteed to thaw the ice on any hockey rink, making this a treat for sports-romance fans who enjoy some sensual heat with their slap shots.

With this sultry hockey romance, Reid takes a break from her Game Changer series but stays on familiar ground. When Landon Stackhouse is called up from Saskatoon to substitute goaltend for the NHL team in Calgary, he's soon befriended by Casey Hicks, the team's unofficial social director. While Landon's "default mode antisocial homebody," Casey is afraid of being alone. After Casey suggests Landon come live in his spare room, the bi Casey and closeted gay Landon, a virgin, both find themselves secretly crushing on each other. Soon they start sleeping in the same bed, nonsexually, for company and comfort. Casey also invites Landon and his parents to his family cabin in Banff for Christmas. The yuletide trappings are thin but festive: it's at a team holiday party where Landon and Casey first--finally--kiss and Landon's parents arrive for Christmas just as the teammates couple up, prompting some drama. The bigger threat to the men's relationship, however, is what will happen when Landon is sent back down to the minors. Reid's winning formula of on-ice action and off-ice passion continues to work well, though longtime fans will find the relationship dynamics a bit familiar. Still, there's plenty to swoon over here. Agent: Deidre Knight, Knight Agency. (Sept.)