New Release: Peaches & Pucks – M.A. Wardell

Genre: Contemporary, Sports

LGBTQ+ Category: Gay

Reviewer: Rari

Get It On Amazon

About The Book

One hotel room. One bed. Zero chance of keeping it professional.

Harry
When I agreed to chaperone the boys’ hockey team, I thought my biggest challenge would be pretending to understand the rules—not being stuck sharing a hotel room with Darius Hall. The P.E. teacher. The human whistle. The man who’s made my Mondays miserable for years.

But somewhere between the bus ride, the tense semifinal, and one very small bed, I start to realize the worst part of Darius Hall might be how much I like him.

Darius
I’ve spent years pretending Harry Peterson doesn’t get under my skin. Easier to tease him than admit I notice everything—his color-coded lesson plans, the cedar-and-coffee smell, that unguarded laugh.

Now we’re stuck sharing a hotel room, and I’m running out of excuses for the way I feel. One bed. One night. And suddenly I can’t decide what’s harder to handle: his endless commentary or how much I miss it when he stops talking.

Peaches and Pucks is a cozy, rivals-to-lovers novella full of banter, heart, and heat—because sometimes love takes a slapshot straight through your defenses.

The Review

I always say I’m not the best reader for romance, and then I sign up to read ARCs of romance books. (sigh). Ngl, the blurb was what made me sign up for this. It was so good. But the actual book was kinda disappointing for me.

Harry and Darius are teachers in the same school with Harry teaching English and Darius PE. Harry is openly gay and thinks Darius is giving him a hard time because he’s homophobic. When Harry agrees to chaperone the boys’ hockey team to an away game, and he and Darius end up in a room with one bed, he realises his assumptions have been completely wrong.

Seriously, I don’t get Harry at all. He breaks up with Darius for no reason, and then gets back together without anything changing. It just seems a bit contrived.

Also, I didn’t really like how Darius takes advice from someone who tells him to keep on trying after Harry breaks up with him. Like… no? That’s not what you do when you’re big on consent.

I’m not the ideal reader for romance, so take my review with a grain of salt.

Queer romance, enough spice for an Indian kitchen, and two characters whose chemistry is off the charts.

The Reviewer

Rari is an author and editor writing under the name of Niranjan K. She is an avid reader of all things fantasy, and loves to discourse at length about her favourite books as well as shows. This blog is the space where she will be sharing her views and insights of the books, shows and movies that she likes.

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