The New Next One By Ryan Taylor and Joshua Harwood, Performed By Nick J. Russo
Genre: Contemporary Romance, GLBTQ, MM, New Adult
Tropes: Friends-to-lovers, Hockey, Medium angst, Coming of age
Released: Audio-June 30, 2022; ebook-January 22, 2021
Publisher: Wainscott Press
Series: Bethesda Barracudas Hockey, Book 1.5
Length: 2 hrs,1 mins / 107 pages
How much are you willing to give up for the man you love?
Best friends Nick Johnson and Tyler Jensen seem to have the world by the tail. The eighteen-year-old stars of their school’s hockey team are looking forward to playing in college and hoping for careers with the pros.
Nick and Tyler know a lot about each other, but there are a few important details they haven’t discussed. To start with, neither man knows the other is gay. Making things interesting, Nick has a massive crush on Tyler, something he’s kept to himself for a long time. And although he’s never said a word about it, Tyler has wanted to date Nick since they met.
On a cold Minnesota night after a big win, Tyler finds the courage to confess his feelings to Nick. When Nick admits his attraction to Tyler, their relationship turns on a dime. As they fall in love, they skate around the challenges of a secret romance in an all-male boarding school, but what will happen when the stakes rise dramatically in a sport not known for being gay-friendly? Will Nick and Tyler make the easy choice or the hard one?
The New Next One is a new adult, friends-to-lovers romance featuring young athletes, plenty of steam, and a lot of emotion. Besides learning the background for Nice Catching You, you will meet the main characters for the authors’ book Fire in the Ice.
Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003
I Loved It!
I really loved this novella when I read it with my eyes back in January 2021 but I was a little puzzled as to why the authors decided to release it after Nice Catching You. As I wrote this review though, I came to understand the logic of publishing this book after Nice Catching You. I was very satisfied with how The New Next One ended but a large part of that was probably because I had already read Nice Catching You. So, my recommendation is to read that book before you read this one.
Some purists would say that this book isn’t a romance because it doesn’t have an HEA or HFN. A friend suggested that I should say it’s a love story rather than a romance. Whatever you want to call it, I thought it was a beautiful story. One of the MCs does get an HFN in this book and the other gets his HEA in Nice Catching You.
The New Next One (that unusual title makes sense after you’ve read the book) is a story that didn’t leave me feeling unfulfilled or sad. It’s not a tragic love story. It’s a story about all the passion and emotion of first love and I loved it.
I almost forgot to say that Nick J. Russo did another fine job with his performance of this book. He’s done a great job will all of the books in this series.
Story: ♥♥♥♥♥
Narration: ♥♥♥♥♥
O Factor: Spicy
Available to borrow with Kindle Unlimited.
“I’ve got an idea,” I said. “It’s way below freezing outside, so let’s make snow.” Tyler looked like he wanted to kiss me, and Kev gave a big Labrador grin. Really, his tongue stuck out over his lower lip.
“I’ve got an electric kettle,” Ty said. “Let’s go up to my room.”
Upstairs, Kevin spent a moment gawking at the old movie posters on Tyler’s wall and checking out his signed hockey card collection. Ty put on water to boil, and one liter at a time, we carried hot water to the window and threw it out into the polar air.
Being stuck in the woods in Minnesota, making snow was a favorite winter pastime for St. Mark’s students. As we’d learned in physics class, cold air doesn’t hold as much water vapor as warm air, so the water condenses in the cold. When you throw boiling water into frigid air, the droplets freeze instantaneously, forming crystals that look like snow.
“Woo!” Ty shouted as his latest toss turned into snowflakes and fell to the ground three stories below. “More snow. Just what Minnesota needs.”
THE NEW NEXT ONE. Copyright © 2021 Ryan Taylor & Joshua Harwood. All rights reserved.
Ryan Taylor and Joshua Harwood met in law school and were married in 2017. They live in a suburb of Washington, DC and share their home with a big, cuddly German shepherd. Ryan and Josh enjoy travel, friends, and advocating for causes dear to their hearts. Ryan also loves to swim, and Josh likes to putter in the garden whenever he can. The romance they were so lucky to find with each other inspires their stories about love between out and proud men. You can contact them through their website at https://www.ryanandjoshth.com/.
Joshua-Amazon | Ryan-Bookbub | Joshua-Bookbub | Contact | Facebook Author Page | Facebook Group Page | Ryan-Goodreads | Joshua-Goodreads | Instagram | Newsletter | QueeRomance Ink | TikTok | Twitter | Website
Nick J. Russo
Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Audible
Promotional materials and review copy provided by the authors.
Previous:
Audiobook Tour and Review: Breaking Cover by Kaje Harper, Performed by JF Harding
Next:
Release Blitz: Level Up by Kindle Alexander
You may also like
-
5.0
06 DecReview: The Farther He Runs by Lynda Aicher
GLBTQ RomanceHe set his bag down and caught Finn in a hug a second later. Fuck. He closed his eyes, absorbed the contact and connection he’d schooled himself to forget while deployed. He had dozens of military brothers, men he still worked with. But this bond was deeper, longer, and more solid than any other he’d forged before or after.
-
4.0
21 OctRelease Blitz, Review Tour and Giveaway: Hard Chrome by Vanessa North
GiveawayHe’s tough. But she’s tougher.
-
5.0
15 AprBlog Tour / Review / Giveaway: Knit Tight by Annabeth Albert
Author SpotlightsIt’s no secret that Portland, Oregon, has some of best restaurants, shops, and cafés in the country. But it’s the hard-working men who serve it all up that keep us coming back for more...
-
4.0
28 AprReview Tour, Excerpt & Giveaway: A Love to Remember by Sarah Hadley Brook
GiveawayGraham’s guarded his heart for so long, but his resolve is crumbling. Will he be able to conquer his fear to give himself a chance at love? Can he trust Sam to stick around for better or worse?
