The Book Boyfriend Addict

“Like I said. Jocks aren’t my type.”

“What about emotionally unavailable guys who treat people like shit? Because I’m that too. Don’t pigeonhole me, dude.”

After his parents’ unexpected death, Asher Dalton’s life took a dramatic turn when instead of heading to the NHL he’s stuck going back to college and helping his older brother raise their five younger siblings. Between trying to keep his head above water in his classes, keeping his spot on the school’s hockey team, and trying to control the chaos at home it leaves very little time to deal with how he feels about his life blowing up like it did. Instead, he acts out and acts like a jerk to keep people away.

Kole Hogan, the coach’s son, and this season’s equipment manager, is tasked with keeping an eye on Asher and ends up offering to tutor him. He is also the first person to see through Asher’s facade and the more he gets to see behind that wall, the more impossible he finds it to stay away from him.

“What was it you called me? An emotionless trash can?”

“Close enough.”

“Well, we can’t all have sunshine radiating out of our asses.”

“So that’s why you’re obsessed with my ass?”

Every time I’ve seen Asher pop up, either in this series or in Puckboys, he’s always been very prickly and antagonistic. Knowing what happened to his parents, it was clear that his behavior was a defense mechanism to help him cope but until reading this book I had no idea just what lay beneath all that bluster. I really enjoyed discovering his softer side. I was actually surprised by how quickly he let Kole start to see it. Kole was very perceptive from the start and Asher did try to keep up the ruse a bit but I got the sense that he was just tired of fighting it and welcomed finally having someone willing to take the time to see through it all. They were both attracted to one another, which was an added bonus. I loved their studying reward system. One of their early sessions was particularly hot, who knew the digestive tract could be so sexy?

Is a heart-on a thing?

I’m making it a thing.

I also enjoyed seeing Asher repair his relationship with his older brother, West, and as overwhelming as it was for him, he was really great with his younger siblings. The scenes at Asher’s house were some of my favorites, especially when Kole was there to support him. This book was a lot sweeter than I was expecting, it turns out Asher had a big ole heart underneath that prickly exterior and I really enjoyed it!

I punch him in the arm. “You’re an idiot.”

“Well, you bring out the best in me.”

I really hope that’s true.