Release Blitz ~ Rivals by RJ Scott & VL Locey (Review + Excerpt)

Posted on by dusty273

Rivals (Harrisburg Railers 11)

GLBTQ, MM, Hockey Romance
Genre: Hockey Romance
Trope: Hockey, GLBTQ, family, Olympics, Medals, Past catching up with you, HEA
Released: 28 January 2022
Publisher: Love Lane Books
Series: Harrisburg Railers
Length: 35,000 words Novella
Cover Design: Meredith Russell

 

Buy it Here

http://www.rjscott.co.uk/read-rivals*
Available – Wide Release with no pre-order

Moving to KU 4 February

RIVALS

Authors: RJ Scott, V.L. Locey
Series: RAILERS HOCKEY, Book 11
Genres: Hockey, Romance

Playing for their country in the Winter Olympics is the highest of all honors, but when family members are pitted as rivals and a dark specter from the past turns up in Beijing, tensions run high, and abruptly, it’s not all about the hockey. 

Jared is torn—assistant coach for Team Canada, with Ryker on the team; he bleeds red and white and wears the maple leaf with pride. Only Ten is now a rival, and not only that, but the country they’re all playing in frowns on his marriage and keeps him and Ten apart. Jared wants to win gold for his country and his son, but he’d be so proud if Ten were to win. He’s confused and concerned, but when a face from their past turns up to play, he’s furious.

Being picked for Team USA is one of the things Tennant dreamed of when he was a little boy. All of his other aspirations have come true through hard work, determination, and pure talent. Now he’s about to represent his country in front of the world, and the pressure is starting to build. He’s also just come face-to-face with a hated rival from a dark period in his past. Add in the burden of squaring off against his husband and stepson, and Ten is feeling the pressure to be perfect.

Family becomes rivals—but love always wins.

Excerpt

I woke the following morning feeling as I’d been dragged through a sewer by my feet, face down in the muck, forehead bouncing off the slimy troughs filled with sludge.

Which was a typical morning after a massive headache. Add in jet lag and yeah, I was shit-faced and not in that fun been-partying-all-night-with-my-bros kind of way.

The room was dark, thank all the gods. The only sound was of someone nearby humming and strumming on an acoustic guitar. Sitting up was done in increments. There was a slight wave of nausea and a little dizziness, also typical of a postdrome. The plucking and soft singing stopped at my groan. Inhaling deeply to counter the stomach lurch, I breathed in lavender. It was… nice.

“Morning,” Colorado whispered from a vague point by the windows. In the corner. Maybe on the floor? Fuck. This was so not what I needed today. The aftereffects of a crashing headache usually lingered for a full day after the migraine itself, and left me feeling exhausted and mentally fogged. Just the place I wanted my head to be on the day of my arrival. Go me. Ugh. “I had some ginger tea sent up. My grandmother swears by it for any kind of headaches. Also, she said to rub some lavender into your pulse points so I kind of did that when you were sleeping. Nothing beyond your wrists though, my dude.”

“Oh, uhm…” I lifted my left wrist to my nose. Yep, the smell of lavender wafted from my skin. “Thanks.”

“Totally my pleasure.”

Moving like a geriatric patient, I eased my bare feet to the floor. Had I undressed before crawling under the covers yesterday?

“In case you’re wondering, I took off your shoes and socks, great sneakers by the way, and tucked you in.”

I blinked into the darkness, the memories of yesterday slowing arriving. “I threw up on you. Oh shit, Colorado, I am so sorry.”

~ * ~ Jo‘s Review ~ * ~

5 Stars

This is a novella in the Harrisburg Railers series and it isn’t possible to really enjoy this without having read the series (and some of the associated ones) as the characters have all appeared and had their HEA already. Here we have Tennant and Jared, husbands but on opposite sides at the Winter Olympics. Tennant is playing for team USA and Jared coaching team Canada with his son Ryker playing. This is fictional as the NHL aren’t sending players because of Covid but what do we care. We want to see our boys out there, flying the LGBTQ+ flag. The characters face the same prejudice they would do in the real world in China. They must also face a ghost from Tennant’s past, too.
Seeing these two again is just wonderful; the authors do such a great job of keeping them true to the original books. I loved Ten’s temper tantrum at the start because they have not hyphenated his name on his kit; it was so Ten. We see the highs, the lows as they struggle with being apart from each other and even further away from their child. A sweet, fun story showing us a little peek into our favourite boys’ life.
Just lovely.
A must-read for all Railers fans.
And if you haven’t read the series; go read—you’ve missed out on one of the best ever Hockey series out there.
***Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure. A review wasn’t a requirement.***

SERIES OVERVIEW

  1. Changing Lines (Railers 1) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-ChangingLines 
  2. First Season (Railers 2) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-FirstSeason 
  3. Deep Edge (Railers 3) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-DeepEdge 
  4. Poke Check (Railers 4) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-PokeCheck 
  5. Last Defense (Railers 5) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-LastDefense 
  6. Goal Line (Railers 6) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-GoalLine 
  7. Neutral Zone (Railers 7) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-NeutralZone 
  8. Hat Trick (Railers 8) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-HatTrick 
  9. Save the Date (Railers 9) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-SaveDate 
  10. Baby Makes Three (Railers 10) – https://rjscott.co.uk/Read-BabyMakesThree 
  11. Rivals (Railers 11) – http://www.rjscott.co.uk/read-rivals 

READING ORDER

Harrisburg Railers – RJ Scott & V.L. Locey in the reading order of all the hockey romance books;

  1. Changing Lines (Railers 1) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-ChangingLines 
  2. First Season (Railers 2) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-FirstSeason 
  3. Deep Edge (Railers 3) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-DeepEdge 
  4. Poke Check (Railers 4) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-PokeCheck 
  5. Last Defense (Railers 5) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-LastDefense 
  6. Goal Line (Railers 6) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-GoalLine 
  7. Ryker (Owatonna 1) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-Ryker 
  8. Neutral Zone (Railers 7) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-NeutralZone 
  9. Hat Trick (Railers 8) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-HatTrick 
  10. Scott (Owatonna 2) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-Scott 
  11. Save the Date (Railers 9) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-SaveDate 
  12. Benoit (Owatonna 3) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-Benoit 
  13. Coast to Coast (Raptors 1) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-Coast2Coast 
  14. Across the Pond (Raptors 2) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-AcrossThePond 
  15. Christmas Lights (Owatonna 4) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-ChristmasLights 
  16. Shadow and Light (Raptors 3) – http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-ShadowLight 
  17. Sugar and Ice  (Raptors 4) – https://rjscott.co.uk/Read-SugarIce 
  18. School and Rock (Raptors 5) – https://rjscott.co.uk/Read-SchoolRock 
  19. Baby Makes Three (Railers 10) – https://rjscott.co.uk/Read-BabyMakesThree 
  20. Valentine’s Hearts (Owatonna 5) – rjscott.co.uk/read-valentine 
  21. Lost in Boston (Free prequel novella) (Boston Rebels 0) – https://rjscott.co.uk/LIB_Master 
  22. Top Shelf (Boston Rebels 1) – https://rjscott.co.uk/read-topshelf 
  23. Back Check (Boston Rebels 2) – https://rjscott.co.uk/read-backcheck 
  24. Desert Dreams (Owatonna 6) – https://rjscott.co.uk/read-desertdreams 
  25. Snowed (Boston Rebels 3) – https://rjscott.co.uk/read-snowed 
  26. Rivals (Railers 11) – http://www.rjscott.co.uk/read-rivals 
  27. Royal Lines (Boston Rebels 4) – Coming May 2022

The Authors

RJ SCOTT

RJ Scott, author of M/M romance.
Writing love stories with a happy ever after – cowboys, heroes, family, hockey, single dads, bodyguards
USA Today bestselling author RJ Scott has written over one hundred romance books. Emotional stories of complicated characters, cowboys, single dads, hockey players, millionaires, princes, bodyguards, Navy SEALs, soldiers, doctors, paramedics, firefighters, cops, and the men who get mixed up in their lives, always with a happy ever after.
She lives just outside London and spends every waking minute she isn’t with family either reading or writing. The last time she had a week’s break from writing, she didn’t like it one little bit, and she has yet to meet a box of chocolates she couldn’t defeat.

RJ’s Social Media

VL LOCEY

V.L. Locey loves worn jeans, yoga, belly laughs, walking, reading and writing lusty tales, Greek mythology, the New York Rangers, comic books, and coffee.
(Not necessarily in that order.)
She shares her life with her husband, her daughter, one dog, two cats, a flock of assorted domestic fowl, and two Jersey steers.
When not writing spicy romances, she enjoys spending her day with her menagerie in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania with a cup of fresh java in hand.

VL’s Social Media