Cross Checking (Blue Line Hockey #9) by Stephani Hecht

Minor hockey league Goalie, Leo and Forward, Dern Zimmerman were sworn enemies on and off the ice. That is until one night when they ran into each other while out at a club.

Stephani Hecht did a get job developing the characters in this short story. The characters went through the metamorphosis from being enemies, to lovers. They had to deal with prejudices. Openly homosexual, Leo feared for Dern who was in the closet and how he would be accepted by everyone if he admitted he was gay. Dern never wanted to come out until he started having feeling for Leo and began tiring of not being himself.

I enjoyed this book and the characters. I felt sympathy for the challenges they had to face as well as joy that they found each other. This is a powerful story that conveys a lot of emotions.

I like that previous Blue Line Hockey Series characters make an appearance in this book, especially Trey since he is probably my favorite character in the series.

The hockey scenes are written well. It is easy to visualize what is happening on the ice.

ARC provided publisher via manicreaders.com in exchange for an honest review. ( )