Avon Gale & Piper Vaughn - Trade Deadline

Daniel “Bellzie” Bellamy should be on top of the world—a Stanley Cup is the perfect topper to his fourteen-year NHL career. But despite the post-win high, something’s missing. When the chance to play for his hometown team, the Miami Thunder, comes along, he’s open to it. And when he runs into an old friend from his past soon after he makes the move, he wonders if it might be kismet.
Micah Kelly never thought he’d see his childhood crush—and first kiss—again. Danny Bellamy moved on to bigger and better things when they were teenagers, and the idea that Micah’s relationship with the professional hockey player could be anything more than one-sided Instagram thirst seems too good to be true.
Maybe too good to be true is the new reality, though. As the season goes on, Micah teaches Daniel to surf, and Daniel introduces Micah to his lovable pack of rescue dogs and the world of being a hockey boyfriend. Life is good. But when things on the ice don’t go as planned, they’ll have to decide if their rediscovered romance is built to last.

Comment: This is the last installment in the Hat Trick trilogy by Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn, which I've been reading for the past months.

In this story we finish the trilogy with the focus on Daniel Bellamy. Daniel was the captain of the Atlanta Venom when the first book begun, but now Daniel no longer has the numbers he used to and he has just won the Stanley Cup with his beloved team, which means he feels restless for something else. He decides the offer by the Thunder, a team based in his home state in Florida, is the chance he needed to go back to a place he has fond memories of and where his retired parents live as well. His ex and his children relocate too, which makes him very happy and reconnects with childhood friend and neighbor Micah, who is now a marine biologist at the Miami aquarium. As his feelings for Micah grow and as his life becomes steadier, the only issue is that the Thunder isn't such a cohesive team as Daniel believed he could help them be and he feels at odds.... is there a happy future for him?

In general, I liked this book and I liked how consistent the trilogy is, not only in terms of writing but in tone and details. Clearly the authors like and understand hockey, and that shows ,without it being too much for a reader who might not be familiar with the game.

Still, I was a little surprised by how this final book felt more serious, not only because it involved a couple who was more aware of their age - but they aren't old - , but mainly because the tone of the story was one with a bit more angst and clearly more somber than the others had been for me. I did like how the previous books, and now this one, weren't only about a cute romance, the authors did touch several elements which make the stories more realistic, but there's quite a thin line between this vibe and melancholy, which sometimes was a bit too much for what i thought this would be about.

Daniel is a captivating character and I was rooting for him to succeed in his new team. I think this change of teams is a subject that authors don't use as much the way these two have done here because Daniel goes into a team where things don't immediately go well, and not just because of Daniel's performance; regarding that, we don't have many scenes about actual hockey practices. However, the authors did touch an interesting and less pleasant side of sports, which is the fact things don't always go well, no matter the talent the athletes may have. I just think that the use of this subject along with secondary elements made this story a bit too angsty and I was anxious about what might come next.

In terms of personality, Daniel is a likable man, he does seem to be a great person and when the story was over, i was simply glad I had seen him being developed. He also has this dreamlike situation in which he is friends with his ex, he has managed to be seen as reliable and friendly and of course this makes us want him to be happy even more. I also liked his decision at the end of the book, it made all sense if we think about his path in sports.

Micah is also likable. He wasn't as developed, as Daniel, I think, but perhaps I had that feeling because we did follow Daniel, even if only at a distance, in the other two books. Micah is resourceful,  competent, I liked him and his passion for his job and the dolphins in particular. He was rejected by his family when he came out and this is clearly an issue but it wasn't developed as much as I think it should, if only, again, to add more layers to him ... it gets to a point his role is almost reduced to one POV and I think more background or interactions with people from his past might have helped.

The romance, I'm sad to say, was my least favorite part. I don't seek friends to lovers that much in romance because the thrill of getting to know this new person seems more exciting and here, them being friends as kids, and now reconnecting as friends first, made the romance feel forced. Well, to me it was, and although I liked that they could find each other as romantic partners, this part of their story didn't feel organic, as if it was meant to be or something. Or, perhaps, they were both focused on other things and the romance simply felt as if it was a weaker element.

I still consider this to be a good trilogy and, overall, I had a good time reading all the books. the writing is fluid and easy and the dual POV helped to connect with each protagonist, in all books. As always, some things work out perfectly for some readers or not as much for others and not at all for someone else. I liked I read this trilogy but I'll be honest and say this is probably not the one I'd re-read (if I had time to do re-reads).

Grade: 7/10