Iced Out by C.E. Ricci

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To the ones who broke the mold and wrote their own stories: Continue chasing your most authentic self.

C.E. Ricci

★ – 5/5

🌶️- 3.5/5

Not suitable for anyone under 18 years of age

Blurb

All’s fair in hate and hockey.

My path to success never included an enemy as a teammate, especially one as infuriating as Quinton de Haas.

Clawing under my skin is his favorite pastime, only feeding the animosity between us as the years pass.

We’re as completely opposite as two people can be; the golden boy and the black sheep.

Constantly at odds or at each other’s throats.

The only thing we can agree on is hockey is our true love, and we’ll do whatever it takes to come out on top.

I never imagined that drive would lead me to do the unthinkable: falling into bed with my not-so-straight rival.

But athletes are a superstitious bunch, and when our hook-ups lead to victories, we tell ourselves we can’t stop.

Besides, it’s all for the sake of the team, right?

Tropes

❥ Dual POV

❥ Hate-love Relationship

❥ Enemies to Lovers

❥ Hockey Teammates

❥ Enemies with Benefits

Review

This is the second MM romance book I’ve read by C.E. Ricci, and I have to admit, she might become one of my favorite authors in this genre. I loved Head Above Water, and I really loved this one as well.

This is a college hockey romance with enemies to lovers and loads of spice. Oakley and Quinton have hated each other since high school where they played against each other, and unfortunately they end up at the same college, playing for the same college hockey team. They’ve spent 3 years hating each other with lots of bickering and bantering. They’re constantly at each others throats and always competing against each other, which causes them to end up together in a bathroom at a frat party.

I chuckle, because really? That’s how far he wants to take this? Saying he—a straight guy—could suck dick better than someone like me, who’s been doing it for years?

Oakley

Oh yea, Quinton is supposedly straight, but if you’ve read MM romance before, you’ll know how that goes.

This little challenge, which ends up in Quinton proving that he does indeed give some good head, happens right before a game. They’ve been on a losing streak, but after that night, they win. Quinton is convinced that it’s because of what he and Oakley did the night before.

“So that automatically means we just keep doing it? Fucking around? Sucking each other off in semi-public places until the season is over?”

Oakley

At this point Quinton has worked out his confusion about being not so straight, and he is all in. Oakley, not so much. They’re enemies after all.

Now, I’m not experienced with a bisexual realization, so I don’t know if it’s something you can get sorted in your head over just one night, but it seemed fast to me. But on the other hand, I hope some do experience it like this. Like having a moment where they’re not straight, go home and think “am I bi?” and then just embrace it. That’s what Quinton did, and he doesn’t look back after embracing it.

He actually became my favorite character, even though I didn’t like him at first, but I think that’s what the author intended. His character really develops during the book, and I really like what I saw and what he became. I don’t feel Oakley had the same kind of growth, but he was adorable nonetheless. I loved them together ♥

But obviously, things never stay simple. A few things happened during the book, where I was guessing if that could be the thing that would happen in the end and make it all blow up before the HEA. And blow up it did, and it really tugged on my heartstrings.

“Hit me. Hurt me. Get your payback. Your revenge. I don’t care what you do or how you do it, but please, do something. Fucking anything is better than this.” My throat feels raw and shredded from shards of glass as I repeat the words he said the day he flipped my world on axis. “Fight me, baby. There’s nothing I want more.”

Oakley

And this quote “Fight me, baby. There’s nothing I want more.”.. urgh ♥

Because that’s how it all began in the bathroom.

I’m trapped, completely at his mercy.

And he knows it.

“Fight me, baby. There’s nothing I want more.”

Oakley’s POV but said by Quinton

All in all, this book is pretty damn great. Quinton and Oakley are both going through things to become the person they want to be. Quinton with his parents who have some big expectations for him, and it’s not hockey. Oakley with his legacy from having a famous dad and uncle in NHL, and he wants to be more than his legacy. Oakley and Quinton start out as enemies, but as they let each other in, in their lives, the lines start to blur. They’re both not who the other expected them to be.

God, those fucking dimples. They do something stupid to my brain. Short circuit it or something.

Oakley