Mirrigold: Mutterings & Musings

Shameless Puckboy by Eden Finley & Saxon James

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Needs and wants. Wants and needs.

That sums up what is hands down my favourite entry so far in the Puckboys series from Eden and Saxon.

While I’ve thoroughly enjoyed both the enemies to lovers vibe of Egotistical Puckboy, and the “fake marriage with a twist” trope of Irresponsible Puckboy, I have to say that Oskar and Lane’s romance just grabbed me from the off.

It opens with Oskar in deep trouble with his team management after CCTV footage of him having a very public threesome in a back alley gets splashed all over the news.

From that moment on, the narrative swaps between high octane confrontations between the Team’s PR Boss, who takes it on himself to bring Oskar under control, and some of the sweetest, most gentle explorations, as the guy who’s been judged on his outside appearance throughout his disruptive life as a military brat learns that he doesn’t have to publicly act out to get Lane’s attention.

And oooooh boy, when Lane’s attention is focused on Oskar it doesn’t half raise the temperature to off the charts volcanic levels.

Oskar, on the face of it, has a public sex exhibitionist kink which is what’s got him into trouble so many times.

But as Lane digs deep, he realises that isn’t really the case. Yes Oskar loves the thrill from the potential of being caught out, but the negative fallout of his behaviour is the unneeded side effect of him being desperate to get some kind of affection that puts him first.

And Lane’s all about that. While it never hits full on Daddy/brat levels, it skirts them cleverly with Oskar realising that when he has all of Lane’s gaze on him, nothing else matters and Lane loves that Oskar needs him.

When the crisis moment hits, it’s not relationship related, which I very much appreciated, but something that has a potential long term effect on Oskar’s career and the the way it’s dealt with felt completely grounded in their personalities and the way their relationship had developed.

There’s cameos and Easter Egg appearances galore in this one, it’s definitely the biggest crossover from Eden’s Fake Boyfriends and their joint CU Hockey series’ but I don’t think anyone would be lost if they haven’t read those books.

We also get hints of a possible fourth book with Aleks, who joins two other queer players in Ezra’s Queer Collective friendship group, and I’m definitely intrigued about him.

This book was exactly what I wanted, and exactly what it promised to be – a sports romance with heat and heart.

#ARC kindly received from the authors via Foreward PR. I am voluntarily leaving a review.

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