A brand new MM standalone from Kate Meader!
It was supposed to be a random hookup.
At a crossroads, my life a hot mess, I swiped right on the guy with the washboard abs and the tree-trunk thighs. His handle was Holt (yeah, really) but as soon as he opened the door, I recognized him: Hudson Grey, the hottest prospect in pro-hockey and apparently, secretly playing for my team. Not mind-blowing enough? He needed someone to punch his V-card and I was only too happy to volunteer as tribute . . .
Then he ghosted me when it got to be too much.
A year later, my life is back on track and I’m a candidate firefighter at legendary Engine 6. While I might be new to the Chicago Fire Department, I’m a veteran in the game of steamy hookups. My No. 1 rule? No newbies. Except now Hudson has been traded to my hometown team, the Chicago Rebels, and he’s out, proud, and ready to date. And he wants my help introducing him to the local gay scene.
My messy past means I’m the worst guy to be mentoring the shy, sexy jock. But neither can I stand by and watch while others touch the man who already feels like mine.
I might have been his first, but I’m about to learn that the new guy has even more to teach me about hunger, hope, and falling hard . . .
Includes: First times, hot firefighters, sexy hockey players, meddling friends, and fighting like hell for the love of a lifetime.
Review:
I thought the ending of the prequel novella ( White-Hot Hookup *) was going to kill me, but of course Kate Meader made it worth the wait!
A year has passed since we last saw Hudson and Jude, and their lives have moved on past their white-hot hookup…though of course, neither of them has forgotten a minute of it. Jude’s finally a firefighter candidate, and Hudson’s come out, been traded to the Chicago Rebels, and is on his way to possibly becoming the “poster boy gay athlete” for the NHL. But though their lives look awesome from the outside, their old issues still lurk just below the surface…
Jude, even as he’s considering mentoring LGBTQIA+ youth, is somehow convinced that despite the fact that he’s turned his life around and made amends to the people in his past that he hurt the most, he’ll still never be good enough for someone like Hudson. And Hudson, though he’s finally out and finding himself a home on the “gayest team in the league” is still struggling with fairly serious social anxiety and crippling anxiety attacks. Even as they’re falling in love (OMG so cute! And OMG SO HOT) they–especially Jude, but honestly both of them at times–tend to be their own worst enemies.
I was so fun watching the two of them fall in love here–not to mention nearly equal parts laugh out loud funny and fan yourself hot, too–but with all of their baggage, you just knew that their black moment was probably going to be blacker-than-black indeed.
And ugh, it so was.
But can you even have a thoroughly satisfying HEA without a desolate-as-heck black moment first? JK, kinda–I mean, maybe you can, but isn’t all the more sweet–and sexy–when you know the MCs have gone through their own personal hells and back first and really earned that HEA? Plus, Ms Meader does such a good job of throwing us all into a totally horrible but all too realistic Pit of Despair only to bring us through to the HEA on other side in a wonderfully glorious and oh-so-satisfying way. She’s full of evil magic like that 😉
Down in Flames is the second book in her Hot in Chicago Rookies series, with a crossover to her Rookie Rebels books, with special guest appearances from the Hot in Chicago and Chicago Rebels books as well. Even with all of that, it *could* be read as a standalone (except for White-Hot Hookup. You gotta read WHH first!) but I’m not exaggerating when I say you won’t be able to read just one. Do yourself a favor and at least start one of these series (Hot in Chicago Rookies, if time is a factor right now, since there’s only 1 other book) from the beginning first. #yourewelcome
*White-Hot Hookup was included in my copy, if you missed it–though if your copy doesn’t have it for some reason, it should still be available for free on major platforms
Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.