#taylor fitzpatrick

Oooh, okay, great question, might be biased by recency/current mood but just to start with the big major series.

1. Robbie/Georgie (holy shit, just an insane concept. The way every sweet college moment just feels filled with dread as you go on and know what’s coming. The toxicity of the time in Washington vs the more settled maturity of their 30s. I love a story that goes “what if you were the loves of each other’s lives and still hurt each other horribly?” So excited for the resolution.)

2. Mike/Liam (This was the first one I read and it hurt me so badly. I think the movement between fun and sexy vs deeply tragic was just incredibly well done. I was sobbing so hard at the end of it but I love a story about hockey that truly reckons with the implications of a game that permanently damages players’ brains. I think Mike’s contained pov is so effective and the love he and Liam have for each other is just so well written.)

3. David/Jake (I feel like the concept of this one is just so classic and feels the closest to hockey rpf in its premise but is very very skillfully executed. I love David’s pov and how specific it is and the character growth he experiences is just so wonderful. Also, Jake just being so deeply loving just hits the spot. I feel weird ranking them 3rd because they were so beloved but I think the other two just felt more unique to me!)

4. Holden/James (Obviously ongoing so could go lower or higher (maybe higher)but I already love their dynamic. Just, the characterization of each already feels so strong and I particularly love the idea of the guy who really doesn’t want “the guy everyone hates when they play but wants on their team” on his team and wants him to cut the shit out. Holden being just so full of energy and humor and all of these things and being “too much” is very very important to me. Also, love the secondary characters!)

5. Money/Scratch (Felt like a romcom in the best way, so obsessed with friends to lovers done well. The humor was great in this one but I think it’s a little lower because of the lack of realism. I think an all time fav moment of the whole ycmal universe for me though was Joey finding out that his nickname is Money because he’s “money in the bank” not just cause his last name’s Munroe.)

6. Gabe/Stephen (This one to me just feels like the reason hockey romance uses hockey as a setting. It’s obviously much shorter than the others and I’m excited to see it in its expanded form. But I love the exploration of two friends who grow up so intertwined and one having this career ending injury and how they deal. Friends to lovers in a much more contained serious setting.)

7. Vinny/Anton (sweet romcom in a lovely way, also did cry when Anton called Vinny needy. I love Vinny as a character and the specific development of his relationship with his sexuality and with others!)

8. Andy/Derek (I feel like the major friends to lovers are all in the same area but I was very very charmed by Andy’s pov and found their romance very sweet.)

9. Jared/Bryce (I liked them and thought they were fun but it was at times slightly too saccharine for me. I could really tell they were an authorial favorite and I think them ranking this low makes it seem like I hated them and I didn’t. I just found other dynamics more compelling! I do love the use of no trade clauses and team rivalry in the narrative. Really shows how well Fitzpatrick knows puck.)

10. Dan/Marc (obviously the beginning of the whole universe and I love the bottom 6 guy/star player dynamic but I just think it suffers by comparison to her later works in writing quality. She improves so much that this one feels less exceptional in comparison.)

11. Harry/Evan/Roman (I liked them a ton in theory and thought they were still great but the transition into throupledom was just a little heavy handed for me. I also wish Evan got the chance to be a little more flawed. More Harry/Roman scenes I think would have helped. Still a very fun trio though.)

And then among the smaller stories, I genuinely love Luke so much and found his arc with Nikita so heartbreaking. I’m so glad he didn’t say yes to Nikita and he respected himself enough not to. I also love what I’ve seen of him and Andreas so far! Seb and Si are genuinely romcom excellence and I’m obsessed with everything I’ve seen!! Sven, Yvette, and Gerard are so comfortable together in a way I love!

I know this author is present on tumblr (less so now than maybe in the past) and has an avid following on ao3 as well as being commercially self-published, but I wanted to recommend this series from my POV as someone brand new to the hockey romance genre since Heated Rivalry took off. I really enjoyed this 3-book series, it definitely offers something different while being grounded in the genre. I like romances that follow a single POV, I think it focuses the narrative. This series follows David Chapman, number 2 draft pick, who starts up a fling/romance with his rival, number 1 draft pick Jake Lourdes (that's about where the similarities to HR end for me, this is a very different story in tone and style). I really enjoyed how character focused this book was, and it felt more like a coming of age tale or life story than a traditional romance. I like when people play with the romance genre or blend it with other conventions.

The relationship between David and Jake, while complex, is very sweet. This doesn't mean that everyone always ACTS sweetly though. There's a really rough moment in the first book that I won't spoil, and it haunts me. In a good way! David as a character is sometimes very single-minded, goal oriented, and lashes out with some very brutal honesty in this situation where he is navigating being a closeted player, but through Jake coming in and out of his life we see that there is a different side to him. One that wants love and companionship, despite his "I need no one" attitude.

But even more than the romance I REALLY enjoyed the side characters in this series and what they added to the narrative. David's parents, both ambitious career people, divorced, who can barely be bothered with their only son even as he rockets to the top of the NHL and gets multiple awards. This is such an interesting contrast to most stories about athletes/child stars who have over-involved parents or sports-obsessed parents. The lack of love and affection paid to him by his parents leads to one of my favorite moments, where David must witness the warmth and familial bond between Jake and his family, which makes him uncomfortable.

This series is also about friendship as much as it is a romance. David bonds with his captain, Oleg Kurzamov, and another player he trains with in the summers, Kiro Volkov. Both of these relationships show the life-changing power that a quiet encouraging presence (Kurzamov) and an extroverted fun-loving golden retriever friend (Volkov) can have on a reserved main character who struggles to connect on his own. Both of these characters add to David's journey of self-acceptance of his queerness, and just his overall development as a person who can be a person in love and be comfortable with it. I love both of these characters so much!

I'm not an authority on hockey at all, but if you are looking for a hockey romance that slows down and takes its time with the hockey itself, and the life of an NHL player, this is definitely a series to check out. It's very specific and hones in on a lot of details, but it never felt forced. It just felt like you were in David's mind.

"A date," David repeats slowly. "Yeah," Jake says. "A date. You know what those are, right?"

Book Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Length: 170 pages (short)

POV: Third Person (David)

First Published: April 16th, 2020

Author: Taylor Fitzpatrick | AO3 | goodreads | tumblr | patreon |

Part of a Series?: Yes | Book 1 of 3 in 'Between The Teeth' series

Part of a Universe?: Yes | Part of the 'You Could Make A Life' universe.

Tropes

Sports Romance, Hockey Romance

Enemies/Rivals to Lovers, Enemies/Rivals-With-Benefits

Grumpy/Sunshine, Golden Retriever/Black Cat

Opposites Attract

Forbidden Romance/Secret Romance

Oblivious To Love

Summary

This is the first part of David Chapman's story in which he finds himself constantly coming in second place to his rival, Jake Lourdes. Jake is everything that David is not, and David hates him for it. He thinks that Jake has it easy, and that everyone is blind to all of Jake's many, many faults.

So what's a guy to do except want to kiss his stupid face off?

** (Protagonist Spotlight, Review/Thoughts, Content Warnings, HEA Status, Spoiler Tags under the cut for spoilers)

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Because to me, it just makes sense that the character everyone jokes is a ladykiller and has that more larger-than-life personality would come out. And yes sure there could be the argument about the lack of safety of it with him being Russian, but I feel like 1) at the point it would happen Ilya has already made the decision he’s not going back to Russia and 2) people would understand his need for some discretion knowing it’s a risk for him. Also, this man openly goes to gay clubs!

I think Reid did Shane a disservice not including the coming out scene in the book, because I wish we could be in his head when he made that decision as someone who is so terrified of losing control and losing hockey. How the hell was he convinced it was safe to come out to his team and that he wouldn’t lose the room? Plus she could have SO easily set up that they accept him to his face and in abstract but seeing him with a man turns their stomach.

Comparing these couples, I actually feel like Rachel Reid would really dislike how Jake and David’s story ends because - spoilers under the cut -