A forty-something single dad, a twenty-something hockey star, and a whole lot of baggage. No, this couldn’t possibly blow up in their faces.Officer Geoff Logan has his plate full. His cop’s salary and Marine retirement aren’t enough to make ends meet. He’s got war wounds and demons that are in it for the long haul. His teenagers are, well, teenagers, plus they’re pissed that he left the boyfriend … left the boyfriend they loved. Can’t a guy catch a break?
Seattle Steelheads center Asher Crowe has it all. A seven figure salary. A literal house on a hill. A stable, loving relationship with an amazing boyfriend. At least, that’s what the world sees. Behind closed doors, he’s been living in a private hell, and when he finally works up the courage to end things, his boyfriend refuses to go quietly.
One call to the cops, and suddenly Geoff and Asher’s paths cross. But is the connection between them simple chemistry? Kindred spirits? Or just a pair of lonely hearts looking for a hot distraction?
And even if it’s more than physical, is there really a future for two men from such vastly different worlds? Especially when the past comes knocking?
This novel is approximately 89,000 words long.
TW: abuse, combat PTSD
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A sucker for hockey romances, I’m happy to report that Rebound hit the entertainment mark beautifully. With great chemistry between Asher and Geoff, it was a pleasure to journey with them as they navigated through their romance. Sweet, hot, and well-written, Rebound tackles the themes of abuse and trust with sensitivity.
A moving and engaging story by L.A. Witt.
I’ll preface this by writing that I don’t really like hockey (despite being a Canadian… lol).
However this author never disappoints… Geoff & Asher start off a bit rocky, both commiserating with each other about exes that were abusive to different degrees… There are lots of trust issues, but I loved how everything came together. I even loved how Geoff’s daughter was just mentioned as someone who had transitioned & this wasn’t really explored as a topic, just treated like a normal occurrence, just a side note…
<3 their first kiss, their easy conversations, all the characters in Geoff’s life.
I also loved Asher's ex-wife & his partner & how they both had to talk some sense into him. I loved Asher's teammates & their reaction when he finally admitted what had been going on with his ex.
Did I mention I loved this story?
I really enjoyed the first book in this series and can’t wait to read the rest. I liked the writer’s choice of theme and they way she handled them via the storyline. No soapbox but points made loud and clear.
Geoff is a former Marine and current Seattle cop. Asher is a young star hockey player for Seattle’s professional hockey team. When Geoff and his partner are called to the scene of a fight at a restaurant Geoff immediately recognizes the situation for what is is, domestic violence. Geoff takes an interest in making sure Asher is OK as he recognizes the signs of what he’s going through as he himself has just gotten out of an abusive relationship. The author does a great job dealing with the consequences of both physical and emotional abuse and the way abusers manipulate people. She is sensitive in her portrayal of the lasting impacts of those destructive relationships.
The character development is well done as we see the reckoning that both Geoff and Asher have to deal with and how it impacts them and the relationship. I also liked the portrayal of the strong women in Geoff’s life (his ex-wife and his partner on the force.) Additionally, the inclusion of a transitioned teenage child is important in both its presence and its acceptance. The author could have taken the easy way out and made the same story plot lines work if the child had had cancer or some other costly medical issue but chose this way and I appreciated her more for it.
The writing is crisp and clever. There was humor, sorrow, empathy, and points where I really wanted to smack someone. All the bases covered!
The crisis moment is poignant and the ending is sweet and perfect. Strongly recommend.
Audiobook reviews:
I listened to Rebound and Assist, one right after the other so this review covers both books and I’m cross posting it to Rebound/Assist.
Two fantastic stories, each can be read as a standalone.
I am a huge fan of L.A. Witt’s writing and maybe an even bigger fan when her books are narrated by Michael Ferraiuolo or Nick J. Russo. So, I was in heaven when I listened to Rebound and then Assist. Both of these audiobooks are done in dual narration by Michael and Nick. Dual narration means that the voice actors take turns reading each chapter. Assist has three main characters so Nick does two chapters for every one chapter that Michael does.
While the books are part of the Rainbows & Pucks series they easily stand on their own. Characters from book one appear in book two but not in such a way that you will feel lost if you missed reading book one first.
Rebound is an age-gap story but the age difference isn’t beat to death – which I think is a good thing. Geoff Logan, a forty-something, single-dad cop, left his rich ex-boyfriend because he was being manipulated and emotionally abused. Unfortunately, his teenaged son and daughter don’t know everything that was going on and they aren’t happy about the split.
Geoff and his partner are called to the scene of an altercation between star hockey player, Asher Crowe and his ex-boyfriend. Geoff recognizes something in Asher and can tell that his boyfriend has been abusing him. Geoff and Asher end up making a romantic connection but it’s not all smooth sailing.
I loved both of these characters and the voices that both narrators used for the characters were great. I’ve never been disappointed by anything I’ve listened to by either Michael or Nick. The story is pretty emotional in places. It’s hard for Asher to admit that his ex-boyfriend was abusing him. Geoff has to face up to the fact that he needs to tell his kids about how his ex was using his money to control all of them.
I really liked that Geoff had a good relationship with his ex-wife and her new husband and that it continued after he and Asher got together. Rebound is a nice, meaty story and it held my attention, not just because of the fantastic narrators, but the content and writing were great, too.
Assist is a ménage story with a bit of a love triangle in the beginning. Shawn and Justin are teammates and Justin has a thing for Shawn but he hasn’t told him. Shawn is lusting after Justin’s best friend, Keith, a star player on a rival team.
I have to admit that when I first started listening to this book, I was pretty confused. I couldn’t keep the three main characters straight in my head. I think it was because Nick J. Russo was narrating the chapters for both Justin and Shawn, while Michael Ferraiuolo was only doing the ones for Keith. I’d not read the book before listening to the audio so I opened up my digital copy and scanned through it a bit. This helped me understand the three main characters better. After that I was able to go back to the audiobook and enjoy it with no problem.
While I absolutely love both Michael Ferraiuolo and Nick J. Russo, I kind of think I might have liked this audiobook more if there were only one narrator, or maybe three narrators. Both Nick and Michael are excellent at doing different voices but having Nick do two of the characters, and Michael only one, was a bit distracting until I got a few chapters into the book.
As for the story, this book is long and the plot to get Justin, Shawn and Keith to their HEA is filled with many ups and downs but that’s what kept the story interesting. I really felt for Keith. He has a lot to live up to with his father being a hockey legend; he’s also horribly homophobic which is why Keith is so afraid to come out to him.
While I didn’t like Assist quite as much as Rebound, I thought it was still a great story and I’m glad I listened to it.
A copy of the Assist audiobook was provided to me but my review was voluntary and not influenced by the author; Rebound was listened to on Hoopla.
***Reviewed for Xtreme-Delusions dot com***
There are a lot of ways a relationship can be based in abuse. Officer Geoff Logan has seen many of them on the job with the Seattle police department. On this particular night, he and his partner are called to a violent argument between two men that turns out to be an abused man trying for a safe public break-up from his physically abusive boyfriend.
Geoff’s sympathy is engaged, and not just because the survivor is Asher Crowe, the hottest local hockey player and only out gay player in the league. Geoff also knows where Asher is coming from, from the inside, after finally dumping his emotionally-manipulative boyfriend of six years. Geoff’s instinct is to make sure Asher is safe, and stays that way. It wrings his heart to see a big, strong man jumping at the thought of being trapped again, and the heat that sizzles between them is partly relief at meeting a man they’re attracted to that they can be pretty sure isn’t going to treat them that way ever again.
Of course, Asher just broke up, and Geoff’s teen kids are still sullen over losing the man they considered a step-dad. Logically, they’re not ready for another relationship. But logic loses out to the way a hug feels like a perfect refuge in a hard world, and a kiss feels like perfect desire. And once they sleep together, neither wants to let go.
These guys have a lot to work through, from Asher’s life in the public eye, to their age gap, to the kids, to their exes, to Geoff’s PTSD from his military service. All of those get a slightly thin treatment, because there’s just not enough room in the book to really address them. (For example, the issue of a guy with violent PTSD nightmares sleeping with a man who was physically abused IMO could have been a far bigger stumbling block.) They all do get addressed, but I was looking for each one to come up as more of a problem. The resolution with Asher’s ex was also far too neat.
Putting that aside, though, I did really like both characters, and their relationship. The one moment of misunderstanding didn’t last too long, and I was pulling for both of them to reach their HEA. The women in this book were supportive, and the casual inclusion of a trans character without angst was appreciated. I’ll be looking forward to another book in this series.
As a general rule, I try to avoid novels featuring sports stars, and in particular, stars of American sports. I decided to give this one a try because I’d read a book by this author before that had really wowed me, and I wanted to read more of her work.
Geoff is a cop, and he’s just left a long-term relationship where he was emotionally bullied and manipulated. His teenage children had no idea what was going on behind the scenes and resent their father for leaving the ‘stepdad’ who had treated them so well.
Asher is the ice hockey star, and when he tries to break up with his physically abusive boyfriend in a ‘safe, public place’, the cops end up being called and that’s how Geoff and Asher meet.
Geoff goes out of his way (like, seriously out of his way) to help Asher after the scene at the restaurant. I was questioning how realistic that was, but then Geoff’s partner started questioning it too, making it clear that this was not normal police behaviour. That helped me as a reader, because I felt like the author was acknowledging that Geoff was behaving weirdly. And he was doing it because he was both attracted to and felt empathy for Asher.
Overall, I thought the story was sweet. The characters felt real. I felt like there wasn’t enough conflict to make it really gripping or involved, but that was okay. It was sweet. Sometimes you just want something easy and sweet, yeah? Not that this was particularly easy in that both men were dealing with the aftermath from the relationships they’d been in and the way they’d been treated by their respective partners, but between them, it was sweet. Steamy, yes, but still sweet. Okay, I promise I’m not going to use the word sweet again! It definitely made me smile a few times, and I like that in a book.
One thing I particularly liked is that there’s no ‘magic cure’. Neither of them get over their past relationships just because they’ve found a new one, and Geoff’s nightmares resulting from PTSD from his combat days don’t suddenly disappear now that he’s sleeping with Asher. The author acknowledges that these things take time, and sometimes the answer is to work out how to live with the things that don’t go away.
The ice hockey thing didn’t bother me too much (remembering that I’ve never seen an ice hockey game in my life) but I did feel like Asher (and therefore the author) were a little too insistent on this idea that an ice hockey player has to be aggressive on the ice (because fighting is part of the sport) and explaining to Geoff (and the reader) how that’s separate from aggression or lack thereof off the ice. That point was a wee bit laboured, but it didn’t significantly detract from the book.
KU. 3.5 ~ the HEA makes it easy to round to a 4. Sadly, the thing that keeps this from being higher is that it’s just so normal. M/M May/December romance. Geoff (44) is a cop who responds to a domestic disturbance call involving Asher (25) & his recently exed boyfriend.
Geoff & Asher deal with their immediate & strong attraction in the wake of both of them recently coming out of abusive relationships. I feel like the psychological abuse in Geoff’s relationship with Marcus was really vague for too much of the book and it started feeling annoying and repetitive.
The HEA+epilogue was great. Yes, it was a serious book tackling serious topics, but it would have been nice if we could have seen more glimpses of the humor that permeated the epilogue.
I’d never read any romance books until I read another book by L.A. Witt, and suddenly I’ve come to enjoy MM romances. I’m for sure an L.A. Witt fanboy. “Rebound” delighted me. As can happen with good books, I crushed on Geoff and Asher. I pulled for them to wade through their struggles and end up together in an HEA. I was sad when they were sad, and I relate to their insecurities. Some tears were shed here and there! There’s a lot going on in the book, but it’s done in a tidy way, with the prose intricately woven. I have know idea how the author creates these sophisticated stories and ties them all together so well. These are not static characters. Moments of lightheartedness and some beautifully poetic gems are found throughout. What l most liked was the honest look at insecurities and internal battles. Asher is very well-off, is a local sports celebrity of sorts, and is gorgeous, yet he is insecure (which is endearing), and he is humble, gentle, vulnerable, mature beyond his years, sensitive, and has a fragile but generous heart. I like how Witt addresses Asher’s worries that he’s just not enough, despite all his good fortunes. Geoff is a sexy but modest police officer, some 18 years older than Asher (I noticed references were made to Asher being 26 and Geoff being 44), and he’s a good guy who has PTSD from war, and he’s a single dad with two teenagers (one of whom is transgender we eventually realize). Both guys come with some heartbreak, weaknesses, and recent breakups, but they complement each other, and the age difference is insignificant. This is another fine read by L.A. Witt.
I have to say, I was hesitant about this one at first. I shouldn’t have been, since I generally like Witt’s work. I guess I’ve seen a little too much of abuse being played for laughs in certain genre TV shows and now I’m mistrustful. Anyway, Witt handled the issue with grace and with taste, and my fears receded as I lost myself in the story.
One of the things Rebound deals with is the myriad forms which abuse takes, and the ways abuse can affect a survivor’s interactions with others even after they part ways. I appreciated seeing all the ways Geoff’s prior relationship affected his children, and how it affected his relationship with Asher. It was important to see Asher’s prior relationship and its effects too, of course, but people need to understand that abuse takes more forms than physical and there are long term effects from it.
I enjoyed the hockey aspect of the book, of course, and the law enforcement side. The jurisdictional issues were interesting to me. I also got a lot out of seeing the interaction between Geoff and his children’s mother.