The Rest of the Story by Tal Bauer

Release Date: January 8, 2023

Page Count: 419 pages

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Synopsis

Let me earn it.

I keep things simple. I’m a classic one-night wonder. Relationships? Are you out of your mind? No. No way. Not interested. My heart is vulcanized rubber, puck hard, and that’s the way I like it.

Then I’m traded to the absolute worst team in the NHL, the Rocky Mountain Outlaws, and I’m hit with a one-two punch.

First: I’m asked to step up and lead the team, which is every kind of bad idea you can imagine. I’m a head-down, mind-my-business kind of guy. Mr. Uninvolved, Mr. No, Not Me, Mr. Find Someone Else. But these players have been through a mess of hell, and someone thinks I can help pull them together.

The Outlaws are made up of jaded veterans and wide-eyed rookies, and we have no business whatsoever succeeding. We are scrappy and plucky and built out of spit and duct-tape… and whatever we’re doing, it’s working.

Second: The first day I’m in Boulder, I go over the boards and come face-to-face with a pair of blue eyes and lose my heart. Boy, howdy: meet my new co-captain, Shea Darling.

He’s way, way off-limits. It’s a stratospherically terrible idea to want or crave him. This crush, this infatuation, is going nowhere fast.

Yeah, right. I’m gone for Shea. I’m head over heels, and I’m all tangled up in something I can’t understand or control. This isn’t me. I don’t fall in love. And there’s nothing simple about Shea, or about the Outlaws. This team is finally putting up the wins, and we are making something of ourselves. Falling for my co-captain while we’re on a Cinderella run could jeopardize everything we’re striving for.

But then there’s this one night.

And this one kiss.
And everything changes.

Eighty-two games in a season.
Twenty men hungry for redemption.
One co-captain who could be my forever.

This is the rest of the story.

*****

The Rest of the Story is a friends-to-lovers, hockey players/teammates MM romance, and includes themes of survivorship.

The Rest of the Story is set in the same universe as Gravity, but each novel can be read independently. You do not need to read Gravity first to enjoy The Rest of the Story.

Review

The Rest of the Story is the latest contemporary novel by Tal Bauer and I loved it so much!!!

I love the writing, the slowburn romance, all the UST!!!! Shea and Morgan are wonderful together. But my favourite thing is the found family. The Outlaws, a team on the rock bottom, finding strength and hope, step by step after Morgan’s arrival is the best feeling ever. And the teamwork, yes please!

I loved all the secondary characters but especially Brody, he stole my heart. Reading that bonus chapter at the end, truly made me a puddle of goo.

Overall, I’d definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a sports romance with found family. Also there’s going to be new books in this universe!