Written in the Stars (The Barracudas Book 3)

This is another absolutely marvelous book by Christopher J. Brice. Equal parts camp, spice, insightful, sweet, silly, and heart-wrenching, I was riveted by Oliver and Ryan’s love story and thoroughly invested. I adore each and every character in the world of BSU and Barracuda Hockey. These guys are just the sweetest, silliest, most marvelous 20 somethings, full of heart and sass and libidos worthy of champion athletes. Quite frankly, the perfect ingredients for stellar rom-coms. Ryan and Oliver were best friends and neighbors 10 years ago. Their friendship was an oasis for each of them, and the innocent love they had for each other felt like sunshine on a cold day. When Ryan’s career military father moves him away suddenly, both boys are left bereft. And when they reconnect in college (through coincidence and roommates), all those old feelings come roaring back, this time with the added bonus of romantic awareness. Ryan’s harbored his crush on Oliver for a decade, and a life throttled by the judgement and pressure of his military father and the loss of his mother has made him petrified of fully embracing himself. Oliver, everyone’s protector, big brother, and voice of reason, wants a summer to enjoy himself. And he wants to do that with Ryan, his childhood best friend, and the man consuming his thoughts. When the yearly hockey team tradition of skinny dipping illegally in the swim team swimming pool ends in a night in campus security’s cells, Oliver and Ryan find themselves…

4.25 rounded down This was suchhhhh a fun read. I haven't read book 1 and 2 in this series and I was able to follow the story and the characters with ease. I will say that if feels like a lot of characters at the beginning because you didn't get the first two stories to intro them, but it didn't take away from the story for me. I really enjoyed the writing. There's really nothing about this book that's groundbreaking. It's not super emotional or super funny, but the writing really kept me engaged from start to finish. I actually read it in one sitting because I was locked into the story the entire time. Oliver and Ryan. Oh my sweet sweet boys. I really loved their love story. I was unsure about the flashbacks at the beginning because something about reading a romance for end of college kids and then getting flash backs to when they're 8-10 years old is a bit odd to me, but they weren't overpowering and more to just show when the boys met. It helped really show the reader how long and well they knew each other. Overall, both Ryan and Oliver were so sweet. I really was rooting for their romance, and found their characters to be really a joy to read. The Ice Queen was giving me gossip girl at the beginning. I liked that the first couple instances of her had no other entry from her other than the post. When we got a bit farther into the book and the entries/posts came with more from her, it got a bit repetitive and almost unnecessary. Her chapter at the end made her…

This book is about childhood. Best friends who have grown apart and as they are in college, they're reunited. Well in college one of them is not sure that they want to 100% reconnect because they have been in love with the other one pretty much since childhood. The other one doesn't know that what he felt for the friend in childhood was a budding relationship aspect. So instead of realizing that he was falling for his best friend, he didn't know it. You get to see some of the past in the story on top of the present and it is just lovely. It comes together beautifully. This book not only gives you an insight to their past but their present and it makes you fall in love with them You basically sit there and you hope and you pray like the whole time you're reading that they'll pull their heads out of their butt and wind up together. This is mm so if that is not your thing please just move on but if you love a fluffy mm romance this book is highly recommended. Honestly, I absolutely love the book. It is a hockey romance. It is male male. MM is one of my favorite tropes. I am kind of glad that even though they are playing hockey and a lot of hockey books, you see a lot of the hockey games in this one where it's a college campus. They're out of season. It's summertime you don't really see the hockey but you can hear it talked about quite a bit so you understand hockey a bit but you're not having it like thrown down your throat like a lot of books do with hockey.

Thanks to Love Notes PR for the chance to review an e-ARC of Written in the Stars by Christopher J. Brice. This was one of the sweetest, most heartwarming, cozy reads. The MCs are truly adorable, well written and overall full characters. I wasn't expecting this book to be so heartfelt and charming. The story starts as a childhood friendship based on being each other's support and comfort, it evolves to young adult relationship where they keep healing their traumas and grow a haven for their love. Written in the stars is romantic, heartwrenching and hopeful at times. The way you are rooting for the MCs and for their happy ending, is just the cherry on top. They compliment each other perfectly, their love is not selfish and they have the best support system in their friends. It was a slow burn, but it was worth it. The friendship and connection developed is incredibly delightful and captivating. Also, the spice was spicing!! It was a lesson in consentment and figuring out what works for each, accepting and complicit. I am on my way to read the other books in the series, because I loved how the author let us into the characters and their thought process, even when it is not pretty. I absolutely cherished how they portrayed real boys with real problems, no need for glossing over the difficult parts. I recommend this read, if these are your tropes, prepare yourself to laugh, cry and think about this book for a long time to come.

In this installment, we are following a sort of second-chance romance. Oliver and Ryan were friends for a short time as kids, but that time had an impact that has stayed with him all this time. Arriving at college, Ryan realized his long-lost friend was nearby but stayed at a distance for a long time. Now, as senior year is around the corner and we are following the team during summer break, we see them rekindle their friendship as it blooms into something more. As the series continues, we are also getting more insight into the Ice Queen. We get more chapters from the Ice Queen's POV, delving into their motivations for the blog. In the first book, the person came off as malicious, almost predatory, whereas now they are framed more as someone living vicariously through the guys and their love stories. Our boy Gerard is still the most hilarious, lovable buffoon, and I cannot stop my anticipation for getting our book about Alex and Kyle; they have been my favorite potential pairing for the long haul. I love the friend group all the boys have created, beautiful chaos. Upon completing the last chapter, I am unwell and need the next book immediately. For fear of spoiling anything, I cannot say more. I am flabbergasted and honestly surprised by this last-minute curveball. I truly did not suspect anyone we knew, especially not. Well, if you know, you know.