Review: On the Ice by Amy Aislin

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance, M/M, LGBT+
Pages: 348
Series: Stick Side #1 (works as standalone)
Release Date: May 8, 2018
Publisher: Amy Aislin

   

I’ve been looking for books with a demisexual character and I found this one by accident. I’ve read a book by the author before and I got an ARC of the second book of this series, which encouraged me to read this one sooner rather than later. And I really liked reading it.

The main characters are Mitch and Alex. Mitch is a college student. He wants to make it as a professional hockey player but he also wants to have a backup/retirement career. And in between his classes, the games, and his two jobs, he’s struggling to keep afloat. As long as he can keep his scholarship though, he should be fine.

Alex is a NHL player who’s currently on the injured reserve list because of a broken arm. He goes back to Alma Mater to deliver a lecture, since he’s in town to be close to his sick grandfather. There he meets Mitch. They don’t click immediately though, as much as Mitch wishes they would. Because Alex has no interest in flings or one night stands, and Mitch isn’t willing to give more than that. Not at first.

When, by some coincidence, Alex ends up agreeing to tutor Mitch in creative writing, the only things Mitch can’t seem to get right, they start to become friends.

And that’s about all I should say about the plot of the book. Mitch is guarded for reasons you’ll come to know. And he’s attracted to Alex. But Alex is demisexual, so unless Mitch is willing to be himself and be open with Alex, nothing’s going to happen between them. I mean, nothing might happen anyway but this is a romance novel, so the chances of there being no romance are pretty slim.

It’s slow going though, which I’m a total sucker for. Alex and Mitch start as acquaintances and go from that to friends to more. They’re both really sweet guys, even though Mitch doesn’t seem that way at first glance. Their story is also very sweet too. There’s minimal angst and a lot of getting to know one another. The problems that they face are mostly of the external nature. Like Alex only being in town for a few weeks (or couple months, I think) and Mitch having his own problems with his family.

I really liked this book: the story and the characters. And I’m glad that we’ll get to see them again (even as side characters). The only issue I had is that the writing could have been better in some ways.

It suffers a bit from telling-not-showing when it comes to introducing the characters and their personalities. The representation of Alex’s demisexuality, for example, felt a bit textbook. Not like, google-search textbook. More like the author wasn’t able to show us certain aspects of it and decided just to write it as a statement. I’m not sure I’m making sense so I’ll just say that the writing could’ve used more finesse and leave it at that.

This is still a great book and it’s probably more informative about demisexuality that any book I’ve read before. I definitely recommend it.