Perfect Gifts is a perfectly lovely Christmas story featuring many beloved characters from the Harrisburg Railers hockey team. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of reading stories about Ten and Jared or Stan. If you’ve read the excellent blurb then you already know that the story is about Ten and Jared expanding their family. The challenge they face is with the older of two brothers feeling very protective of his younger brother which results in him acting out against Ten and Jared.

Along with the serious stuff we also get some lighthearted moments from Stan. This section made me literally LOL. This is Ten having a bit of a discussion with Stan:

“Ha! Bigly surprise for you! I am not coming as Elvis this year.” I gaped at my best friend. “Is true. I am coming as Priscilla and Erik is the King.”
“Wow,” I murmured, trying to picture Stan in a bouffant wig. I bet he could pull it off. “So, Erik is doing Elvis.”
“Yes. He is most excited and has been practicing his shaky hips dance. Why are you making romance with disaster on phone before game?”
I glanced around. Everyone was busy suiting up. Adler was way across the room reading a book about bees. If you wanted to keep something a secret you did not tell Adler. His mouth ran at warp ten.
“Okay, I’ll tell you, but you have to keep a lid on it.”
He stared at me blankly. “Why am I lidding it? Will it make leaks?”
“No, it’s a saying. Don’t tell anyone yet because it’s just a maybe at this point.”
Understanding dawned on his face. “Ah! Yes. Is secret news. Oh! Did you find out that there is a secret panel in your house that leads to magical animated place with singing men and big yellow submarines?”
“I… what? No, no secret doors. Did you watch Yellow Submarine last night?”
“I did! Is mostly very good but confusing. Erik says it would make more sense after eating a mushroom so I order pizza in with mushroom but there is no growing of understanding.”
“Yeah, I’m thinking he meant a different kind of mushroom, buddy.” I clapped his thick thigh then leaned in. He did the same. “This is top secret.”

There really isn’t a whole lot more to say other than this writing duo really gets it right – every single time. This story has so much heart and family and I loved it so much. I suspect that the scene has been set for a new story or two; at least for me there are a couple of characters whose stories I want now. 🥰

A question for fellow fans: do you like to try and figure out which author wrote which character? I do, but I’m not sure that I can always figure it out. I think I probably got it right this time, though. 😊

Reviews for RJ Scott

Reviews for V.L. Locey

♥ Amazon US ♥ Amazon CA ♥ Amazon UK ♥ All Other Buy Links ♥

“Levi, my… the middle brother, he’s in L.A.?”

“I know Levi.” When you’ve married into a dynasty of skaters, you get to know others in the same situation pretty quickly, particularly if they are likened to the Rowe family in a ton of articles. I knew I was biased, but not one of the Bonetti family were as good as my Ten. Hashtag, so biased.

“He’s uhm… he’s…” Tanner’s face crumpled, and I didn’t know what to do as tears rolled down his cheeks. “He’s…” His words were choked.

I was up and out of my chair in an instant, pulling it with me, grabbing the box of tissues I used to clean the whiteboard, and handing them to him as I settled next to him. I didn’t know what to do, but I placed a hand on his arm, and he leaned toward me as if he needed to check I was there.

“It’s okay,” I soothed and patted his arm gently, wishing there was someone in the room who knew the best thing to say right now.

“It’s not,” he sobbed suddenly, and fuck, it was painful watching someone cry with such depth of emotion and pain dragged up from some deep dark place where grief lived.

“It’s okay,” I repeated, “I’m here, talk to me.”

He took a Kleenex, blew his nose repeatedly, and then swiped at his eyes. He was wearing a training T-shirt and sweats, and he looked smaller than six-foot, all hunched up in the chair.

I thought on my feet—I knew Genevieve was here today, our team counsellor, and maybe she was better suited to helping Tanner. “I can listen if you need me to, or I can get Genevieve down if you need to—”

“He’s my brother you know, he’s my hero.”

Okay, so this was a brother thing?

“I get that.” Ten didn’t like to admit it often, but he idolized Brady and Jamie, and even though they were rivals, they were brothers first. Siblings who were there for each other in good times and bad, able to form such a strong bond that together they were better than when they were apart.

“He used to train with me, you know, because Alfie was older and was drafted first round and was gone so quickly; so, it was just me and Levi for a long time, and then, he left, and it was just me, and I lost him for a while. We texted, met up, but we were apart. All three of us were apart, and they were the ones who knew the real me.” He stopped again, tears collecting in his eyes, making the blue sheen fracture into tiny diamonds. “I hated being apart so much.” He tore at the Kleenex, and I offered him the bin and some replacement tissues, which he took. “But we were always there for each other, you know?”

“Yes.”

“He’s been… he has… cancer.” My stomach fell. I was so hoping this would be a sibling argument or something way less serious. “Medullary thyroid cancer, and they hope… but they won’t be able to tell until… I can’t… I don’t…”

Harrisburg Railers Series

♥ Amazon US ♥ Amazon CA ♥ Amazon UK ♥