Soft Hands

The Sin Bin: West Coast, Book 2

By: E.M. Lindsey

Narrated by: John Solo

There are a few things Nolan Ouellet has come to accept about himself.

One: that his future with the NHL was irrevocably destroyed, thanks to his reckless actions as a teenager destroying his knee.

Two: that he will never fall in love because the very idea of it sends his skin crawling.

Three: he will bed as many NHL players as humanly possible before he retires his game.

And four: he will never apologize for who he is and what he wants.

Then two men come barreling into his life and turn everything he knows upside down.

He still won’t play for the NHL, and he still won’t change who he is because he’s fought too long and too hard to accept his identity. But suddenly, his future is starting to look a little different than he originally planned.

And that scares the absolute hell out of him.

When he met Marko Rudenko and Luka Wagner—two veterans of the Denver Huskies—they were supposed to be a game, just like everyone else. But now all he can think about is how to keep them around without compromising the person he’s become and ruining the love Marko and Luka have for each other.

Soft Hands is the second book in the Sin Bin: West Coast series which can be enjoyed on its own but is best listened to in order. Soft Hands features a goalie with a hard outer shell and soft marshmallow insides, a confused alternate captain who just wants to give up a little control, and a former NHL prospect who knows who he is, but maybe not what he needs. Soft Hands contains aromantic acceptance, no cheating, plenty of love and communication, and as always, a happily ever after.

©2022 E.M. Lindsey (P)2022 E.M. Lindsey

Was okay

This was my first book with an aro MC so I was interested in how he would integrate into a romantic relationship between the other 2 MCs. While I applaud EM Lindsey’s storytelling skills, I was left feeling unfulfilled by this story. There is hardly an intimate interaction between all 3 men, and Nolan doesn’t have an interaction with them in that way until 60% into the book. The friendship is there, and I enjoy the platonic scenes between all 3 but I wanted more once they’ve decided to deepen the relationship involving all of them. It doesn’t matter that Nolan is aro, he’s gone from just friends to more than but there’s so little full interaction. I wanted more of all 3, as well as seeing Nolan and Luka together as they have zero interactions without Marko there but Nolan and Marko do. I would have preferred either a longer story after things are settled between the 3 of them, or a story that only focuses on Marko and Luca. While I enjoy John Solo there are several mispronounced common words that kept pulling me from the story. I did enjoy his accents for Marko and Luca however. I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this audiobook.

They were all a bit messy...

Quote from the book: "They were all a bit messy and a bit shattered and put back together slightly crooked." This describes this story and romance perfectly.

This is a perfectly imperfect story of three men each with their own struggles, battling their own demons. E.M. Lindsey has a way of writing such interesting characters, she never disappoints.

This is book 2 in EM Lindsey's series The Sin Bin: West Coast. John Solo did a wonderful job in the narration and the voices of these three men. I think I missed out on not reading the first book in the series and I'm old enough to know better... It's always better to start at the very beginning.

Unconventional polyamory, praise kink, cam boy, 1st person POV for all three of the characters

Excellent

Loved this new one from EM Lindsey! It was compelling, well written and definitely held my interest! This is a great addition to the series! John Solo did a nice job narrating this one.

This quite the unusual take on polyamory.

We are used to relationship where the all the partners involved are somehow equal and their connections are balanced. This is not really the case here, in that we have an aromantic character (Nolan) who, though caring deeply and being attracted to and connected to, Marko and Lukas, is incapable of forming a romantic attachment. Knowing this he is wary of entering anything with the two men, who, anyone, even Nolan can see, are deeply in love with each other. But the two men are nothing if not persistent and they do everything they can to show Nolan that they are willing to accept what he can give them without demanding what he can’t.
The book is super-hot and the steamy scenes are extremely satisfying! The characters are well-rounded and though flawed, each in its own way, they are great !
Another great performance by John Solo, who did a great job with the different accents: Ukrainian, German and French-Canadian.

Loved it!

The narration on this book really brought to life the story that was already amazing. I really loved John Solo's performance and the emotion and depth that he gave to each character.

I am such a fan of E.M. Lindsey and the Sin Bin series in general, so I've been really excited about this book, and it didn't leave me wanting. Luca, Marko, and Nolan have such an interesting dynamic between them that I could hardly put the book down.

I actually haven't read many books with aromantic characters, so seeing this and the way that the characters navigated their relationship was honestly so interesting and appealing to me. Seeing multiple forms of representation popping up in books more frequently now makes me so happy, especially when I feel like the authors did a good job at what they were portraying.

I honestly found this to be a super fast read, and I really enjoyed all of the characters involved. My only complaint is that I wish I could have seen a little more of what happened/how things kept on, but I guess that's a complaint an author wants to get, since it means that I'd snap up another book with these characters in a heartbeat.

Overall, great story. Great characters. Another great book!