Awwwwww. I'm still leaking tears of happiness from reading the ending. Wasn't it just wonderful? I'm not going to spoil it, but oh!! 
 Heart in Hand is actually based on two real hockey players according to salifiable. I have no idea who they are, but I really want to know. I want to see these two hockey players which I fallen in love with on the page. 
 The story starts out with Darryl Colton, a renowned, famous hockey player spending the summer with another famous hockey player, Aleksey Kuznetsov. Their relationship at the start was frayed and in need of serious help. 
 Darryl doesn't hate Kuznetsov, he just finds him really irritating occasionally. Of course Kuznetsov is a great player, one of the best in the game right now, but geez - the way he runs around on the ice and hits anything that moves, and treats everything like it's a big joke, and celebrates each goal like it's his first and last - it just gets under his skin sometimes. 
 So it's perfectly reasonable that Darryl had no idea that was going to be the summer of his life as he starts slowly exploring a friendship with a man who is everything Darryl's not. 
 Darryl can see why some people consider Kuznetsov charming - he can be hilarious, sometimes unintentionally so, and he's always bubbling with enthusiasm and energy - and silliness - whether it's the beginning of the day or the end. 
 Darryl also had no idea that this friendship will turn into something much more passionate and tender, that it will grow into a relationship between two lovers. 
 As a small note to everybody, I'm not a sporty person (unless you count Wii but that's another matter). I was always the person who sat out on the bleachers gym class and watch the jocks play rugby bare-shirted (I can't help it, no matter how much of a jerk they can be, they have great abs). So when I found that Heart in Hand was all about two hockey players, I was a bit apprehensive. Hockey might as well have been rocket science to me, I knew nothing about it. 
 That being said...after I started it, I haven't been able to take a break. Not a single one. Not even to go to eat dinner because I was that obsessed with the story. I was compelled to finish it, to see what was going to happen next. 
 And even though it was about hockey, the writer managed to "teach" me the basics of hockey without me even noticing, so I would not have felt awkward while reading and thinking, what's this? and what the hell does that mean?! I started to get a sense of the structure within the sport and it was very well done. 
 The characters were even more impressive. They were drawn out carefully and they stayed in role. I actually love the contrast between the Darryl and Alex. They had very distinct personalities and I could easily distinguish between the two. 
 Darryl is reserved and restrained. Aleksey acts free, spontaneous and enthusiastic and thrives on the thrill he gets from playing hockey. They balance each other and depend on each other, it's all very sweet. It's a very simple case of opposites attract. 
 This is a beautifully written story which is paced well. 4.5 stars