Too Much Man was a quick, easy read for me that was well-paced and enjoyable. It's an m/f hockey romance but the female lead is bi which was an interesting take on the genre.

I really loved Gavin as a character and enjoyed the cameos of the other hockey players on both his current and previous hockey teams. I liked Piper slightly less and had some issues with her worldview and how she handles things. Also, she seemed all over the place, all the time. Their chemistry was good and there was a lot of fun, light scenes that I really enjoyed.

This is my first Katy James book and I liked it a lot, I will definitely read more in the future.

Overall I think it's about a 3.5* for me but rounded up. It was a lot of fun.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Too Much Man was a quick, easy read for me. Anyone who likes big, muscly hockey player love interests and strong, queer leading ladies will definitely enjoy this romance story. It follows a pretty standard romance formula: Grumpy guy makes a bad impression. Gal puts guy in his place. Attraction flares, leading to a temporary friends-with-benefits situation...UNTIL! Both have feelings. Then former grumpy guy becomes grumpy again and pushes gal away. Both are miserable, their friends give them a swift kick in the butt, big declarations are made, and everyone lives happily ever after.

I liked Piper and Grant just fine, but they weren't memorable. I did enjoy Piper's group of friends and the abundance of queer rep. Gavin's teammates were enjoyable, as well. Apart from Piper's pink hair, nothing sticks out for me. I am curious about the next book in the series and who will be the MC. Perhaps Valentine, as it seems the author inserted a few nuggets to make me curious about his backstory.

***Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.***

Too Much Man is a queer hockey romance, just not in the traditional sense of the sub-genre. Most queer hockey romances are MM or FF, whereas this is MF with a bi woman. Piper is a proud bisexual woman who chooses not to date straight cis men and Gavin is exactly that. Gavin is a professional hockey player who’s has an injury keeping him off the ice. The two instantly clash but find they have a lot of chemistry and start a friends with benefits relationship, which of course turns into feelings.

I didn’t have a lot of expectations for this book and really enjoyed it. I found Piper’s internal struggle of trying not to disappoint her community by being in a relationship with a straight to be very interesting and a real concern in the bi community that doesn’t usually appear on the page. I also found Gavin’s struggle of his career ending and not knowing what to do interesting. I appreciated that both of these things did not distract from the romance aspect of the book and actually made the two more reliant on each other for support. I also enjoyed the side characters and hope to see them again in future books in this series.

Thank you to Carina Press, Harlequin, and NetGalley for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this story

It had a great storyline that was well developed but I did think at times that it was a little heavy on detail and that detracted from the great flow to the story.

The characters were great – well developed and they had some fun interaction!

It was a book that was romantic and sexy!

It is 4 stars from me for this one, really enjoyed this one – highly recommended!

Gavin Williams is having a bad month. He wakes up hungover, in pain, and not ready to face the sudden end of his hockey career. On the advice of his teammate, Carlos, Gavin limps down to the local coffee shop to try coffee as a hangover cure. Unfortunately, he doesn’t like coffee and he’s in a temper he doesn’t have a handle on. He immediately butts heads with Piper, the owner of the Friendly Bean, who is also having a bad day. It’s a spectacularly un-cute meet. Piper and Gavin loathe each other and are embarrassed by their own behavior. Which makes them dislike each other even more. So how do we get from Meet grumpy to HEA?

Carlos’ sister works at The Friendly Bean, and he wants to do some fundraising events with Gavin at the coffee shop. Piper likes Carlos, so she’s willing to tolerate Gavin. Gavin apologizes to Piper. As they get to know each other, they find they are attracted to each other, and decide to have a fling.

In Too Much Man, Davis explores identity and the expectations we set for ourselves. Piper is a queer woman – bi. Being queer and a part of the queer community is important to her. Being in a relationship with a straight cis man might lead others to assume she is straight and that makes her uncomfortable. Creating a queer friendly neighborhood coffee shop and being a part of the local queer community helped Piper heal from the sudden loss of her parents. For Gavin, his identity has ben tightly linked to hockey and Vancouver. An injury has ended his career, and while he was with a Philadelphia team, not the Vancouver team. He clings to his ideas of who he is to navigate this new territory. Neither is what the other wants for themselves long term.

I requested this from NetGalley largely because Anna Zabo said she had read an early partial draft and liked it. I love their books and if they say a writer is worth investigating, I will. Katy James has created a lovely, queer friendly, world in which to tell more stories. I’m interested to see how she will grow as a writer.

I received this as an advance reader copy from NetGalley and Carina Press. My opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book. I spent a lot of time reading fanfic when I was younger and always loved coffee shop AUs, and this feels like one of those fics. Piper and Gavin were such compelling characters. Piper is worried about the erasure of her bi identity if she enters into a serious relationship with a cis man, and Gavin is dealing with the emotional and physical impacts of a recent knee injury and his forced retirement from hockey. I loved watching them each navigate their own paths to happiness while falling in love. This is a sexy read that’s also deeply emotional. I’m looking forward to reading more from Katy James (and hope Tyler Valentine gets a book next).

Firstly, Thank you Harlequin 0 Carina Press and Net galley for access to the eARC, Too Much Man, by Katy James.

Grumpy Sunshine Hockey Player + LGBTQ coffee shop owner + spice = I SWOONED for this book!

Piper owns her own LGBTQ+ friendly coffee shop in Philadelphia. In walks Gavin Williams, one of the ELITE hockey players, who just suffered a career ending knee injury. Their chemistry may be electric, but she has a preference of not dating cis gendered men, and he is hoping to get out of town and make some more career moves within hockey. So sounds like the perfect chance for a no-strings attached fling until Gavin leaves town! Instead, both are fighting their plans for the future, and how they don't fall in line with their agreement.

My review: 4/5 stars. This was a fun read. You get grumpy sunshine, inclusivity with a MC who has a physical injury and Mental health problems relating to it, and a queer character. I enjoyed learning about the trouble bi-women must deal with, fighting the stigmatization of "picking a side." Always fun to read a book for spice, and getting to learn something along the way!

I'm excited this is the first book in what will hopefully be a character series?!

Piper is a bisexual coffee shop owner. Gavin a retired pro hockey player. They meet at her shop and begin a relationship. I just couldn't get interested in the characters, or the story line. It was well written, just didn't have the excitement I was hoping for.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing this copy. The opinion in this review is totally my own.

Too Much Man was a DNF for me. I had high hopes for this one, but I found myself unable to connect to the characters, and totally unable to care about them.

Mein Leseerlebnis

“Too much man” ist eine locker geschriebene Liebesgeschichte mit interessanten Charakteren. Es fiel mir leicht in einen guten Lesefluss zu kommen und ich fand die ersten gut sechs Kapitel unterhaltsam.

Danach schlichen sich ein paar Längen in die Geschichte ein. Der Mittelteil hätte mir etwas gekürzt wahrscheinlich besser gefallen. Vielleicht wäre sogar das Format einer längeren Kurzgeschichte am besten gewesen.

Im Mittelteil war ich beim Lesen gedanklich nicht immer voll bei der Sache. Ein Grund dafür mag gewesen sein, dass ich Pipers Freundesgruppe nicht so interessant fand, wie die Autorin das sicherlich geplant hatte.

Das Ende konnte mich dann wieder mehr packen, auch wenn es nicht ganz an den Anfang herangereicht hat.

Die Charaktere fand ich wie erwähnt interessant, aber auch nicht so faszinierend, dass sie meine Aufmerksamkeit auf jeder Seite halten konnten.

Blicke ich auf mein Leseerlebnis zurück, so gab es also Höhen und Tiefen. Da mir der Schreibstil der Autorin gut gefallen hat und ich auch ihre Hauptcharaktere interessant fand, kann ich mir trotz meiner Problemchen vorstellen, in Zukunft mehr von ihr zu lesen. 🖤🖤🖤

Für wen?

Wer nach einer neuen sports romance Reihe sucht, der sollte sich den Roman mal näher anschauen. Die Geschichte hebt sich inhaltlich von vielen Büchern des Subgenres ab.

DNF at 32%. The story just didn’t pull me in unfortunately. I couldn’t connect to either of the MCS, and their romance wasn’t interesting enough to keep me invested in the story

This title was not for me. Your mileage may vary! I appreciated many things about it abstractly—a bi woman considering the implications of dating a cis man. But I was a little bored by the conflict being *told* by narration more often than *shown* through the characters’ interactions with each other.

TOO MUCH MAN follows pink haired, bisexual Piper who owns a queer inclusive coffee shop, and Gavin, a grumpy silver fox hockey player who’s coming to terms with the injury that has cost him his career.
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I had a hard time connecting with Piper and Gavin. I just wasn’t invested in their romance at all. Overall it was an okay read, but I wanted more, and I think that’s because I didn’t get enough heat from the enemies to lovers trope that I was expecting.
I did enjoy Pipers journey of reflection and growth and the discussion of bi erasure and the importance of queer visibility.
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3 stars. TOO MUCH MAN by Katy James is available December 7, 2021!
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Thank you to Carina Press and Netgalley for sending me an eARC to review.

I couldn’t put this book down once I started! It’s not extremely hockey heavy, so it would be a nice introduction to hockey/sports romances for someone less familiar with the sport, while still being interesting for those who enjoy hockey already (like me). The main and side characters were all likable by the end, and I enjoyed watching the main characters each battle through their respective issues and grow from it. Some of it was relatable (queer identity struggles) and some less so (forced retirement of an elite athlete) but it was wonderful to read nonetheless. I definitely recommend this book!

What I liked:
This book portrays more accurately than any other within the romance genre I have read the struggle with bi-erasure. Our MC feels she’ll be invalidated within her queer community for dating a cis-het man, previous partners have treated her like her sexual identity was a cute phase… all of her feelings and experiences on paper are straight out of my experiences. This was very well done.

Our hero struggling to find his place with his on-the-ice career coming to an end.

What didn’t work for me:
I felt the relationship was rushed. I’m told they fell in love, but did I feel it as a reader? Not really. Their relationship progression was more of a list of items from point A to point B.

Overall I enjoyed the book, but my brain was more focused on trying to suss out what supporting character would be getting their own happily ever after.

This. Book. Is. Incredible. I loved every single second of reading this book and I am about to read it again! Such deep, rich emotions! So much delicious sexual tension! Really, this book is easily a 10/10 for me.