‘Two-Man Advantage’ by Toni Aleo

I am a huge Toni Aleo fan (If you are following my blog for awhile, you probably know this already 🙂 ) I read all her books and her ‘Assassins’ and ‘Bellevue Bullies’ series are my all time favorites. They are also the CURE for my reader’s block 🙂 So let’s move from how awesome Toni Aloe and her books are, to ‘Two-Man Advantage’. ‘Two-Man Advantage’ is her first M/M book and a standalone. Even though, there are some ‘Assassins’ and ‘Bellevue Bullies’ references, you don’t really need to read the series to get into the story but I totally recommend you to read those series when you have time, they are great 🙂 In acknowledgments (Confession: I usually don’t read acknowledgments but lately I started to read it in some books) Toni Aleo says, ‘Did I do M/M justice?’ and my answer to her question is: HELLS YEAH! I’ve been dying to read this story and it was worth the wait.

If you’ve read her ‘Assassins’ and ‘Bellevue Bullies’ series, you already know about our heroes Wells Lemiere and Matty Haverbrooke. And you probably love Wells and hate Matty, at least that was me before reading ‘Two-Man Advantage’. So here is a little bit of a background for Matty and Wells. ‘Hooked by Love’ is where you first meet with Matty and after reading it I can assure you, you won’t be fan of him. As for Wells, we see little bit of him in ‘Delayed Call’ since he is one of Vaughn’s best friends and more in ‘In the Crease’ since one of his best friends Jensen marries his sister Wren and his pre-non-wedding is a part of the book. He is one of the few characters you will love instantly. Now it is time to go back to ‘Two-Man Advantage’ 🙂

Matthew Robert Haverbrooke and Wells Lemiere are both NHL players. Wells is out and proud but even though Matty had known he was gay since he was 13, he is still in the closet. They have been together over a year and Wells is sick and tired of hiding the man he loves and being his dirty secret. When he realizes that Matty won’t come out to his family and Wells’ little attempt to push Matty to come out does’t work, Wells feels like the only option is to let Matty go. After their break-up what makes Matty realize that he has to fight instead of hiding is learning that Wells is getting married. Matty realizes that his life without Wells is meaningless and he is worth everything, even coming out to his family and losing them in the process. Matty’s father Benedict Haverbrooke is the commissioner of NHL and all his life Matty had to fight to earn the respect and love of his father, which led Matty to live like someone else and always hide his true personality. Even though Matty is a really successful NHL player, he is really insecure, vulnerable, broken and alone. He is about the lose the only person, who made him feel like he can be himself and still be loved, so he decides his only chance is to fight for a second chance. Wells is one of the characters you will fell in love right away. He is always happy, loyal, caring and really supportive. When he broke up with Matty, he left a part of himself with him. He is still in love with Matty and he knows he is the one but Wells has his own demons and insecurities when it comes to Matty. He is not sure if he can survive another heartbreak caused by him. Their second chance is not going to be a walk in the park and they both know this but with their love and standing as one will help them to overcome all the obstacles they face. As Wells says: ‘We have the advantage. Together, we can win’. Wells and Matty were so sweet and hot at the same time 🙂 It was great to see how their relationship started, grew and developed something amazing. I cannot believe that my thoughts for Matty went from hate to understanding and understanding to love. Seeing his character to evolve was amazing. As for the side characters, it was great to see more of Vaughn, Brie, Jensen, Wren, Avery, Jace and little Ashlyn. Wells’ family and friends, I don’t have a problem but cannot say the same for Matty’s excluding Avery. Avery, Matty’s twin sister, is one of my favorite heroines and this book made me love her more 🙂 As Matty’s brothers Seth and Laurence, Seth is cool and I like him but Laurence not so much. As for Matty’s parents I am going to compare my thoughts from ‘Hooked by Love’. Benedict was such a disappointment. Due to his interactions with Avery, I thought he was a better man and I am really glad to see that Matty’s mom Thea grew a backbone… Yeah, I know these are too vague but I don’t want to ruin the story for you guys. 🙂

All in all, I love how all Toni Aleo books emphasize the importance of family and friendship and ‘Two-Man Advantage’ wasn’t an exception. You know the feeling when you finish reading an amazing story and you think whatever you say won’t be enough to convey your feelings that is how I am feeling. It took me two weeks and reading the book twice to write this review. I am not even sure if I made justice to the book but hopefully I did 🙂 ‘Two-Man Advantage’ is heartwarming, inspiring, sexy and so much more.

• Would I recommend this book: Yes.
• Would I re-read this book: Already did.
• Would I read future books by this author: Yes

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

e-ARC kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Purchase Links: Amazon | iBooks | Nook | Kobo