At first glance, nobody would be able to tell that Nathaniel Jean had a problem. Or second glance, or third, or fourth. After all, he had everything. He was a captain of his school's soccer team and one of the top players in the state. He had a big house and money to spend. He had family, he had friends, he had fun, he had faith. He never meant for it to happen. He never wanted to look at another man in the way he should have been looking at a woman. The idea had disgusted him for most of his life - living in a heavily Catholic town with heavily Catholic parents, homophobia was the only response he knew. That didn't change when he first realized that he didn't like girls. No, Nathaniel Jean was still homophobic. He hated the idea of a man sleeping with another man. He was raised on the notion that all gays went to hell, and he believed it. He despised them, and so he despised himself. Nathaniel Jean was more fortunate than most, because help did arrive for him. Help by the name of Lucas Morgan, they boy he'd always known but never known. The boy with big dreams and bigger talent. The boy that changed Nathaniel's life over the course of their thirty-six week long senior year.

Carter Parrish lived a happy, simple life with his mom, and knowing she had found her way back to love was the best news he could have ever received. But love leads to marriage, and marriage brought him a new stepfather, a new house, six new stepbrothers and one especially obnoxious stepsister. When the place he is meant to call home starts to feel like a test to his good-will and patience, Carter needs an escape. He might find just that where he least expects it, after meeting a smart boy with a snarky sense of humor and a secret he doesn't seem to good at hiding, who just so happens to be his football coach's son. Somebody said "change is inevitable, growth is optional". Carter just wished they had left a footnote about how hard it can be. *STORY CONTAINS MULTIMEDIA*

In the Astor Group Ice Arenas, the worlds of ice hockey and figure skating merge by the border between working-class Brunson and the upper-crust Lake City. Liam Astor is the boy everyone knows. Everyone knows he's the son of the CEO of Astor Investments Group. Everyone knows he only skates with his partner. Everyone knows his favorite hobby is turning heads and slacking jaws. And everyone knows he had a summer fling with another boy when he went away before senior year. Eli Blake is the boy who's lost too much to throw his goals all away for distractions. He has a plan to make it out of Brunson, and it involves throwing himself at his chances of a pro career with the NHL. No college, no grades, no detours except whatever he strictly has to do to get by and make it to his ultimate goal. Eli is a mystery to Liam. And Liam is too enticing for Eli to be able to resist. Maybe the boy everybody knows has a secret side to him as well. And maybe, the boy who can't afford distractions could use one after all.

**SEQUEL TO BREAKING THE ICE** Liam Astor is home. Home where his family is. Home where is skating partner stayed. Home where he trains every day to make his Olympic dreams come true. Home, where he had to throw himself into his career, so he doesn't lose himself in memories of a near-love who fell apart before it fully took form. Eli Blake left. He left to a new country, a new city, a new life. He left to follow his plan. He left to become the person he promised himself he would be, doing what he does best. He left to live his pro hockey dream, away from all the reminders of a life being his true, unashamed self, which he knew he could never have. Liam thinks about Eli every day. And Eli can't forget, no matter how hard he tries. Maybe there's a reason neither of them can let go. And maybe there's still hope.