REVIEW: Man Advantage by Quinn Ward (Lakeshore Stags #2)

- October 24, 2026

MAN ADVANTAGE

Lakeshore Stags - Book Two

by Quinn Ward

Release Date: October 24, 2026

Review

Ford and Cole feel natural and inevitable.They are bloody adorable. Especially while they try and pretend they don’t have a think for each other. They’re roommates, but they are basically playing house, caring for each other, and Ford’s daughter.

My heart hurts for Ford, on the older side of a hockey player and dealing with injury. The struggle of trying to hold on, to keep playing, not wanting to go out by force. Watching your replacement out there when you can’t play. And Cole was so amazing out it. Supporting him through it all, while also trying to find his way in his career.

It’s a really nice story, with good guys, and easy relationship, and little emotional angst for Ford’s career and health.

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Synopsis

A veteran goalie. A traded defenseman. And a spare room that was only supposed to be temporary.

Ford Callahan is used to holding everything together. His team. His six-year-old daughter. The hip he’s been hiding all season. Years in net have taught him to stop everything that comes at him—until what’s coming at him is Cole Englund.

Patient. Loyal. The only one who sees him cracking.

Cole was supposed to move out months ago. Instead, he’s making Ford’s daughter pancakes every morning and noticing every crack Ford thinks no one can see. Then one late night at the kitchen sink, Ford looks at him like pretending was never going to last.

What starts as quiet mornings and late-night dishes turns into the first thing Ford has let himself want in years. Being with Cole feels easy. Hiding it from the team doesn’t.

Stolen kisses turn into secret nights and the kind of want Ford stopped believing was meant for him, until keeping it inside the house starts feeling impossible.

But Ford’s career is running out of time, and one bad night could end it. Cole is one call away from the shot he’s chased his whole life.

Now Ford has to decide whether he’s allowed to ask Cole to stay. And Cole has to decide whether the home he never meant to find is worth more than the dream he came here for.

For readers who love Sarina Bowen, Brigham Vaughn, and VL Locey: a spicy small-town MM hockey romance featuring roommates to lovers, a single-dad goalie holding everything together, and a defenseman who was supposed to move out months ago.

About Quinn Ward

Quinn Ward is a non-binary author of LGBT romance. Throughout everything, the one constant in their life has been writing. It’s the piece of them they've never questioned. It’s their safe harbor, sometimes their escape when the real world gets to be too much.

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