by Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn
rating: ☆☆☆
published: 30th October 2017
spoilers? nope
Goodreads
Galley provided by publisher
This has been on my "need to read urgently" shelf since just about when it got announced. I love hockey fiction, and I really like Avon Gale's hockey fiction, so I understandably had high hopes. I'm not setting this up to say I was disappointed, because I wasn't - I know what Avon Gale's writing is like, and it was just as good as most of her other books. There were just a few aspects of it that I wasn't quite expecting, namely the age gap and (how do I put this) rather rough (BDSM-lite) sex.
When I read the blurb, I expected that Tristan would be somewhere in his late 20s, early 30s, approaching retirement from the NHL and looking to have a career post-hockey. More fool me, because he was actually only 22. Me and age gaps don't generally get along, so that was obviously a pretty big NUH UH from me.
Moving on, we get to the relationship. Now, the biggest problem I have with respect to this aspect is more of a general problem with the genre (which I'm sure I've mentioned about a million times). There is just never any relationship development before BAM they're lusting after one another and then BAM they're having sex and then maybe (MAYBE) if you're lucky you get some before BAM they're in love. So my issue is that there is not nearly enough slowburn in this genre. And by slowburn I mean genuinely having to wait 80-90% of the book before anything happens. I mean pining and longing and angsting. I don't mean them jumping into bed with one another after like 30% because that just feels like it's then porn without plot (oh. Wait. Some of this shit basically is just that. But I'm getting off topic).
I mentioned the sex earlier, and I'll briefly mention it again. It involved (consensual) slapping, face and arse. And like. I just find that really uncomfortable no matter the characters participating so. That wasn't fun.
Besides all that, I did enjoy the book in the same way I've enjoyed most of Avon Gale's (and to a lesser extent because I've read less, Piper Vaughn's) stuff. And I'm definitely looking forward to the other books I assume will be in this series (my bets are on Ryu and Bellamy as the MCs) because the characters are, as usual, wonderful. If only I'd enjoyed some of the other aspects of it as much.
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