“The writing in this is snappy and awesome, the story moves at a great pace and oh it's HOT AS EVER-LOVING HELL. There's romance that never veers into a too-sappy place, it's FUNNY and full of great lines right and left, and so engaging that I couldn't stop reading it. The ending is satisfying, with our characters not becoming perfect people but becoming better together than they are apart, and that's just about as romantic as it gets.” Avon Gale – Author of the Scoring Chances series
Readers should be over 18 due to mature language and gay sexual situations. The set includes:
Two Man Advantage (Point Shot Trilogy #1)
Game Misconduct (Point Shot Trilogy #2)
Full Strength (Point Shot Trilogy #3)
I've been on a hockey jag lately but this is a little different take on the theme and I found myself struggling to get through this trilogy for a few reasons.
Vic (ginger) has been sent down to the AHL because of his attitude. Frankly, Vic's abrasive AF. He's a misogynist, a slut shamer, a fat shamer and he's not exactly sensitive to the marginalized of this world. I would recommend those who need political correctness in their reads to stay away. Far away. Again, I have to hand it to Locey sticking with a character who's not likable or all that sympathetic, telling the entire narrative through those eyes. I'm Southern so I'm all too familiar with the masking of bigotry behind comedy. I tried to roll with it without a lot of success. He is funny at times, I won't perpetrate but then he'll fire off something like...
I only bottomed for one man, and that was only when I was embracing my feminine side.
And I'd be like, 'oh bless his poor, incorrect heart' and do something else, like clean my andirons. He had a terrible childhood with an abusive and alcoholic mother who pretty much hated him and he uses that childhood experience as a get out of jail free card for being an assclown to pretty much everyone, especially to women. The problem is (a) I think that's a cop out; (b) that's not really been my experience; (c) it was just so obvious, too obvious; a little nuance would've gone a long way.
He and Dan fall in love really quickly for someone so prickly and determined to keep everyone at arms length. So I found their love suspect. I can do quick but I typically favor relationships building up over time, but what vexed me even more was the codependency. Their relationship is downright toxic at times which automatically makes me question whether it's love or addiction.
They fuck every chance they get and it is hot or it was until it got old which leads me to the editing issues. It could've been streamlined. There is an abundance of filler that's not moving the narrative forward and should've been edited out when the stories were condensed down. There are silly continuity errors, an excessive amount of zany metaphors, too many references to metal bands and I had a hard time believing several of these twenty-somethings would be rattling off 60s and 70s pop culture references. Some of them I had to google!
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| Can you say niche, boys & girls? |
Now that the hypercritical portion is over, there were things I enjoyed too.
Vic sort of cheats on Dan in a drunken stupor and the girl, Heather, wends up knocked up. Dan puts him through the wringer but if you've got issues with MCs being entirely faithful-watch out. Anyhoo, I really liked that Vic stands up and takes responsibility once he finds out. I also liked Heather. She's kind of a spaz but an entertaining one.
Another thing I liked was how publicly affectionate he is with Dan despite the bigotry of others, because why should PDAs be the sole province of heterosexuality? They are supernova hot for each other 24/7 so why suppress that? They could hurt themselves trying to all for the delicate sensibilities of the general population? Pfft.
And last but not least, I liked the team dynamics. Vic makes a couple of friends and their antics are stupid and cute. I also cracked up more than once at the coach. Coach pulls no punches.
They do have a sweet HEA and if the first portion of my review didn't raise red flags then this might be the book for you. I would also say that there are several truly glowing reviews of this series, so grain of salt.
A review copy was provided.
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