Author: Avon Gale
Narrator: Scott R. Smith
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Run Time: 6 hours and 22 minutes
Category: Contemporary
At a Glance: This book is a definite buy.
Reviewed By: Mike
Blurb: After last season’s heartbreaking loss to his hockey team’s archrival, Jacksonville Sea Storm goalie Riley Hunter is ready to let go of the past and focus on a winning season. His roommate, Ethan Kennedy, is a loud New Yorker with a passion for social justice that matches his role as the team’s enforcer. The quieter Riley is attracted to Ethan and has no idea what to do about it.
Ethan has no hesitations. As fearless as his position demands, he rushes into things without much thought for the consequences. Though they eventually warm to their passionate new bond, it doesn’t come without complications. For their relationship to work, Ethan will need to learn when to keep the gloves on and let someone help him—and Riley will have to learn it’s okay to let someone past his defenses.
Review: Riley Hunter is a goalie for a second tier semi-pro hockey team. Last season his team almost won a championship, and in the process, he met a good friend. Over the course of a season he realized that a life alone is not really a life, even when you are doing a job you truly love.
Ethan Kennedy is a brash, louder than he needs to be, lovable oaf who worms his way into rooming with Riley. The loud and sometimes crass Ethan is a welcome change from the monastic silence that usually fills Riley’s home life. They couldn’t possibly be attracted to one another. Or could they?
Some accidentally discovered porn leads to a frank confrontation—one that winds up with the two men finding mutual desire, and reveals a few kinks they both enjoy. Their office relationship finds ways to grow despite their mutual reticence. Are you being forced if you enjoy it? If he asks for it, are you forcing things or living out a mutual fantasy?
On the ice, their deepening desire for one another is becoming obvious, which forces them to admit feelings are way different than sex. Even if that sex is hotter than anything you’ve ever had. You can’t hide from your team and coach for long. You can’t hide your feelings from your close-knit family. You can’t even hide it from estranged family. So why not just go with it and be happy?
Scott R. Smith returns to narrate book two of the Second Chances series in fine form. There’s so much for him to work with; there’s the slow realization of attraction; there’s the heat between the two men; and then there’s the outside world that they slowly let in on their growing relationship. There is a lot of story packed into this book and yet, with the very good narration by Smith, none of it feels leaden or rushed. The tempo of the read is just right, and the characters have so much depth for him to play in. The multiple female characters all have their own voices and they really enhance the listening experience.
This book is a definite buy. The characters from Breakaway return in brief bits, but they don’t stay long enough to bog down the new story. The narration makes the book even better. If you haven’t had a chance to catch book one, go back and get it, but it is not necessary to read them in order because both stories are freestanding even though they are connected.
You can buy Save of the Game here:
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