Reviewed by Donna

 

SERIES REVIEW: Glasgow Lads

AUTHOR: Avery Cockburn

PUBLISHER: Self Published

 

 

BOOK #0.5 TITLE: Play On

LENGTH: 152 Pages

BLURB:

Duncan Harris is on the edge. Scandal has shredded his LGBT soccer team’s history-making season, and now the once-unflappable striker is lashing out. Only one person can tame Duncan’s rage and make him feel like himself again…

Bullied by schoolmates in his wee village, Brodie Campbell lurked deep in the closet before coming to the city of Glasgow. Here at university he’s out and proud, but the years of abuse have left him emotionally paralyzed. Can flatmate Duncan help Brodie escape his past and heal his wounded heart?

As the two lads grow closer, Brodie can’t forget how athletes like Duncan once tortured him. When Duncan attacks an opponent who threatens Brodie, the situation escalates. Soon Brodie doesn’t feel safe anywhere—especially in Duncan’s arms.

To defeat the bullies who’ve wrecked his life, his mind, and his ability to love, Brodie must find the strength to fight his own battles. And Duncan must find the strength to let him.

 

REVIEW:

Playing for the Woodstoun Warriors soccer team is pretty much the highlight of Duncan’s life. Well, playing for the Warriors and the sloppy, drunken encounter with his flat mate, Brodie. Not that the sloppy and drunk part were all that great, but it gave Duncan hope that the guy he’s been checking out over the last year may actually be interested in him too. You’d think that it would be the perfect time for Duncan to make his move, things have turned to shite with his soccer team, and starting a thing with Brodie would be just the distraction he needs. But after that one drunken hookup, Brodie disappeared back to his home town, and now that he’s back he’s trying to say that he’s not interested. Luckily for Duncan, though obviously it’s not such a blessing for Brodie, Brodie has returned to university suffering from mono and Duncan sees his chance, claiming responsibility and offering to help Brodie until he’s better.

I liked this story a lot, although when Brodie’s dramatics and Duncan’s hotheadedness annoyed me, I had to remind myself that they were only teenagers. On top of their young ages, there were other factors that contributed to their extreme reactions. Brodie grew up dealing with rampant homophobia and was the victim of severe bullying. One of the reasons he’s so scared to start something with Duncan is because to some extent, he’s scared of him. Strong, loud, aggressive sports players who are quick to get physical with each other. Brodie knows that type. And Duncan has been feeling a whole lot of aggression lately. His beloved Warriors are falling apart and players from other teams, with their homophobic slurs aren’t helping. You can see the train wreck coming from a mile away.

This is the novella that begins the series, but honestly, I would have liked it to come after Playing for Keeps. Both of those books begin at the very same soccer game, but I guess because the second book covers a greater time frame, this one comes first. I just felt that I had a greater appreciation for this book after reading the next book. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed this, but this series is about the soccer team and they didn’t feel so important to this story. This felt more like a college story. Had I already met Duncan and had a better knowledge of the team’s dynamics then the soccer may have come through more than I actually noticed.

Although this book pretty much reads as young adult, the next book in the series isn’t. I hope that the fact that these first two MCs are teenagers doesn’t scare off anyone considering giving this series a read.

 

RATING: 

 

BUY LINK:

Amazon

 

BOOK #1 TITLE: Playing for Keeps

LENGTH: 326 Pages

BLURB:

Fergus Taylor is damaged goods. Reeling from a brutal breakup, he’s determined to captain his LGBT soccer team out of scandal and into a winning season. For that, he needs strict rules and careful plans. He does NOT need a brash, muscle-bound lad messing with his head and setting his body afire.

John Burns has a rule of his own: Don’t get attached. Boyfriends are for guys with nothing to hide. Nobody—not his university mates, not the men he beds—knows his family’s shame. Now his double life is starting to unravel, thanks to a certain Highlander whose storm-riddled eyes turn John inside out, who wears a kilt like he was born in it.

Fergus is the first man John wants to share his secret with—but he’s the last man who could handle it. John knows the truth would shatter Fergus’s still-fragile heart. But how can he live a lie when he’s falling in love?

 

REVIEW:

I need to begin this review with a confession. I discovered this problem when reading Cronin’s Key by N.R. Walker and it happened again with this book. When I get really excited over a book that features at least one Scottish main character I begin reading their lines out loud in my rather brilliant attempt at a Scottish accent. Well, I think it sounds brilliant. At the very least it’s enthusiastic! So when I found myself bellowing out Scots-speak, I knew I was on to a winner.

We met both Fergus and John in the previous book. Fergus is the new captain of the Woodstoun Warriors after the previous captain, who was Fergus’ long time boyfriend, fled to Belgium with “the other man” with nothing more than a FedExed break up note. He’s worked hard to bring cohesion back to his damaged team and now he just wants to play some drama-free soccer. And that doesn’t suit John’s plans at all.

John is trying to plan a great spectacle of a match between the Warrior’s LGBT team and a more traditional soccer team. Its purpose is to draw awareness to the plight of LGBT refugees in the United Kingdom. There’s attraction between the two men from the moment they meet. Fergus is on the rebound from a horrible breakup and John doesn’t do relationships, but neither man wants to walk away. Unfortunately, Fergus has some very understandable trust issues and John…well, John is hiding the mother of all secrets.

This book was really different from the first. To start with the men are a bit older and they don’t indulge in all of the dramatics that teens are known for. In fact I was pleasantly surprised several times when there was potential for an argument or hurt feelings, but instead whichever MC was in the wrong would apologize and they’d get over it. Of course, all of John’s lies had to come out sooner or later, and that occurred with the major blowout I was expecting.

As to John’s lies, I 100% understood why he did it. You don’t need to have any prior understanding of the “battle” between Catholics and Protestants to comprehend the problem John faces. The author so skillfully weaves this tale of romance and soccer around you, that you don’t even see all of the social, political and religious messages in this book until you’re slapped in the face with one harsh reality after another.

Unlike the first book this one had STEAM. Yes, capitals, bolded and italics. The sex isn’t just an added bonus either, but important to the story. You can see Fergus’s confidence rebuilding as John proves again, and again that he really wants him. And hello! Scotland! You know what that means right? There’s fucking in kilts. Fucking. In. Kilts.

After the hyped up lead up to the soccer match I was worried that I’d end up disappointed, but this author never once fumbled the ball. The match was as epic as this story deserved, as John and Fergus deserved.

I can’t wait to start the third book and find out what is next in store for this awesome series.

 

RATING: 

BUY LINK:

Amazon

 

BOOK #2 TITLE: Playing to Win

LENGTH: 360 Pages

BLURB:

Colin MacDuff has nothing. Growing up in a Glasgow slum, he learned never to trust, never to cry—and never EVER to be at the mercy of anyone, especially rich men. So how did he end up half-naked at a rave with Scotland’s hottest young aristocrat?

Lord Andrew Sunderland has everything. From ancestral castle to posh prep school, he’s spent his life wrapping others around his wee finger. With a social circle full of celebrities and politicians, nothing can stop Andrew’s rise to the top. Nothing, that is, save his desire for a dirt-poor, wolf-eyed footballer whose scars and tattoos tell unbearable tales.

Colin and Andrew come from different worlds, believe in different worlds, want different worlds. Yet every time they touch, all worlds fall away.

Set amid the fiery Scottish-independence struggle, this searing gay romance tells the story of two men who must lose everything to win each other’s hearts.

 

REVIEW:

While I was excited to Playing to Win, I was also a little worried because I figured there was no way it could be as good as the previous book in the series. But I think, just maybe, this one is the winner.

We already knew there was something between Woodstoun Warrior, Colin, and Lord Andrew Sunderland and I liked the fact that there wasn’t any messing around in getting these two together. This story starts a week after the big charity match from the second story, but the focus here isn’t football, but the approaching vote for Scottish independence. Had I known that going in, I may have been a little leery, I’m rather addicted to the football in this series so I was looking forward to seeing more of it, but this book was about something much more important. Politics. (Did I just hear a groan?) Yes, I was expecting football, but instead I got politics and you know what, I loved the ever lovin’ heck out of it. I said before that this author can slap you in the face with religion and make you love it, well with this book Avery Cockburn takes politics and makes it exciting. And heartbreaking. I already knew what the result of the vote was going to be, but still, wow, the characters’ reactions were brilliantly emotional and I wanted to weep right along with them.

Once again both main characters were well written and wonderfully flawed. Colin is stubborn and daring to the point of stupid, but he’s also so loyal and brave that you fall in love with him almost instantly. He puts on such a tough guy front, yet the author fills him with vulnerability till he’s drowning in it, and only Andrew really sees his fears.

Lord Andrew, on the other hand, is somehow both shallow and deep. He’s rather obsessed with his celebrity, and is a master of working the masses. He’s a judgmental snob who has no understanding of the poor folk he preaches about. He should be thoroughly unlikeable, yet somehow he crawls into your heart, right along side Colin. What I liked most about the character of Andrew, is that there was no monumental shift in his character. He can admit that he was wrong about some things, but his personality wasn’t changed to fit more smoothly with Colin.

As with the previous book, the sex was knock your socks off hot but was also an essential part of the story. This book may be longer than the norm but every part of it is important, and every scene counts.

Colin and Andrew are my favourite couple in this series so far, and I’m so excited to see what this author comes up with next.

RATING:  

 

BUY LINK:

Amazon

 

 

I’m not, in any way shape or form, what anybody would call a soccer fan. The only reason I read the first two books was because they were free for a limited time on Amazon, and to be honest, I read them not expecting to be that excited by the series. I liked the first book enough to dive straight into the second book, and that second book…wow. I loved it so much I felt I had a duty to review it. The author had given this away for free and it was bloody amazing! At this point the author has at least one more novella and one more full length book planned for this series. And I for one have penciled those dates into my calendar. Hands down, without a doubt, Avery Cockburn is the most exciting author that I’ve discovered this year.

 

OVERALL RATING: