Reviewed by Chris

TITLE:  Save of the Game

SERIES:  Scoring Chances #2

AUTHOR:  Avon Gale

PUBLISHER:  Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH:  200 pages

RELEASE DATE:  January 29, 2016

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 new 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. While trying to financially help Ethan, Riley must hide his family’s wealth so as not to hurt Ethan’s immense pride. 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:  

I’m beginning to think that books by Avon Gale have some type of super power. Like, not only does the mere fact that I’m going to read one of her books suddenly make all the books I happen to read around the same time like really awesome–but they also have the power to make me forget (even if only for a little while) that I’m supposed to be feeling sick and miserable and extremely grumpy.

Do you know how hard it is to be grumpy when you have a toppy goalie tying up a hot defenseman with hockey laces and making him suck the goalies’ cock? It very very hard. Nearly impossible. No grumps to be found. At all.

Magic, I tell you. Fucking magic.

So, yeah. If you can’t tell, I really loved this book. No surprise since I basically adored book one in the series. I was a little worried that me feeling like puck left out in the sun too long was going to make it hard to really enjoy this story, but I guess I forgot how easily I can be distracted by a good book. And a good book it was.

We kinda met Riley and Ethan in Breakaway, the first book of this series (and if you haven’t read it you really really oughtta even if it is not strictly required to get this book–it is just freaking awesome) and while I was seriously looking forward to meeting them again in this book I was not prepared for how freaking great they were going to be.

Goalies are my thing–like chocolate covered pretzels only thousand times more fun to nibble on–and Riley, oh sweet toppy if slightly insecure Riley was amazeballs. He has a lot of money but he really doesn’t want people to know because that is all they will see when they look at him. Which becomes a bit of a problem when Ethan, who has never really had much of anything but his family, moves in. And it does become a problem, just not in the ways you expect. I loved that Riley just wanted to use his money to help Ethan (and the other people he loves) and how frustrated he gets that no one seems to get that helping them is all Riley thinks his money is good for. It really made me like Riley–and usually I have a hard time with really rich characters because being broke most of my life tends to leave a guy a bit jaded.

There is so much I love about this book. The characters are so much fun. The writing is witty and sarcastic and real enough to make me forget for a little while that I’m not actually a hockey player stuck in the south and playing for a team with a really pissed off water-tornado thing on my jersey. And forgetting to be me, yesterday, was what I really really needed.

This series so far has been great and I can’t wait for the next one. Avon Gale clearly knows how to write kickass hockey players without bowing down to every cliche in the book. From one hockey lover to the next, I must recommend them with the highest of praise.

(And I’m almost 100% positive that that isn’t just the drugs I am on speaking.)

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Dreamspinner

Amazon

ARe