Reviewed by Chris
TITLE: How To Quit Playing Hockey
SERIES: Hockey #1
AUTHOR: Isa K.
PUBLISHER: Loose Id
LENGTH: 155 pages
RELEASE DATE: September 17, 2012
BLURB:
Mac has never wanted to be out. He’s not ashamed of his sexuality–especially after he started hooking up with his teammate, Fritzy. The lies are exhausting, but the risks that come with the truth are enough to convince him to keep his mouth shut.
Fritzy already has a reputation as a troublemaker. He’s actually good enough to make to the major leagues … if anyone will take him and being out and gay makes that even less likely. So, they have to stay quiet for now. Be hockey players today, be gay later. Mac has always felt that coming out was a personal decision, but this is clearly a business decision.
Unfortunately for him the business of hockey means a lot of homophobia passed off casually and thoughtlessly. His teammate aren’t bad guys. His coaches aren’t bad guys. The reporters, the fans, the scouts and agents–no one wants to be called a bigot, but nobody thinks about the things they say in jest. Just how much longer will Mac have to stick to business? How many more lies will he and Fritzy have to tell just to hold onto their dreams?
REVIEW:
I don’t get very many chances to read romance stories where the couple are already together (well, outside sequels anyways). Which is a pity because they’re some of my favourite kind. I like the idea that the coming together is not the end of the story, or that sometimes it takes years to get to the point of being ready to say I love you. Much like Mac and Fritzy, in this story, the romance isn’t so much in the ‘will they fall in love?’ but in the ‘what are they willing to sacrifice for that love?’
There are two love stories going on in the book.
One–the most obvious–is the relationship between Mac and Fritzy. They have already got together when this story begins, and are in a mostly happy spot in their lives. Mostly happy because they feel that they can not have both hockey and each other openly, and because their careers are in a precarious place at the moment. Frizzy is facing his first real shot at attaining his dream of professional hockey–with all the doubts and uncertainties that come with it. Mac, however, is seeing the end of his hockey-playing days–far sooner than he would like.
Which leads us to the second love story of How to Quit Playing Hockey: Mac’s love for the sport. Frizzy is also in love with what he does, but being as the story is told from Mac’s povs, it only effects the story tangentially. Mac is faced with the quite scary prospect that his hockey career is probably no longer numbered in years, but in months. He has no clue what to do with that info, though. Faced with the prospect of losing something he has loved all his life, he starts to wonder if all the sacrifices he made for that love were worth it. Especially those sacrifices made in connection to Fritzy.
With the possibility that he could lose one, or both, Mac has some hard choices to make. Not all of them are great, but when you are scrambling to hold onto something, sometimes you make an ass of yourself. Sometimes it is worth it. Even when ukuleles are involved.
This story has a lot going for it. I especially loved the secondary characters–even Burgy the Ass, in the end. The look at hockey thru both the lenses of going up, and coming down, made the story heartfelt if a little sad on Mac’s part. And I loved Fritzy’s choice…no matter why he did it. I like that it wasn’t what Mac thought it was, even if it kinda was in the end.
This book went some interesting directions and I have to say I enjoyed all of them. I’m usually satisfied with anything hockey, but the fact that it also had all this other stuff going for it, made it all the better. And something I would recommend hockey lovers (or just love-lovers) pick up.
RATING:
BUY LINKS:
It’s HOCKEY!!