Reviewed by Chris

TITLE:  Power Play

SERIES:  Scoring Chances #3

AUTHOR:  Avon Gale

PUBLISHER:  Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH:  200 pages

RELEASE DATE:  May 9, 2016

BLURB:  

A freak accident during the Stanley Cup Playoffs put an end to Max Ashford’s hockey career. Despite everything, Max gets back into the game he loves—only this time, behind the bench as an assistant coach of the Spartanburg Spitfires, the worst team in the entire league. But nothing prepares him for the shock when he learns the new head coach is Misha Samarin, the man who caused Max’s accident.

After spending years guilt ridden for his part in Max’s accident, Russian native Misha Samarin has no idea what to do when he’s confronted with Max’s presence. Max’s optimism plays havoc with Misha’s equilibrium—as does the fierce attraction that springs up between them.

Not only must they navigate Misha’s remorse and a past he’s spent a lifetime trying to forget, but also a sleazy GM who is determined to use their history as a marketing hook. But when an unwelcome visitor targets a player, Misha revisits his darkest days, and that might cost him and Max the beginning they’ve worked so hard to build.

REVIEW:  

By the end of training camp, they had a team of, if not champions, at least passably decent hockey players.

A rousing endorsement to be sure. But it was a start, and that was all they needed. They had a clean start, a new team, a new attitude, and a new coaching staff behind the bench. The season was alive with possibilities, and the excitement in the arena was palpable. 

Or it would be, if Max led some kind of charmed, Lifetime-movie existence. Which he did not. And he knew that because watching Lifetime movies was a guilty pleasure he absolutely would not admit to anyone.

What he really had was a team of misfits captained by a goalie with anger-management issues and a facial piercing, coached by the man who ended Max’s professional hockey career, and owned and managed by a sleazy asshole who was going to use that for publicity. 

With one hit two hockey careers were ended. Max–whose eyesight was now damaged–and Misha–whose spirit (and reputation) was crushed–were both out of the hockey-playing game. Now, five years later, both Max and Misha have been brought  in to help revitalize (or resurrect) the Spartanburg Spitfires. The hope being  that a new coaching staff will give the dead-end team some chance of winning (and more importantly to some, putting some damn butts in the seats). But if the coaching itself can’t pull that off, Jack Belsey (owner and general manager) is perfectly happy to put the pressure on the coaches. Using their past to sell tickets might be a bit dirty, but a dirty goal is still a goal. At least to some.

Stuck together with players that were, only in the loosest of senses of the word, a team, and an owner willing to push the worst night in his two coaches’ lives to any and all who are willing to buy it, Misha and Max must work past their pasts. No matter how badly they both want their history to stay exactly that.

Moving the series from our much loved Jacksonville Sea Storm hockey players and into the territory of the struggling Spitfires new coaching staff, Power Play gives us the same great hockey inspired stories but from behind the bench instead of on it. While there was a noticeable lack of characters from previous books (except for a few cameos) this book does not let the reader regret it for long. When Max and Misha were not burning up the pages with their Russian-fueled love affair, the secondary characters like Drake and, yes, even Belsey, brought in enough humor and dramatic tension to satisfy new and past fans alike.

From painful pasts to current delimas, this book has more of an edge than the two previous books. It becomes clear, as the story goes along, that Misha has more than his fair share of baggage wrapped around his neck. While the exact nature of his past does not unfold till nearly the end, we are able to see its impact on just about every corner of his life. From past hockey decisions to his present relationship with Max.

Power Play really isn’t a book about coming out, but it touches brilliantly  on the consequences–both negative and positive–of choosing to live out in the open. Not nearly a new theme in gay romances, it is still given a touch of humanity in this book that brought the characters to life. I also must say that I am happy to see how deftly Gale handled the whole gay/Russia thing. Instead of going out of her way to educate the reader, she just let the characters do the talking–leading to a much more memorable result.

If you’ve read Breakaway or Save of the Game, you already know what to expect from this author in terms of storytelling. This book is no exception. An excellent mix of romance, humor, and well-researched and attention-grabbing hockey, this book is Avon Gale’s storytelling Hat Trick. Hooked from the beginning, I was only more impressed as the story went on. The delicate edge of human emotions was finely balanced to highlight wonderfully crafted characters all the while never letting the pace slip or the plot stall. The story seemed nearly effortless–and that in itself makes it all the more impressive.

Unsure how Gale can improve on her already incredible series, I am nonetheless on the edge of my seat to see what she has for us next. If past books are to be any indicator, this series will only get better as we go along.

RATING:  

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