Reviewed by Colette

TITLE:    Hat Trick 1

AUTHOR:   Jeff Adams

SERIES: Hat Trick

PUBLISHER:  Queerteen Press

LENGTH:  294 pages

BLURB:

Simon Roberts’ plan for his senior year is simple — help his high school hockey team win the state championship and earn a college scholarship so he can get away from his dysfunctional family, especially his belligerent father and obnoxious older brother.

When the Central High Falcons open their season with an away game, Simon is forced to deal with the problem he’s struggled with for months — his crush on teammate Alex Miller. After the game that night, Alex makes an unexpected announcement — he’s gay, and in love with Simon.

Simon’s elated but scared to openly acknowledge that he’s gay, especially with so much at stake in their senior year. Now that they’re out to each other they have to decide what to do next. Should they date? Should they keep things between them secret? What about the team? Can Simon and Alex hide that they’re more than friends from the guys they spend so much time with?

Then a simple kiss is witnessed and their secret is out. The team fractures, and Simon’s family explodes as news about the gay hockey players quickly spreads. The guys must figure out how to move forward with everyone watching. Being the center of attention was in no way part of Simon’s plan for the year.

Can Simon juggle school, commitments to the team, his new relationship, and an unexpected tragedy all before the end of the hockey season?

REVIEW:

I don’t normally read Young Adult novels, but since I am a major hockey fan, the regular season was over, my team lost the Cup, I was looking for a Hockey fix and this sounded interesting, I thought I would give it a try.  I am really glad I decided to read and review both Hat Trick and the Sequel Hat Trick 2: Playing the Rebound.

The story starts with week 1 of the Falcons Hockey season and his told from Simon’s POV.  The team has won their season opener, an away game.  Simon and Alex are sharing a room together without team mate Jackson – Simon’s best friend who missed the game due to illness.  It is the first time they have been rooming alone and Simon can’t help but notice Alex and how attracted he is to him. Simon thinks he is gay, but he doesn’t want to be. As he says, gay wouldn’t work on the hockey, wouldn’t work in school and definitely wouldn’t work at home.  He is also not sure about Alex’s feelings, sometimes it seemed like he maybe he was as attracted to Simon as Simon was to him, other times not.

After a team celebration at the hotel pool, Simon and Alex head back to their room and decide to order pizza, because teen age boys are always hungry. While eating the pizza Simon learns that Alex is definitely as attracted to him and he is to Alex.  They share that magical first kiss and Simon know for sure that he is gay and that Alex is the one for him.  Simon and Alex are wonderful characters, it is lovely watching their relationship grow, their first date at IHOP, the text messages and goofy looks.  I really liked them and wanted to see them be happy.

Unfortunately, life is never that simple.  Simon’s home life is less than perfect, his father is an abusive, angry man who is never satisfied with anything Simon does, and he favors his older brother Zack, the football star, and puts down Simon at every opportunity.  Zack, picking up on his father’s behavior, treats Simon badly, verbally and physically abusing him until Simon grew enough to fight back.  The rest of the story deals with the fallout of Simon and Alex being outed. Simon’s family reacts badly, there is a lot of pain and some heartbreak, but ultimately Simon and Alex come through.

I would highly recommend this book – the only negative I have is that Simon and Alex are Penguin fans.

RATING:  

BUY LINKS:

JMS Books

Amazon

 

TITLE:    Hat Trick 2: Playing the Rebound

AUTHOR:   Jeff Adams

SERIES: Hat Trick #2

PUBLISHER:   Queerteen Press

LENGTH:  188 pages

BLURB:

The events from two years ago are still fresh in Simon Robert’s mind as he and Alex Miller begin their sophomore year at the University of Michigan. Nightmares are a routine occurrence as Simon relives the crimes his father and brother committed. Now, with his father ill and asking to see him, Simon must decide if he should see the man who tried to send him away to be fixed. And then there’s Zach. Simon’s conflicted about making peace with his older brother who tormented him as they grew up and caused him to be outed to his parents, friends and teammates.

Alex wants Simon to find closure, but Alex is furious at the thought of forgiving Zack. With no clear direction, Simon finds guidance from an unexpected, but very welcome, source.

At the same time, the University’s student body is faced with an anti-gay attacker among them. When he witnesses an attack first hand, memories threaten to overwhelm Simon. At the same time, he’s also emboldened to take action, which might turn him into a target.

Despite the distractions, Simon works towards his future as he begins working with teens at the local LGBT community center. He has the opportunity to use his story as a teaching tool to help others come out. While he’s never enjoyed telling his story, he looks for the courage to speak his truth to an audience.

Luckily, not everything is chaos. Simon and Alex mark their anniversary in epic fashion, continue to play hockey and hang out with good friends. But with many demands on them, can Simon and Alex set up the rebound necessary to create the scoring opportunity for their future?

REVIEW:

This is an excellent sequel to Hat Trick, Simon and Alex are now sophomores at the University of Michigan, they are still a couple, still play hockey together and still the same wonderful young men.  They are out to everyone, and have great friends on and off the team.

Simon though, is still having nightmares about what happened 2 years ago, because of what he went through Simon changed his major to social work and has a work study assignment with the Ann Arbor LGBT Community Center.

There are 2 story lines going on, the first is what is going on at the University, the anti-gay attacks and the second, Simon dealing with his father and brother and finding closure and peace.

I really enjoyed both these books and would recommend them to both young adults and anyone else interested in a good love story.

PS – I wish I had an anniversary has sweet and romantic as the one Alex planned!

RATING:  

BUY LINKS:

JMS Books

amazon