Reviewed by Chris
TITLE: Empty Net
SERIES: Scoring Chances #4
AUTHOR: Avon Gale
NARRATOR: Scott R. Smith
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 6 hrs 38 mins
RELEASE DATE: January 10, 2017
BLURB:
Spartanburg Spitfires’ goalie and captain Isaac Drake ended last season with an unexpected trip to the playoffs. He’s found a home and family with his coach and mentor, Misha Samarin, and he’s looking forward to making a serious run for the Kelly Cup. But things take an interesting turn when Isaac’s archnemesis, Laurent St. Savoy, is traded to the Spitfires. After Laurent’s despicable behavior in the playoffs last year, Isaac wants nothing to do with him – no matter how gorgeous he is. But that changes when Isaac discovers the reason for Laurent’s attitude.
Laurent St. Savoy grew up the only son of a legendary NHL goalie in a household rife with abuse, constantly treated like a disappointment on and off the ice. When a desperate attempt to escape his father’s tyranny sends him to the Spitfires, the last thing Laurent wants is to make friends. But there’s something about Isaac Drake that he can’t resist, and Laurent has an opportunity to explore his sexuality for the first time, but he’s cracking under end-of-the season pressures. When facing the playoffs and a rivalry turned personal vendetta, Isaac’s not sure he’s enough to hold Laurent—or their relationship—together.
Please be advised: This book does contain some non-graphic references to past childhood physical/emotional abuse as well as issues relating to ED (bulimia and restricted eating, disordered thoughts about eating).
REVIEW:
After a long wait (ok, it was only a couple a months, but come on) I finally got my hands (/ears) on this audio version of Avon Gale’s fourth book in her Scoring Chances series, Empty Net. There was practically no way I wasn’t going enjoy this (having already read and loved the book in its original ebook version) but I’ve had a blast reliving all these books in audio format, so I was more than ready to go back and see Isaac, Saint, Misha, Max, and the rest of the Spartanburg Spitfires.
For those of you who have yet to experience the awesome of this book, the story is set around two secondary characters from the previous book, Power Play, Isaac Drake—the hothead Spitfire goalie—and Laurent St. Savoy—the angry and much hated goalie for the Spitfire’s arch rivals, the Ravens. When Laurent is traded to the Spitfires absolutely no one is happy about it—with the probable exceptions of Jack Belsey, the owner of the Spitfires, and Denis St. Savoy, Laurent’s father. Though Laurent’s father, who was the head coach of the Ravens and pushed for the trade as a punishment, is only happy that Laurent is not. *cough* asshole *cough*
With nearly everyone on the Spitfires not wanting him near them—and in no way shy about showing it—Laurent knows there is little hope that his new home and team will be any better than his last. Well, at least he didn’t have to live with his physically and mentally abusive jackass of a father and coach. That’s something, if not a hill of beans. But he still hates hockey, hates his choices, and hates himself. A change of scenery isn’t likely to change that. That is right up until the one teammate who seems to hate him the most—Isaac Drake—unexpectedly reaches out and offers him a place where he doesn’t have to feel anything but safe.
A lot can be said for this story, but most of it is variations on how much I loved it. The characters were as great as I remembered, and Scott R. Smith did an excellent job once again of taking something I already loved and making it even better. Saint really shines in this book. All his issues are dealt with in a responsible, but also interesting, manner. There is nothing I like less than reading in a story what feels like a poorly plagiarized copy of a WebMD article. Gale does a fantastic job of focusing on Saint and who he is, bringing his eating disorder and various anger and self-esteem issues that got pushed on him by his father to the front in a wholly sympathetic manner. Saint isn’t his condition(s), but he is a man who is greatly impacted by them. I like that I could feel that in this story.
As I’ve said previously, in my review for the ebook version of this story, this book tends to not focus overmuch on the game aspect of hockey, instead being more character-driven. The downside to this is that the when the season ends we still have a bit more story to go and people who are used to sports stories that start and stop in line with a season run, the pacing might seem a bit weird. When you are used to the climax of the season mirroring the climax of the story, you might find yourself a little confused why the Spitfire cup run seems to fade into the background by the end of the story. This is pretty much the only complaint I think I can make about this story. Which isn’t much of a complaint, really, since I love that the focus here is centered on Laurent’s coming to grips with being a real boy—and not some angry puppet for his father to shove around.
I’m not sure why this pacing issue was a bit more noticeable in the audio book though, but I think it might have something to do with the way I tend to listen to them. I usually listen in stops and starts (mostly on my train rides to and from work) so it is harder to get sucked into the story as easily as I do in written books. I don’t remember this really being an issue when I originally read the story. And to be honest, it didn’t really bug me, but I did notice it all the same.
I don’t think it is possible for me to pick a favorite book in this series, but I will admit that the scene between Misha and Isaac, where Misha calls Isaac “my son” for the first time, is one of my favorite scenes. The relationship between these two is one of the most awesome parts of books three and four. It just gets me every time I read Power Play and Empty Net. There are a lot of great things about those books, but the father/son relationship that grows between them is truly sigh worthy. And I love that Avon was able to really bring that relationship into focus without losing all the other important bits of the story.
As always, this audio book is highly recommended.
(As if anyone expected anything less.)
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