Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE:  On the Ice

SERIES:  Stick Side Book 1

AUTHOR:  Amy Aislin

NARRATOR:  Adam Lawrence

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH:  8 hours and 52 minutes

RELEASE DATE:  October 23, 2020

BLURB:

For college sophomore Mitch Greyson, determination and persistence are the name of the game if he wants to make it as a professional hockey player.

A busy schedule of practices, games, classes, homework, two part-time jobs, and now, working with a tutor to help him pass the class he’s failing so that he can keep his scholarship shouldn’t leave him with enough time to flirt with the NHL player in town. But that doesn’t stop him.

Placed on the injured reserve list until his broken arm heals, NHL Defenseman Alex Dean is using the time off to be with his ailing grandfather and get a head start on the book he’s been commissioned to write. He doesn’t expect to get roped into a tutoring gig, especially not for cocky, smart-ass Mitch.

But Alex soon discovers that there’s more to Mitch than meets the eye, and he really likes what he sees. Only Alex doesn’t dare risk his NHL career by coming out, and a relationship between them would jeopardize Mitch’s chances with the organization, too.

It looks impossible. Then again, the best things usually do!

REVIEW:

In On the Ice, Amy Aislin delivers an impactful, emotional romance focusing on the slow-burn development of the relationship between brainiac and rising hockey superstar Mitch Greyson and demisexual NHL defensive lineman Alex Dean.  On the Ice’s title belies the important off-the-ice exploration of an authentic romantic relationship amidst real-world challenges and external influences.  The story really focuses on what happens between and around the NHL and college hockey games.  It follows how these two very different men come together to love and support each other in less than ideal circumstances.  It thoroughly explores a relationship between two men building up trust and connection slowly. 

On the Ice blew me away.  It contains top notch writing, carefully crafted, complex, multi-dimensional characters and an alternately heartwarming and heartbreaking romance.  This is all wrapped in an altogether absorbing storyline.  Ms. Aislin refuses to portray Mitch and Alex’s sexualities tritely or as simply a plot device.  She lends sensitive treatment to Alzheimer’s and its impact on the loved ones left reeling in its wake.  She depicts the challenges of facing homophobia in a generally homophobic world of sports, and provides a detailed, probing examination of the toll of hockey on its players and the sacrifices they make for the love of the game.  All of this is told through a lens that unflinchingly focuses on Mitch and Alex.  It makes it hard for the reader to look at times, but impossible to look away.  Ms. Aislin scored a writing hat trick there and that’s no easy feat.

So you may wonder about my rating here, given that what I’ve just described is a 5 Heart/star read.  My rating is for the audiobook.  I will readily admit that it is truly difficult for me to attach anything less than top marks to Amy Aislin’s amazing story, but unfortunately, the narration really let me down. 

New-to-me narrator, Adam Lawrence, narrates On the Ice and he does a competent job of it.  Narration, by definition, is giving a spoken account of something.  And he does that … but not much more.  In my view, an audiobook should do more.  It should elevate the words on the page, creating a three-dimensional sensory experience where we hear the characters, see the scenes and feel the emotions without relying on our own minds to concoct all of those details in our own heads.  It also provides examination and interpretation of the text that we as the reader may miss until we hear the narrator share it with us through his voice. 

Ideally, a narrator delivers a vocal performance, like live audio theater.  But short of that, the narrator should augment the reader’s experience by facilitating connection with and understanding of the characters and giving the story spatial dimension. What I heard here was not that.  I heard a recitation of lines.  A singular voice reading the story rather than embodying it. 

Mr. Lawrence uses virtually the same tone throughout, with minimal differentiation between character voices.  The mainly invariable, unchanging delivery across the majority of the narrative confused and distracted me.  The narration lacked emotional investment.  The voices felt insubstantial, hollow.  Like parchment paper, the narration created a thin, opaque overlay to the story which obscured my view of Mitch and Alex’s touching, complex relationship, rather than enhanced it.

Ms. Aislin’s exceptional, emotionally impactful story, when juxtaposed with this competent but bland narration, amplifies the mismatch between the voices in my ears and the words my eyes were seeing on the page.  Ironically, the stellar story made the narration seem worse, not better.  I get the impression Mr. Lawrence is a less experienced narrator since I don’t see a lot of audiobooks with him on the narration byline.  Hopefully with time will come improvement in things like pacing, pitch, tone, inflections, emphasis … all of the variations that create texture in a voice and translate the vulnerability and the subtleties of a character’s emotions for the reader.  

All that being said, preferences for narrators and audiobooks are even more subjective than those in the books themselves, so maybe you’ll completely disagree with me.  For that reason, whenever I dislike an audio for an otherwise amazing book, I recommend two things:  

1. Read the book.  I would never want an audiobook review to dissuade a reader from enjoying an otherwise excellent book.  Audiobooks can be listened to alone or in tandem with reading, which is my preferred method.  So if you have the ability to read and listen, try that.  But whatever you do, read it.
2. Listen to the sample of the audiobook and see what you think of it.  You may be looking for something different in an audio than I am, and this audiobook may fit the bill for you even though it didn’t for me.

My ultimate rating reflects my view of the audiobook alone.  While I don’t recommend it, I do heavily, heartily and happily recommend Amy Aislin’s On the Ice in traditional book format.  I hope you will indulge my two recommendations above so you don’t miss out on a gem of a story in whatever format works best for you.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Audible 

Amazon