Reviewed by Ro
TITLE: Interference
AUTHOR: L.A. Witt
PUBLISHER: GallagherWitt Publishing LLC
LENGTH: 534 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 22, 2024
BLURB: Disabled veteran Wyatt Miller is out of options. Six months after his eviction, every day is a struggle just to survive on the streets. Sometimes, the only thing that motivates him to move forward at all is his determination to protect and feed his beloved service dog, Lily.
Then a cold snap drives Wyatt to beg a veterinary clinic to board Lily… and puts him on the radar of someone who can’t stomach letting the dog or her owner sleep out in the cold.
On the surface, hockey star Anthony Austin has it all. The fans and cameras see a man with dazzling stats, a fairy tale home, and a red hot sports car. He and his longtime boyfriend are the poster boys for out-and-proud male athletes.
The limelight doesn’t see the cracks, though. His boyfriend has quietly moved out, and nothing Anthony says or does will bring him back. Anthony’s play is starting to suffer, and he’s too miserable to care.
When he sees the man pleading for a warm bed for his dog, Anthony doesn’t hesitate to open his home.
All he has in mind is keeping a man and his dog off the street. He has no idea Wyatt is about to upend his world—and his attempts at reconciling with his boyfriend.
Interference is a 140,000+ word slow burn hockey and military romance. Don’t worry – there’s no cheating!
CW: combat PTSD, dying/death of a parent (cancer), experiences and trauma associated with homelessness
REVIEW:
I am not usually one for sports romances. Just not a sports fan. But Anthony and Wyatt just called my name. Wyatt is a disabled Army vet who lost his leg. Through the all too true nightmare of the VA and some plain bad luck, he has ended up homeless on the streets with his incredibly loved dog, Lily. Right away, when his entire concern was his dog, to the point he was willing to give her to a no kill shelter just to make sure she was okay in the harsh winter. Never mind that he’s freezing also. This is how Wyatt meets Anthony. Anthony, hockey player for the Seattle Bobcats, hears Wyatt begging a vet for Lily to have a warm place to stay. Anthony is so lovely and can’t stand the idea of someone struggling like that. “But if she shouldn’t be sleeping out there, then neither should you.” Anthony has Maine Coon cats, Bear and Moose, that he loves dearly so he knows what putting your pets first is like.
Anthony offers his spare room and Wyatt is incredibly grateful. Wyatt feels he has nothing to give, while Anthony is slowly becoming entranced with this battle-scarred, kind man. What throws a wrench into the works is Anthony’s ex-boyfriend and teammate, Simon. When Simon and Anthony got together they were given a lot of shit about it from their team managers and admin. Knowing that it would come to a bad end if they let anyone know they were no longer together, they’ve been playing the charade that everything is great. Simon is the one who left, wanting space and not wanting Anthony, so he moved to an apartment. Anthony stayed in their house. They are leading separate lives, except Simon has to pick Anthony up for practice and games so no one catches on, and when they are on the road they are still assigned the same room. It is incredibly difficult. Anthony has tried to make things work, but Simon doesn’t want to, and he also doesn’t want either of them to move on.
There is also the added specter of this unbelievably skanky tabloid reporter, Cole Tandy. Way back in the day my aunt was an avid National Enquirer reader and would pass them on to me. We would laugh at the ridiculous, skating-the-line of satire, in each magazine. Cole Tandy makes the reporters for the Enquirer look like Anderson Cooper. The entire team hates Tandy. “….he’d rather lick every teammate’s mouthguard than give Cole Tandy the time of day.” So there is always the fear that Tandy will find out what’s really going on.
They are sweet together and also funny. “There’s a café near here that I really like that doesn’t charge an…” Anthony is mortified by it, but Wyatt takes it in stride. “I’m assuming they don’t charge an arm and a leg?” This is a slow burn relationship. The don’t jump in to anything before they have gotten to know each other and I appreciated that. . I loved seeing how the two of them were working through all the baggage that they both have.
I’ll admit, for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why Anthony was ever with Simon. Anthony is kind, good-hearted, and caring. Simon, at least at this stage, is none of those things. I tried to be sympathetic to him because the club really did put a ton of pressure on these two, but his words and actions over and over made me want to slap him. When he gets a comeuppance for his assholery I wanted to cheer!
Hockey fans will appreciate that aspect more than me, and I still loved it! I would definitely recommend giving Anthony and Wyatt a chance.
RATING: 
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