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Not books, just book this time
I finished The Shots You Take (hockey m/m book) a few days ago and feel like posting about it before I've got any more other books done. This book was so good it both solved a problem and created a problem for me. I had been thinking just last week how it's annoying that I don't have a book that I can recommend without caveats, and nothing that hits that sweet spot of both being well written and having content and themes that appeal to me. This book solves that problem.
The problem it makes is that it's a m/m hockey romance by Rachel Reid that's not in the Game Changers series. I want to recc Heated Rivalry, Tough Guy and other books in the series, but all those books are weighed down by being in an series of uneven quality. Some amazing writing, and some not. Come join the TV show waiting room anyway, we have fic (I even wrote some), and one of the actors has been posting thirst traps to insta. Ignore that there is a much better book by her that's a stand alone and come join us.
I put off this book for a while because it's a second chance romance where one of the guys really hurt the other in the past. I usually hate these kinds of storylines. The problem is that authors like to make the past be really bad for drama and angst... and then either they start to hand wave how bad it was to make the story work or they have one side of the pairing basically have to take it in the teeth, choose the relationship over themselves. There is none of that in this book. I have literally no notes about anything in the novel. Nothing made me go 'ugh' or 'well it has to be like this for it to work'.
In general, Reid is really good having a sense that characters also need to look after themselves and have boundaries. Even if someone is being terrible, you need to find a way to communicate that, shield yourself, GTFO, etc. Placing value on having a sense of personal responsibility while also not not feeling like the narrative is in any way blaming either or both of the characters? A lot of stuff is just really well handled in the book.
Anyway, the book is about two hockey players from the same team who had a messy relationship they didn't really talk about reconnecting years later in a small town in Nova Scotia. MC1's dad just died and MC2 shows up to the funeral even though they hadn't talked in about eight years. I'd been putting off the book, the only one I hadn't read by her yet, because I just assumed something about the plotline would piss me off. I just assumed that was part of these sorts of stories. But I was wrong. Seriously good, 10/10, no notes.
I finished The Shots You Take (hockey m/m book) a few days ago and feel like posting about it before I've got any more other books done. This book was so good it both solved a problem and created a problem for me. I had been thinking just last week how it's annoying that I don't have a book that I can recommend without caveats, and nothing that hits that sweet spot of both being well written and having content and themes that appeal to me. This book solves that problem.
The problem it makes is that it's a m/m hockey romance by Rachel Reid that's not in the Game Changers series. I want to recc Heated Rivalry, Tough Guy and other books in the series, but all those books are weighed down by being in an series of uneven quality. Some amazing writing, and some not. Come join the TV show waiting room anyway, we have fic (I even wrote some), and one of the actors has been posting thirst traps to insta. Ignore that there is a much better book by her that's a stand alone and come join us.
I put off this book for a while because it's a second chance romance where one of the guys really hurt the other in the past. I usually hate these kinds of storylines. The problem is that authors like to make the past be really bad for drama and angst... and then either they start to hand wave how bad it was to make the story work or they have one side of the pairing basically have to take it in the teeth, choose the relationship over themselves. There is none of that in this book. I have literally no notes about anything in the novel. Nothing made me go 'ugh' or 'well it has to be like this for it to work'.
In general, Reid is really good having a sense that characters also need to look after themselves and have boundaries. Even if someone is being terrible, you need to find a way to communicate that, shield yourself, GTFO, etc. Placing value on having a sense of personal responsibility while also not not feeling like the narrative is in any way blaming either or both of the characters? A lot of stuff is just really well handled in the book.
Anyway, the book is about two hockey players from the same team who had a messy relationship they didn't really talk about reconnecting years later in a small town in Nova Scotia. MC1's dad just died and MC2 shows up to the funeral even though they hadn't talked in about eight years. I'd been putting off the book, the only one I hadn't read by her yet, because I just assumed something about the plotline would piss me off. I just assumed that was part of these sorts of stories. But I was wrong. Seriously good, 10/10, no notes.
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Date: 2025-08-10 05:43 am (UTC)From:Onto the TBR list it goes...
(I'm joking! I'm delighted for good recs! The list just keeps growing!)
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Date: 2025-08-10 11:29 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2025-08-10 03:36 pm (UTC)From:OMG, I keep forgetting: please tell me you have seen the video of the Kraken mascot getting chased by a bear!!
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Date: 2025-08-12 03:37 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2025-08-12 03:48 pm (UTC)From:I saw clips of it on insta without context. I just looked it up. I didn't realize that was a real thing that happened, I thought it was a bit I didn't get. That must have been scary to deal with in a costume!
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Date: 2025-08-18 02:48 am (UTC)From:And especially after dealing with a lot of really terrible books, or just mediocre ones that weren't what they were advertised as, etc.
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Date: 2025-08-18 05:13 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2025-08-20 04:13 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2025-08-20 05:11 am (UTC)From:Never thought I'd be so happy to have found hockey romance of all things
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Date: 2025-08-23 03:43 am (UTC)From:I have truly waded through some awful trash at times, that really didn't have even any vaguely redeeming features.
Who knew? I've known that hockey romance *is* a big thing, but never really even thought about giving it a go. Apparently it's very worthwhile!
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Date: 2025-08-23 04:23 am (UTC)From:I haven't tried any other hockey romances yet, but a few are on my radar. One is called Him, which is confusing because Him is also the name of an upcoming sports/masculinity themed horror film. I just collecting fandoms with disambiguation problems. The Ninth House, Game Changers... and I want to say there's at least one other with the 'something else with the same name' problem
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Date: 2025-08-25 03:06 am (UTC)From:I have seen the trailers for the upcoming horror Him, which I'm sure I'll see when it comes out. I did not know there was a hockey romance by the same name! It's a bit surprising just how often that happens, with things sharing titles with unrelated media... I mean, only so many words to go around and all, but still!
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Date: 2025-08-25 05:33 pm (UTC)From: