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* Goaltender Interference by Ari Baran - This book was recc'd to me so much. I read the other Ari Baran books in order to get to it, and then I didn't like it much.
I am very glad I read the other books. Ari Baran's stuff is still the best hockey m/m I've read outside of Rachel Reid's books. But yeah, this didn't do it for me.
I've heard that a popular m/m hockey book had name choices that are very distracting if you are a Kraken fan. Well, found the book! Unlike a certain other situation also involving squiddy names, I am very sure this was unintentional. But wow, the name choices threw me out of the book a few times. That made it harder to get into, but I don't think a F&R on the names would have helped much.
The very obvious references to shit Devon Cooley says (real world goaltender), not super into how that's been spun into signs of serious... whatever is going on with Aiden is never specified. It kind of comes off as an amalgam of a few things and the author sidesteps specifying what, but then has their MMC posit that generally goalies are 'like that'.
Honestly, there is a lot to unpack here, like Aiden basically doing nothing for six months and also not even taking care of himself and that not being seen as a giant red flag. It feels like we are supposed to read part of what's going on as clinical depression, a depression he's probably always had and it's like... that raises a lot of questions, especially since this is a second chance romance and that would have been there before.
I don't think we needed him to be formally diagnosed or anything, but we never see Aiden with an actual handle on any of it. Who even is he when not in complete mental collapse and a horribly bleak outlook? I felt like his situation was meant to be read as an amalgam of autism and clinical depression. So, somethings that do not need fixing, but could use some accommodation, and some stuff that may get better with medication. Yeah, the ending was rushed. Would have liked to have Aiden at least tell his LI about the intense sensory issues.
We were dealing with Aiden in a very bleak space for a long time, would have been nice to end with some comfort of like either him actually asking for accommodation or his partner being able to help him in some limited way by at least having has a discussion about the sensory stuff. I think that ending could be really tightened up, be a lot more solid, even without the author needing to commit to whatever it was going on with Aiden. And the idea that whatever it is it's basically goalie-itis... I have a few notes...
I am very glad I read the other books. Ari Baran's stuff is still the best hockey m/m I've read outside of Rachel Reid's books. But yeah, this didn't do it for me.
I've heard that a popular m/m hockey book had name choices that are very distracting if you are a Kraken fan. Well, found the book! Unlike a certain other situation also involving squiddy names, I am very sure this was unintentional. But wow, the name choices threw me out of the book a few times. That made it harder to get into, but I don't think a F&R on the names would have helped much.
The very obvious references to shit Devon Cooley says (real world goaltender), not super into how that's been spun into signs of serious... whatever is going on with Aiden is never specified. It kind of comes off as an amalgam of a few things and the author sidesteps specifying what, but then has their MMC posit that generally goalies are 'like that'.
Honestly, there is a lot to unpack here, like Aiden basically doing nothing for six months and also not even taking care of himself and that not being seen as a giant red flag. It feels like we are supposed to read part of what's going on as clinical depression, a depression he's probably always had and it's like... that raises a lot of questions, especially since this is a second chance romance and that would have been there before.
I don't think we needed him to be formally diagnosed or anything, but we never see Aiden with an actual handle on any of it. Who even is he when not in complete mental collapse and a horribly bleak outlook? I felt like his situation was meant to be read as an amalgam of autism and clinical depression. So, somethings that do not need fixing, but could use some accommodation, and some stuff that may get better with medication. Yeah, the ending was rushed. Would have liked to have Aiden at least tell his LI about the intense sensory issues.
We were dealing with Aiden in a very bleak space for a long time, would have been nice to end with some comfort of like either him actually asking for accommodation or his partner being able to help him in some limited way by at least having has a discussion about the sensory stuff. I think that ending could be really tightened up, be a lot more solid, even without the author needing to commit to whatever it was going on with Aiden. And the idea that whatever it is it's basically goalie-itis... I have a few notes...
