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I really want to find some more hockey romance to read, and it's not going well. I will keep trying authors, I guess.
Season's Change by Cait Nary - Found myself just trying to get through it. No sense of connection between the MMCs. I saw someone say it read like RPF of players on one of the Pennsylvania teams. Might be a case of 'you should know a/b is meant to be x/y', but I am too unfamiliar with eastern conference stuff to even recognize the names some people have said these MMCs are supposed to be expies of.
For the hockey side of it: They play in a fictional league called NAHA. In the NAHA, players have not negotiated for private hotel rooms. This allows for more forced proximity. I am a big fan of this approach. If you don't want to stick to how the NHL works, just don't have the NHL. Make it clear, own it. Don't have me asking if this person just didn't bother to learn anything about hockey.
It's possible that I'd really like a later book by this author. I do like things about the book and the approach, but yeah this first book felt like I was reading fic for a show I didn't watch.
Pucking Strong by Emily Rath - Holy shit it's not for me. I listened on audiobook and struggled with the Sanctuary Moon style voice acting. That should have been a clue that this was going to be all high drama and no grounding. Just pure turn off your brain, all concepts of realism, ethics... everything...
This is the fourth book in her Jacksonville Rays series and a few people have recced this specific book to me. For a long while I didn't try this book because I suspected it would be the exact sort of book that it turned out to be. I don't really know how to characterize this sort of romance book without sounding like I am making fun of it, but it's very freewheeling.
The hockey of it: I didn't make it that far. I noped out when theuke twink needed to fly to Norway to help transport the injured kid the alpha hockey player suddenly got custody of.
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie - Again, just not for me. I think if I'd come across this years ago when I was struggling to find books to read I might have gotten into it. It's a lot of heavy politics and world building around characters I just did not care about. It might be amazing eventually, but I just cannot commit this much brain space to a maybe. Especially when there are conversations about the ethics of surrendering to imperial powers. At what point do you sacrifice identity to save some lives?
I am glad I tried it. It's a series very associated with Murderbot and Martha Wells has talked about the series. Maybe someday I'll get back to it, but probably not.
Season's Change by Cait Nary - Found myself just trying to get through it. No sense of connection between the MMCs. I saw someone say it read like RPF of players on one of the Pennsylvania teams. Might be a case of 'you should know a/b is meant to be x/y', but I am too unfamiliar with eastern conference stuff to even recognize the names some people have said these MMCs are supposed to be expies of.
For the hockey side of it: They play in a fictional league called NAHA. In the NAHA, players have not negotiated for private hotel rooms. This allows for more forced proximity. I am a big fan of this approach. If you don't want to stick to how the NHL works, just don't have the NHL. Make it clear, own it. Don't have me asking if this person just didn't bother to learn anything about hockey.
It's possible that I'd really like a later book by this author. I do like things about the book and the approach, but yeah this first book felt like I was reading fic for a show I didn't watch.
Pucking Strong by Emily Rath - Holy shit it's not for me. I listened on audiobook and struggled with the Sanctuary Moon style voice acting. That should have been a clue that this was going to be all high drama and no grounding. Just pure turn off your brain, all concepts of realism, ethics... everything...
This is the fourth book in her Jacksonville Rays series and a few people have recced this specific book to me. For a long while I didn't try this book because I suspected it would be the exact sort of book that it turned out to be. I don't really know how to characterize this sort of romance book without sounding like I am making fun of it, but it's very freewheeling.
The hockey of it: I didn't make it that far. I noped out when the
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie - Again, just not for me. I think if I'd come across this years ago when I was struggling to find books to read I might have gotten into it. It's a lot of heavy politics and world building around characters I just did not care about. It might be amazing eventually, but I just cannot commit this much brain space to a maybe. Especially when there are conversations about the ethics of surrendering to imperial powers. At what point do you sacrifice identity to save some lives?
I am glad I tried it. It's a series very associated with Murderbot and Martha Wells has talked about the series. Maybe someday I'll get back to it, but probably not.
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Date: 2026-05-24 06:33 pm (UTC)From:Do they also live together and does the older guy have multiple kids and sorta kinda gets along with his ex-wife? Because yes, I know who these folks are supposed to be.
I did like Ancillary Justice a lot, although one of the later adjacent books (Translation State) keeps throwing me out, because the pronoun introduced there is the formal you in my language and it just doesn't work for me. I have the audiobook I will try eventually.
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Date: 2026-05-24 11:49 pm (UTC)From:Wake me when someone writes about a goalie whose brothers are also goalies, and his father is a goalie coach so he grew up around NHL goalies. And also his father is a goalie talent scout for an original 6 team. Because then I'll know the canon!
A lot of people in my book club liked Ancillary Justice and they are doing a spin off book club to read the series. It's just a bit heavy for me right now without being really sucked in.
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Date: 2026-05-25 01:53 am (UTC)From:I do not think that you will. The second one, "Contract Season" (I think?) has a fine non-hockey love interest but the hockey guy is a complete cypher, and as such it's hard to see much/any chemistry. "Lucky Bounce" is fanfic with the serial numbers filed off--I read it on AO3 before it was published. It's a bit lighter and more fun than the two original novels, but having read both versions I found I liked it quite a bit less with the original characters--there's chemistry/attraction/depth I'm willing to assume in a fanfic pairing where I've seen cute video clips of the guys that wasn't earned in the original version, if that makes sense. Of the three she's got published, I actually like "Season's Change" the best. It at least hits the emotional beats I wanted from the setup.
I read the first of the Jacksonville Rays books and it was not my thing, but I did mostly read as opposed to skim it, and I thought the ending was cute.
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Date: 2026-05-25 03:49 am (UTC)From:I am usually too much into niche fandoms instead of mega fandoms to even realize when a novel I've been recced is fic. Now I am too western-conference to know when a novel is definitely fic and not just by a fanfic writer who never learned how to develop characters / vibes because they are too used to them being baked in. Basically, authors who skipped leg day.
The Jacksonville Rays stuff looks cute, but is just very much not my jam. I am trying to at least peek at a bunch of authors in hoped that there will be one more that I like.
I am also trying to be open to the idea that I will like later stuff by an another I initially didn't like. I was very surprised to realize I'd read stuff by C S Poe a while back and it was, uh... they're a much better writer now.