Game Changer by Rachel Reid
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Ok so this post will make references to the show Heated Rivalry because it is a phenomenon right now and I am obsessed. It might be quite long winded, so I apologize for that. This is a rare case where I watched the show/movie before I read the books. I didn’t get the books right away and I wanted to see what it was all about. I was not disappointed.
“What do your abs taste like?”
“’Been around straight people too much lately.’”
“’What’s wrong with the closet? It’s a wonderful place crammed full of professional athletes.’”
Game Changer is about Scott Hunter who is a captain on the hockey team New York Admirals. We also meet Kip, which is short for Christopher, who works at a smoothie shop and is openly gay. One day Scott finds himself in the shop that Kip works and orders himself the suggested blueberry smoothie. Scott comes back on his next home game day and orders it again because if he wins then he wants to keep what he did on that day as much the same as possible. They flirt and Kip eventually gets invited back to Scott’s place and they have hot relations. But Scott isn’t out. There are no out players in the NHL. Kip is Scott’s secret. How will this relationship develop? Will it be able to survive the privacy that Scott’s profession demands? Will Scott be able to step into the sunshine?
Rachel Reid is an amazing person. This book was incredible. It was unbelievably sexy, hot, meaningful, and emotional. So right away one thing that struck me is that in the book Scott is blonde whereas in the show he is a brunette. As it went on, I kept on playing the scenes from the show as I read the same scene in the book. I would clock any differences (like book being NHL but show being MLH & Kip’s mother being in the book) and marveled at how true to the source material the show is, almost all. One thing I did miss in the book though was Maria saying “gurl” when Scott walks in. I loved that part. I like the mention of a cottage on page 29 because fans of the show will know what I am talking about. There is more hockey in this book which I loved. The first night they got together was so hot. This book does a good job of steaming up the pages and making the reader feel it. “There was an urgency in Scott’s eyes, but when he finally leaned in and kissed Kip, it was slow and deliberate. It wasn’t a conversation; it was Scott telling him something important, and making sure Kip was listening.” There were some typical romantic tropes that were brought up including when Kip was thinking he wasn’t good enough because Scott was rich and famous whereas Kip was working at a smoothie shop. It made Kip self-doubt. Reading the book and having Scott muse about his situation really got me thinking too. I don’t know who I side with or who is right, Kip or Scott? Does Scott have a responsibility to his team and support system or should he put his happiness first? One of my favorite scenes was when Scott was coming out to his three best friends on his team. I knew what was coming and I got this like anxious, excited knot in my stomach in anticipation. It was a wonderfully beautiful scene, and I had to go back to read it while I was writing this review. My eyes were wet when I finished reading it. A little later a teammate, Carter, stopped to speak with Scott and he made me cry. I need more Carter! The ending speech made me tear up as well. I did not run across any words that I felt compelled to write down. There are a lot of reviews and reaction videos online for the show and one, Empty Netters, is one I am in love with. I have watched episodes multiple times and those straight guys are amazing. On my review they mentioned a gripe they had was when Scott won the cup and he wasn’t gripping it. In the book he talks explicitly about gripping it and I was amused. So one thing I did not like was when they called the café in Barnes & Noble a Starbucks when in fact it is not. It just serves Starbucks coffee. I would know as I worked as a Café Manager there. In general, this was an excellent book and I will read it again and again in between rewatching the show again and again and watching the Empty Netters reviews again and again. This is exactly the type of book everyone should read if they like to be entertained and they like to feel stuff. Must read.
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Tag: LGBTQ
European Gay And Learning Love
The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“The trouble with children is that they’re not returnable.”
“’The most terrible poverty is loneliness.’”
“Chocolate like this was good for the soul, and the finer things good for the heart.”
“Feelings for adults are like treasures. And by that I mean we should bury them.”
The Guncle Abroad brings back our favorite gay uncle and his family. This time they are in Europe preparing for a wedding. Patrick, Maisie, Grant, and Greg all make a return but all a little bit older. It has been five years since the events of the first book and Patrick is about to be 50. Greg is looking to get remarried. Maisie is a teenager and Grant is becoming his own person. Greg again asks Patrick to take the kids for a bit so they travel around to several countries in Europe before landing at the destination of the wedding in Italy, on the beautiful Lake Como. There are hijinks and fun and learning aplenty. We get to meet some great new characters including a launt! Will the wedding go off without a hitch? Who will learn all about love and family? Will Patrick handle turning 50?
I thought that Steven Rowley wrote another great book but I don’t think it was as good as the first one. I still loved it though! There were returning and new characters but still everyone was fresh, exciting, relatable, and realistic. The first book had grief as the topic that permeated everything whereas this book had love. It was minutely too lovey-dovey but very manageable. No nausea from being too sickly sweet thankfully. The first thing I noticed though was before I even started the book. The jacket summary mentioned the kids being teenagers but Grant was only 11. It also had two minds about whether Patrick was actually 50 or not. But I quickly got back into the swing of things with smiling at the pop culture references, especially ones that I love and identify with. Page 5 had a mention of The First Wives Club and the judgement from the cover quickly turned to excitement about the novel I was about to read. I knew I was in for a treat in all its gay glory. The wit and snark are pure treats. It is just clever and funny. Grant talking about gay men and lesbians marrying because they are both gay. I also learned that the Bellagio in Las Vegas is based on a real location in Italy…on Lake Como! There was a mention of a movie that I loved that I feel that not a lot of people know about and that is RRR. It is so good! There was also this whole part where they went on The Sound of Music tour in Salzburg and I recognized all the details because I did that too! It was an amazing time and I would love to do it again. I could spend weeks in Austria. Reading it was like being back there and it was so vivid. It bears mentioning again but Steven continued making me laugh out loud with the witty, sarcastic, and funny back and forth. There was a joke about fathoms in response to the depth of “Twenty thousand leagues under the sea” and “’By the way, stay away from mimes, they’re all hands.’” In addition to the laughs, there were plenty of thoughts that were thoughtful and life-lessony like “there’s nothing money can buy that beats life’s free joys with the people you care about” and “growing older, as they say, was not for the faint of heart.” The paragraph on page 156 was all about our relationship with our phones and especially as a person who knew life before smartphones, was very relatable. There was a lot of spitting of bon mots. This book had a lot of words that I wrote down because I enjoyed reading, learning, and speaking them out loud. They are marchesa, dyspeptic, panoply, funicular, vivacity, and mellifluous. I also loved how instead of tourists, we were provided with more elevated terminology like itinerants, birds of passage, and bon vivants. I highly recommend reading this too. This is exactly the type of book I recommend if you read the first one or want some gay wit and fabulousness!
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California Grieving And The Edu-gay-tion Of Family
The Guncle by Steven Rowley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“Do not punch a child, do not punch a child.”
“Guncle Rule number five: If a gay man hands you his phone, look only at what he’s showing you. If it’s a photo, don’t swipe. And for god’s sake, don’t open any unfamiliar apps.”
“Boys can do girl things and girls can do boy things. That’s not even a Guncle Rule, there shouldn’t even be boy things and girl things to begin with. People should just do what they want.”
The Guncle is about an actor, who was on a popular show but who has been hiding away in Palm Spring, who loses his best friend/sister-in-law and must take care of her/his brother’s kids. Patrick is the guncle. He lost his partner and is still in the grieving process. Maisie, his niece, and Grant, his nephew, lost their mother (Sara) and subsequently spend the summer with their GUP (Gay Uncle Patrick). Their dad is dealing with his own personal health issue. How will Patrick be able to handle taking care of kids for 3 whole months without going crazy? Will the kids start their grieving process and what will they learn from their GUP? If Patrick moves on with this life, how will he do it?
Steven Rowley wrote such a fun and enjoyable book! I laughed out loud so many times and wanted to devour it. “’We don’t eat bacon…Bacon is pigs and pigs are our friends. Do you want to eat your friends?’ (Patrick) Without hesitation. ‘If they taste like bacon.’” (Grant). I was excited to find out there was a sequel too! The Guncle Rules that permeated the book were perfect. It matched caring, humor, and a gay sensibility all in a simple, helpful rule. For example, when Patrick gave his niece his phone to record him in a video. “’Higher…Honestly, its like you want me to have four chins. Guncle Rule – What number are we on? Know your angles. Everyone has a good side. Even children, who should be photographable from all sides but aren’t.’” There was so much gay culture sprinkled in such a natural way that it would be easy to miss if you weren’t well versed. Right away Grease, Grease 2, Olivia Newton-John, and Stockard Channing were mentioned when GUP was trying to make a point. So much wit. Patrick gave them an ‘edu-gay-tion.” The messaging is something I thought was much needed but not too heavy handed. I found myself agreeing and wishing society as a whole felt the same way. Whatever you like or want, you do you. “What do you think gay people do? Have done for generations? We adopt a safe version of ourselves for the public, for protection, and then as adults we excavate our true selves from the parts we’ve invented to protect us.” Things like this felt true and hit home. It is the story of a lot of gay people. There are conversations around grief and the way the book approached it was nice. It was described well. “Grief orbits the heart. Some days the circle is greater. Those are the good days. You have room to move and dance and breathe. Some days the circle is tighter. Those are the hard ones.” A word that stuck out to me in this book was maudlin. Steven filled this book with so many witticisms. This is exactly the type of book that I will pick up whenever I need a smile and laugh.
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