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.
View all my reviews
Tag: Queer
Bored To Death and Other Queer, Geeky Ways To Die
Board to Death by C.J. Connor
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This is about 30-year-old guy who chooses to come back to Utah and help run a board game shop for his father as his father was diagnosed with a medical issue. He is gay and recently divorced. A shop owner neighbor comes into his life as a murder takes place on his doorstep. The murder seems to revolve around an original game that predates Monopoly. There is a small amount of romance and an even smaller amount of mystery. I am not sure how to classify this one. I cannot find a genre to place it in. The book dips it’s toe into a few different classification pools but never takes the plunge. The main character, Ben, annoyed me slightly. I am not a fan of the meek, easily scared, or pitiful literary trope and unfortunately Ben fits this mold. Granted, it is not as strong with him as other characters, but it still applies. There were two quotes that I did enjoy though. “I loved attempting to read Dune. It was so much easier to accomplish than actually finishing it.” I relate as I have attempted several times to get more than 50 pages into that novel. The other I thought was funny and unique was “I’d had a bowl of Thin Mints doused in milk for breakfast, for goodness sakes. You can’t ethically expose the world to yourself when you are in that state of mind.” Sadly, two good quotes do not a good novel make. Ben was not a good sleuth (he just started giving all his own information away at one point) and it felt that he had no impact on moving the story along. I can’t recall of anything he did by himself. It was bland but a very easy read. I did like that it had queer elements though. You can skip Board to Death and play Solitaire instead.
View all my reviews