Save of the Game

Scoring Chances, Book 2

By: Avon Gale

Narrated by: Scott R. Smith

Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

After last season's heartbreaking loss to his hockey team's archrival, Jacksonville Sea Storm goalie Riley Hunter is ready to let go of the past and focus on a winning season. His new roommate, Ethan Kennedy, is a loud New Yorker with a passion for social justice that matches his role as the team's enforcer. The quieter Riley is attracted to Ethan and has no idea what to do about it.

Ethan has no hesitations. As fearless as his position demands, he rushes into things without much thought for the consequences. Though they eventually warm to their passionate new bond, it doesn't come without complications. For their relationship to work, Ethan will need to learn when to keep the gloves on and let someone help him, and Riley will have to learn it's okay to let someone past his defenses.

©2016 Avon Gale (P)2016 Dreamspinner Press

Ethan!! - Freaking hot 🌶️

I don’t know how to put into words how much I have fallen in love with this series and all these guys who are finding themselves.

I want to start by saying; I am a hetero woman so I have no concept of weather these types of lgbtq stories have any legitimacy or not but I am obsessed.

With any story, there are liberties that are taken in order to be able to appease the readers and I don’t think anyone would be disappointed. ((Hopefully))

With that being said, I freaking love Ethan and Riley. I adore that Ethan comes off as this energetic- know- it- blundering mess of a guy but has a heart of pure gold. Riley is this quiet, strong, control freak who is timid and reserved. I didn’t know how much I would love them till I wanted to know more about where they would end up at the end of their hockey seasons.

I hold secret hopes that men discover their sexuality this way. Man need leave their ego and toxic masculinity behind and find themselves because this world could do with more love.

awesome book awesome narrator

I am totally in love with this series I have bought all three installments and love it. I like the relationship in the hockey thing as I have my hockey fan myself so I highly recommend this series.

Save of the Game

Any additional comments?

*Audio copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by the Dreamspinner for my listening pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.*

Save of the Game is Book 2 in Avon Gale's Scoring Chances series. You could probably listen/read Book 2 without having read the first one, but don't do that! There are characters and storylines from Book 1 that are involved in Book 2 and you'll enjoy it more with the history of the characters. In this book, goalie Riley Hunter is in peak physical shape and ready to win a championship. Riley is an open minded individual, who has considered that he may be bisexual. Riley comes from a wealthy family which he keeps hidden from everyone but his closest friends. Ethan Kennedy is loud, boisterous, and the life of the party. He smokes cigarettes like Riley drinks coconut water. Ethan was raised in a close knit family with a single mom and two sisters. Family is one of the most important parts of his life. Riley is unexpectedly attracted to Ethan, confirming that he's bisexual. In a nosy move, Ethan finds Riley's hidden porn files on the laptop and realizes that the men in the videos look a lot like him, making him rethink his sexuality.

I seriously appreciated that when Riley and Ethan became interested in each other, they went all in. There were no chapters of angst about how can I be gay, can I do this, should I do this, etc. They both decided to accept themselves and to move forward. Their fumblings of trying to figure out what to do with each other was funny, leading a clearly desperate Riley to call Lane (from Book 1) for sex advice. The ridiculousness and hilarity of that call was a pure Lane moment. And was a reminder of just how much I loved Lane and Jared.

Some characters that I have to mention is Riley and Ethan's coach and Ethan's family. Coach doesn't care that they're gay, he just wants them to play some ******* hockey! Coach likes to sprinkle nouns and verbs in between his cussing and he is hilarious! There were many scenes with him involved that I was laughing while listening. He was just so well written and the narrator just brought him to life. Additionally, Ethan's mom and sisters. They were no different from Ethan, they're loud, brash, in your face and they have huge hearts. They just added so much to this story, and made it easy to understand why Ethan had turned out the way he did.

I really enjoyed the audiobook from Book 1, and this one definitely doesn't disappoint. This audiobook was narrated by Scott R. Smith, who really brought the characters to life! His storytelling was very well paced and he really brought out the humor and passion in this story. Though I did feel that his female characters all had the same voice/tone, so sometimes it was hard to tell which one was speaking without being told.

Overall, this is a low angst story with two lovable guys, that provides lots of laughter and some really hot, steamy, sexy scenes. Even if you're not a fan of hockey, or don't understand it, you should still check out this series!

Overall: 5 stars
Performance: 4.5 stars
Story: 5 stars

Gotta love a hockey player

This is a great book about hockey and boys and falling in love. It is a friends to lovers coming out story. I have never watched a hockey game and all I know about the sport I learned from male/male hockey romance. Two very different young men who are casual work friends are thrown together and fall for each other. Riley Hunter is a straight laced goalie with an affluent background and Ethan Kennedy is a rowdy Irish boy from New York. Ethan needs a place to stay and Riley wants the company. Riley has these feelings that he might be bi and Ethan has never given it a thought. Events unfold starting with a kiss. The boys fool around and fall in love. Hijinks ensue, they play some hockey and fall in love. Scott R Smith narrated this book and did a wonderful job. I will definitely seek out more of his work.

goofy and loveable

These books always hit me in the weird but adorable spot. I adore the characters and the romance is light and breezy (even with the kinky sexy times Ethan and Riley get up to). The narrator was also very good. I could not recommend it more.

B+ rating...

My Review:
Overall: 4.25
Performance: 4.75
Story: 4.0

Riley...I kind of loved him. He's intense and a bit different from the rest of the team. He's the goalie which comes with its own set of eccentricities...and Riley has a few more on top of the normal ones. He's superstitious, and reserved. He never shows much emotion...just does his job and does it well. But everything changes once Ethan and his family start to get under Riley's skin.

Riley's upbringing was such that he's never gotten attached to other people. But Ethan doesn't have boundaries. He just barges in and assumes everything will work out. I loved the way of them worked together. For Ethan, family is everything. Riley doesn't understand this. He's never had that kind of relationship with anyone...but suddenly he finds himself taken into Ethan's family like he's one of theirs too. It was so sweet to se this kid who needed that kind of love so desperately...both from Ethan and from his family. It made for a great read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I'm truly loving this series and this book brought glimpses of Jared and Lane back, too, so that made it even better. I highly recommend all the books in this series. This was another fun one...lots of great hockey, sexy nights spent exploring new things, and an intriguing yet revolting amount of coconut water mixed in.

Riley & Ethan :Friends to Lovers with little angst

Scott B Smith’s narration of the is book (and series) is quite impressive. The delivery, vocal range and overall pace was spot on. I love the accents as well as the rhythm of his voice blended effortlessly with the story. He added enjoyment to an already well rounded plot.

Riley Hunter was first introduced in book 1, Breakaway, as the Jacksonville Sea Storm goalie and teammate to Lane Courtnall. Riley was still coming to terms with his sudden attraction to men. After Lane moves out of their apartment, Riley gets a new teammate, Ethan Kennedy. Ethan doesn’t come from a financially secure background like Riley, so there were some economic adjustments between the roommates.

Riley and Ethan were so complimentary as a couple because of their different backgrounds. Ethan came from a tight-knit family who supported him even though they were poor. Riley on the other hand, came from a rich family who was never around. Riley grew up alone with servants for companionship and figuring out his sexual preferences. Ethan was more inquisitive and active in pursuing the object of his attraction even if he was uncertain of how it would turn out. Each hero had what the other lacked so this was a case were opposites attract.

Avon Gale does a great job writing realistic, non-dramatic relationships. I appreciate the way the author just wove the story without silly miscommunications that last forever. Riley and Ethan were good friends and were good teammates, who happen to find themselves liking each other. They went about their sexual discovery in a healthy manner and they certainly had great sexual chemistry. The story was well written, had great flow and just made me feel good. I normally enjoy more angst in my stories, but this series is impressive. It is so nice to see relationships that people didn’t have to suffer the trials of Job before reaching their happy place. If you want a good low drama friends to lover story, you have to try this series out.

Ethan and Riley's story

Great narration by Scott R. Smith. I really do enjoy listening to him.

I really liked this, but at times it felt endless. Riley and Ethan were fun and really, really hot together, their chemistry amazing, but somehow their story didn't drew me in like Lane and Jared's did and I can't figure out why, especially since like the first book Avon gave us an amazing cast of secondary characters with the Kennedy clan at the front.

Even better the second time around!

Going in for a second comfort listen.....I just love this series and narrator! Just as good the second time around--I adore, simply adore Ethan!

If you haven’t yet picked up this fantastic series by the masterful Avon Gale, get to it! Scott R. Smith hits this entire series out of the ball park with his narration!

I love this series! The narrator not so much...

We met Riley and Kennedy in book one – Riley is sort of ambiguous when it comes to his sexuality and Kennedy identifies as straight. They end up rooming together when Kennedy has trouble finding a place to land and Riley likes having a roommate.

They end up becoming really good friends but Riley isn’t sure there might not be some underlying other… to their relationship.

One night things get … interesting… and Kennedy isn’t willing to let it lie. He confronts Riley about what’s between them and this starts their mutual exploration into a relationship beyond friendship.

**


Avon Gale recently told us on FaceBook that she’s gonna devote even more time to writing – THANK YOU! I think she’s amazingly gifted. Humor is – hands down- the hardest thing to communicate in writing and she EXCELS at it.


What I loved was that these boys were up front and honest right from the start – no hand wringing and wondering. It felt so authentic. They talked like men/boys and acted like men/boys and as a result the story just felt so natural and plausible. Even though it’s essentially a double GFY which – in theory – is like the storybook unicorn.

There are a lot of feels in this book too – and super hot times – it pretty much has it all!

Of course we get to see more of Lane – who is my personal favorite character – maybe of all time (there are a couple others who rival with him but he’s up there) and we get to see all that sweaty hockey action, as well.

Another proof of a gifted writer (and storyteller) is that someone like me – a non sports person – READS the hockey stuff! And I understood it! Woot!

It can be hard to follow up a great book – sequels get a bad rap – but this absolutely does it’s job and keeps the awesomeness flowing! This is a great follow up to Breakaway – and since that was my all time favorite book of 2015 you know that means something!


I highly recommend this to fans of hockey, sweaty jocks, people with a sense of humor and anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together!


5 of 5 stars

Audio
Scott Smith is the narrator from book one and so if you've enjoyed book one, you have a fair idea of how his narration is for book two. I enjoyed the fact that he attempted some sort of "New York" accent for Ethan and his family, though I'm not sure exactly which part of New York he's supposed to be from. His Riley is fairly robotic, which I believe is intentional based on the character. These, by themselves, would be imperfections, but fine if it weren't for the rest of his narration. He tends to end every sentence on an upswing lilt like every sentence ends with an exclamation mark. He doesn't modulate his pacing for deep emotion and the humorous parts are done with the same inflection as the touching parts.
While I was absolutely able to listen to this in it's entirety, it was definitely disappointing, especially since I love this series so very much.
All in all, if you enjoyed the narrator in book one, you will again, and if you didn't care for him, you probably won't here either.
3 of 5 stars
Overall
4 of 5 stars