Game Plan

Vancouver Orcas, Book 1

By: Amy Aislin

Narrated by: Aaron Hokanson

Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's Summary

As the new head coach of the Vancouver Orcas, Matt Shore has got his work cut out for him. Coming off a season where the Orcas came in last in the entire AHL, Matt’s job is to whip his new hockey team into shape for the oncoming season.

He doesn’t need any distractions, especially not one in the form of a tall, dark, and gorgeous antiques dealer.

Who’s also his ex—and his best player’s father.

Pierce Langley-Brown has a lot of regrets. The biggest? Leaving Matt behind two years ago when his son needed him. Now, with his son on Matt’s hockey team, there’s no avoiding the man who once owned his heart.

Not that Pierce wants to avoid him. And that heart? It still belongs to Matt.

But will Matt choose to keep it after all this time?

©2023 Amy Aislin (P)2023 Amy Aislin

Toooo ridiculousness, and not the funny kind

So after a year and a half of blissful relationship the mc completely ghosts his partner. Then comes back two years later. And basically insta-love and forgiveness with some ridiculous/un-realistic conflicts and angsting thrown in.

Excellent start to a new series

Loved the story and character set up for future stories. just enough hockey / angst!

Enjoyed!

Aaron Hokanson does an amazing job of bringing this story to life.
Game Plan is the first book in the Orca series. This is a second chance romance, which I am a huge fan of.
The main characters are Matt an AHL head coach and Pierce an antique dealer. They haven't seen each other in two years. Pierce ghosted Matt when he was going through some personal stuff. Matt is wary about reconnecting, understandably.
This was a nice love story, no angst, of two former loves finding their way back to each other as getting over some mental hurdles and personal hurdles with Pierce son involved.
I loved seeing them get their well earned HEA.
I'm looking forward to more in the Vancouver Orcas series.

4.5 overall.

4.5 stars. I always can’t wait when Amy has a new book coming out. She is one of the authors that I just jump for to read her books.

The narrator did a wonderful job bringing Matt and Pierce to life. I find I can get lost in his voice and story

I love that she has the Orcas spin off and we get the Audible narrator Matt/coach of the Orcas second chance at love with Pierce.

This was a nice love story, no angst, of two former loves finding their way back to each other as getting over some mental hurdles and personal hurdles with Pierce son involved.
I am totally here for the next two books in this Trilogy as we’ve grown to love Charlie and want to know more about Dorian.
🏒 🏒🏒🏒

A sweet second chance MM hockey-adjacent romance

Amy Aislin's new series, Vancouver Orcas, tells the story of Matt Shore, the somewhat mysterious NHL skills coach and audiobook narrator side character of her recent novel, "Star of the Game", now elevated to both a main character and the head coach of an AHL team. Typical of her leading men, both Matt and his love interest, Pierce, are genuinely likeable characters and I was rooting for them both from the start. The book explores some of the potential aftereffects of dealing with untreated depression in that Pierce has to face the distrust and hurt of his sister and ex-boyfriend after two years of self-imposed silence and distance. While it's clear that Pierce's mental health was the primary factor in his past withdrawal and long-distance move, Aislin treats Pierce's depression gently and respectfully, and doesn't make it a major issue in his "new" romance with Matt. Her characters can make rash and unwise decisions to drive the plot forward, but they are relatively quick to apologize and make things right, putting her novels in the low-angst category, and this one is no exception. I find her books to be comfort reads.

This was my first time listening to narrator Aaron Hokanson, and he did an admirable job with the characters. He also added a very Canadian voice to a very Canadian book. I look forward to hearing more from him.

I thoroughly enjoyed "Game Plan" and can't wait to read cousin Charlie's story in the next book in the series.

Amazing

Matt and Pierce’s story was wonderful when I read the print version, so I was excited for the audio.

Rookie Aaron Hokanson does a fabulous job with his first audiobook. He has a silky smooth voice, and a concise speech pattern that is easy on the ears.

The novel is a solid take on the second-chance romance trope. While Matt is a dedicated AHL head coach, he is also a no-nonsense/face-things-head-on kind of guy who is passionate about fitness. Pierce, on the other hand, is a devoted father, who loves his work with antiques. Add in a bunch of fun secondary characters, and the tale flows by effortlessly, with lots of layers to the central relationship.

Handling mental health with compassion, Aislin also shows willingness to showcase diversity in characters, with Mae preferring they/them pronouns, and characters expressing different sexual orientations.

Hokanson didn’t attempt any voice acting with this one, and I’d love to hear him stretch next time and try some of that, or experiment with a broader emotional range. However, this was professional sounding and I suspect this “new voice” won’t be unknown for long.