Voices

M/M College Hockey, Hurt/Comfort Romance (Irish Knights Hockey, Book 1)

De: Joey Parker

Narrado por: Michael Norman Johnson, Avery Wilde

Charlie
I’m tired.
My life has been filled with disappointments, sadness, and pain.
I’m hated by everyone besides my best friend. Until the captain of the hockey team falls on top of me. His eyes are as blue as the ice he plays on, and his smile fills me with warmth I’ve never felt before.
Shane Hawkins.
The man everyone’s friends with, now has me in his sights and he’s not showing any signs of letting me go. Even through my anxiety and messed up mind, he’s still there.
And I don’t understand why.
But it doesn’t matter. Everyone leaves me when the monsters in my head become too loud.

Shane
When I started at Gannon University, my main goal was to focus on hockey and be drafted into the NHL.
But that all changed the day I collided with the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen. His golden-brown eyes held such sadness and pain that I couldn’t rest until I saw him again.
Charlie Alexander.
The gifted artist with a mind full of demons and a secret I want to uncover.
He tries to hide them from me, but I see him. His struggle ignites my instinct to protect him.
When he returns from a trip home, broken and bloody, I do everything I can to show him the goodness in life.
But sometimes that’s not enough.

©2025 Joey Parker (P)2025 Pink Flamingo Productions

Voices

Voices is the first book in the Irish Knights Hockey series. This book is about Charlie and Shane and is told from both of their points of view.

Charlie and Shane meet when they bump into each other. Charlie stays out of the spotlight and Shane is the captain of the hockey team. It turns out Shane and Charlie's twin brother are on the same team, but Charlie doesn't see eye to eye with his brother.

Shane has an instant attraction to Charlie, but Charlie has been through some hard things in his past, and is still trying to deal with it. Shane tries to help Charlie, but there are some things he's not sure how to help with.

Can Charlie get through everything that he has been dealing with since childhood? Can he learn to trust Shane? Can Charlie and Shane get their happy ending? I enjoyed this book, and am excited to continue on in the series. I'm hoping we can get Charlie's twin brother's redemption story.

This book broke me

This book completely broke my heart in the most powerful way. The story and narration gripped me — not just telling a tale, but making me feel every emotion as if I were living it myself.

The narration was flawless, carrying raw emotion in every line. It captured the pain, the silence, the struggle, and the resilience in a way that felt achingly real. There were moments I found myself pausing just to process what I was feeling — grief, empathy, hope, and admiration all woven together.

What makes this book stand out is how authentically it represents mental health and PTSD. It doesn’t shy away from the hard truths, yet it offers understanding and humanity to those experiences. The characters are not just written — they are lived, breathing reflections of people fighting battles we often don’t see.

This is more than a story; it’s an emotional journey and a reminder of the importance of compassion, awareness, and breaking the stigma around mental health.

Amazing!

The narrator for Charlie was exactly how I imagined it to be. Shane’s narrator was good too. They both did a phenomenal job and this book is still a top read of the year for me!!

Best read ever

most accurate view of true metal health and self harm struggles. Shane is a dream. it so real. emotions are raw and real. the narrators capture everything. the emotion. I can't say enough.

Mental health rep ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

Very real mental health rep (trigger warnings: SA, unaliving attempt, homophobia)

The narrators really brought these characters to life! I’ve been a Michael Norman Johnson fan, and Avery Wilde is quickly becoming a go to narrator for me! The heartbreak and emotion he brought to Charlie is beautiful!

Heartbreaking

This is the first book I've read/listened to by Joey Parker. It was a difficult listen, so heartbreaking. It was a longer listen, and a bit repetitive. I zoned out a few times. I had to take breaks while listening since it was so heartbreaking. Pay attention to the trigger warnings!

The narrators were great! They brought the audiobook to life and had it rolling like a movie in my head. Great performances!

#TheFlockonTour #PinkFlamingoProductions

Intense

Charlie and Shane

This one is intense. Poor Charlie is the outcast in his family and suffers panic attacks. He is self medicated and self mutilates. The things he has been through and is going through is heartbreaking. Shane literally runs into him and there is something about him that intrigues him. So these two opposites start by hanging out. The introvert and the extrovert. This one is an emotional one, especially when things from his past comes to light and why Charlie is like he is, is revealed. Sometimes the negative voices in your head could be too much.
I think the narrators did a good job.

Couldn't put it down, completely gripping

#BookReview - 'Voices' by Joey Parker
This is Book 1 in Parker's "Irish Knights Hockey" series.

*

TLDR:
Couldn’t put it down, off to devour everything else this author has ever written.

🏒🎨

POV:
Your entire family / circle are TOXIC AF and you struggle with severe anxiety, depression, intrusive thoughts, your smexuality, and well, everything. Your see-you-next-Tuesday mother got you hooked on all sorts of pharma-pills and you’re just stuck in perpetual fight-or-flight. But *he* comes along, and he genuinely cares … only … your wealthy family threatens to ruin him if he sticks around. Talk about drama and angst.

Written in alternating first-person POV.
Present tense.

🏒 Invisible illness representation - severe anxiety, panic disorders, and more.
🎨 Artist MMC.
🏒 Hockey star MMC.
🎨 Stargazing.
🏒 Pill dependence.
🎨 H0m0phobia.
🏒 Villainous parents / family.
🎨 D0mestic v|0lence.
🏒 CSA (in flashbacks.)
🎨 C-PTSD.
🏒 Holiday vibes.
🎨 New adult.
🏒 College setting.
🎨 Great circle of friends!
🏒 Graphic a$$aúlt.

There were a couple of times I thought continuity could’ve been a smidge tighter, but truly, nothing major that I noticed.

It could be dark at times, which I love, and there were times of almost-suspense—even when it wasn’t suspense-y though, it managed to be gripping. Could not put it down.

Overall:
This was a really addictive read that gripped me from the start and didn’t let go—despite the lack of suspense. It had great character dev and lots of representation for a few conditions. I would read more by this author, 100%.

There were a few instances of poor grammar, but otherwise in good shape.

4 stars.


🎧 Audio:
Absolutely beautiful audio—flawless production! 5 stars. 🦩

🏒🎨



#lgbtqreads #mmromancereads #csasurvivor #hockeyromance #newadult #pelicanbookrecs #bookreviewer #underratedbooks

Break your heart

These narrators were amazing! They brought to life Charlie and Shane in the best way. Their voices were different enough that you could always tell who was speaking. When it hurt you could hear it in their voices. So well done!

Charlie and Shane to very unlikely men to find each other but man was Shane everything Charlie needed! He adored him from the minute they met and never let him go. And sweet Charlie-he needed to be lived this way because no one else ever had. He found the strength to allow this kind of love in and it was special to see.

Book 1 - Irish Knights Hockey

This is book 1 in Parker's Irish Knights Hockey - a M/M romance read / listen. I wanted to love this listen, and the dual narration was wonderfully well done but the storyline wasn't that great for me personally. I also found that there was a lot of repetition which had me losing interest. That said, I did complete the read / listen and storyline was there, I would also highly recommend that anyone interested read the triggers as there are lots of heavy issues addressed in this listen. I just had a hard time finishing this listen and when done I didn't feel any connection or relatability with the characters or the storyline which was pretty frustrating, but I liked there was some redemption and a found family for our abused and tortured main character.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I voluntarily provided this review.