Home Goal

Gay Footballer Romance, Book 1

By: H. J. Perry

Narrated by: Piers Ryman

Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

In the closet...

Career-focused Jason Tant has given up on love to play football at the highest level: His team is in the Premiership, and Jason also plays for the English national team (even though his mother is Spanish). He doesn’t want to be the poster boy for LGBT people in sport - and his advisors have told him that coming out will ruin his career. It’s not an issue until Scott captures Jason’s heart and turns his world around.

Out and proud...

With a carefree, live-for-today attitude, Scott Cole was never in the closet. Funny, clever, and a terrific dancer, the science student has many talent, but the man he loves requires something else - discretion. They seem an unlikely couple, but neither can resist the chemistry that draws them together.

Under scrutiny...

Prying paparazzi are everywhere, determined to out gay footballers. Scott questions whether he and Jason need to keep their love a secret when professional British sportsmen in other fields are coming out. Will Jason have to choose between love and his career? Or will the tabloids destroy them both?

An MM romance novel with a happy ever after. The story spans 2012-2015. Set in England where fans would die for their football team and football is not called soccer. It is 51,000 words.

The book was inspired by the news story in October 2015 that British gay footballers are preparing to come out in public. As of January 2017, no professional players at the top level in European football have come out. The rumors persist, and there have been discussions at the highest levels, including inside Parliament.

The story is set in England but uses American pronunciation for the benefit of international listeners.

This book was published in May 2016.
The characters also appear in My Goal (published September 2016).

©2016 H. J. Perry (P)2019 H. J. Perry

enjoyed it

Would I listen to it again: yes
Did the story keep me engaged: yes
Was I invested in the characters: yes
What did I like about the story? great sports romance, good pace and likeable well developed characters. An interesting story dealing with the problem of homophobia in sports and the double life some of the top athletes have to lead.

My heart breaks for Jason (closeted footballer) and Scott (an out and proud gay man). Throughout this entire book, I wanted Jason to step up and be the change the world needs. Scott is such a likeable character and to see their romance evolve over time was great, but for him to spend 4 years hiding he's in a relationship is heartbreaking.

[extract:]
Scott: "Jason, are you out?"
Jason: "I'm not out at work" Jason replied, somewhat relieved to at least get this out in the open.
Scott: "And when you go to that nightclub where I've seen you, your at work?"
Jason: "I'm not at work, but yes, those are work colleagues and none of them know. A lot of people know me and they don't know i'm gay. I don't know how they'd react."
Scott: "Outside of work you're out?"
Jason: "I'm so famous and work is all the hours, there is no outside of work."
As a celebrity, there was no outside of work except in a very limited sense of the word.

I enjoyed Piers Ryman's narration and think he has done a good job narrating Home Goal. His British accent suits the story I had no problem distinguishing characters or feeling the emotions of the story, however I would have liked more distinction between the characters voices.

< I received a complimentary copy of this book at my request - it has in no way influenced my review. >

Needed more...

There were a few plot holes that could use filling, it almost seemed rushed. It was hard to connect with the characters because I never really felt the emotion. The narrator was good, however could’ve used some more distinction between characters. Overall I liked the story and it was an enjoyable listen but just wish I felt more.

This title was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Very good

Very good story, tho at times it skipped parts like you felt like you missed a chapter or something.
Love the narrator wonderful job.

mind reader needed

I could have kicked Jason for lollygagging and not telling Scott his plans after 3 years together!!
Poir communication could have cost them their happiness forever. It was soul crushing to heat all the homopobia, and I can't imagine how ut had to feel to actually live it. The ending was great with the help of Liz and Mark. I'd love the next book to see who's brave enough to come out against the tides. Great book. I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review. The narrator did a great job bringing it to life.

Sweet and good story with an important topic.

It is an important topic about gay football players still hiding in the closet.

The story is sweet and beautiful but I can’t really feel the trubble they have. There are some sudden jumps in time, where thing seems to get complicated and the story moves on to what happens after. So the angst and struggle that obviously is there don’t reach in to me.

So this is an easy going love story between two men who have some smaller issues on the way.

The narrator is easy to follow and does a good job.

soccer romance

it was a kind of typical soccer romance at the start with a semi-closeted MC and an out and proud MC. I kind of didn't like Scott too much. I felt as if he just kept on taking and what he did get he didn't like and didn't think was enough. I especially started hating him when he started flirting with someone else because Jason wasn't all out and he was pretty close to cheating since he didn't know how far he would have gone with said guy. i felt Jason made a lot of concessions in regards to his lifestyle and coming out and I felt Scott wanted him to give up his career so Scott could be happy but didn't really give Jason anything. it felt like a one sided relationship with Jasin giving and giving until he only had his career. jason had come out to everyone but the media and public. I do understand Scott's side but he moved so much quicker than Jason. I felt he could have been more understanding. I wanted scott to suffer for making Jason suffer. but am glad their ending ended well.

the narration was a bit weird to me. the accent was pretty strong and it takes some listening to get use to. the cadence was good and it was easy to differentiate between charcters.

a free copy of this audio was provided to me by the author.

Great listen.

This is such a great listen. Scott and Jason's story is such a great sport romance. Now I did have to get use to some of the words just because I am American. However I was really pulled into their story. Then Piers Ryman did such a great job in bring this story to life. I like how he did all the characters voices.

Realistic Sports Romance

This book is a love story between a famous football (soccer) player and a math nerd who also knows how to tear up the dance floor.

The gradual process of their relationship was enjoyable to listen to. However, there was always an element of lying from the beginning. Or maybe an element of omission. I thought the angst will come from their lies hitting them on the face, but come to find out, it was just not living an honest to goodness kind of life that would tear them apart. It got resolved fast enough so there was no torturous chapters of angst.

This story does reflect a lot on the realities of how professional sports are the last ones to accept out LGBTQ athletes. How usually the ones who come out, they do so as they retire. It’s a toxic heteronormative culture. Here’s hoping that someday soon, things will shift and they’ll be ready to accept and represent out and proud LGBTQ athletes.

As far the the narrator, Piers Ryman, he did okay. Not a favorite of mine, but it was okay to listen.

Really Good Football Romance

Going to be honest this book did not grab me from the beginning, but it more than had me after the first hour I did not want to stop listening to Scott and Jason's story! There is such love in this story that it made me feel hopeful. I have read other romances in the same vein as this one where the sports star is afraid to come out so I thought I was going to have a good understanding of where Jason was coming from but I felt this author took it to another level with all of the background info on this subject. I get it so much more now. I tend to gravitate toward characters like Scott, but Jason had my heart in this one. Scott is such a likeable character and to see their romance evolve over time was great. I look forward to seeing glimpses of them again in the next book in this series. This was my first time listening to Piers Ryman and it did take me a few minutes to get use to him, Once I did, I felt he did a great job on the narration of all of the different characters. Highly recommend this book.

A little choppy, but enjoyable

HJ Perry is a new author for me. I grabbed this duo after enjoying Piers Ryman in The District Line series.

Perry’s writing here is a series of vignettes and that sometimes left me feeling like jumps were too long or some foundational events were missing. Though, as I got more into the story, I found it an interesting approach and ultimately enjoyed getting to know Jason and Scott.

Due to his profession Jason is in the closet and it eventually wears on Scott. While I definitely felt conflicted for both of these guys and the utterly horrible position they were in – the overall story didn’t drag out the angst.

There’s a lovely HFN and a tease for book 2, My Goal, which I immediately started.

Narration:
Piers Ryman does a good job here. Almost all the characters are male and giving them all various accents, inflections, and personalities helped keep them straight for me.