K.R. Collins

The first three works in this series involved Sophie Fournier playing in a top hockey league as the first woman in the league. This fourth work is a short side story that follows Gabrielle Gagnon, the goalie meet in prior Fournier works.

This specific book follows Gabrielle in short little sections set from something like 2000 to 2014. From being a youngster who was into ballet and figure-skating, to an adult professional hockey player, a goalie, in the major leagues.

I rather liked the Gabrielle shown in this book. She's kind of like a more self-aware version of Sophie, while kind of not. More self-aware about her likes & dislikes regarding men/women and being touched. As in aware she doesn't want to date or kiss either, nor be touched. While Sophie seems to be more undecided/unaware - directing her energy towards hockey and not towards relationship stuff.

It's possible I might have liked this more than I might have otherwise because I somewhat, slightly, saw myself in some small part of Gabrielle. Like the no touching thing. Though not in the hockey, ballet, figure-skating, obsessive need to be neat, to bake, to cook, basically everything else about Gabrielle.

Rating: 5.0

11/25/2020… (meer)

This is the second book in this series that follows Sophie Fournier and her progression in the fictional NAHL (not to be confused with the real NAHL – the real one is a junior league that is 43 years old, the fictional one, with the exact same meaning for NAHL (North American Hockey League) is a top tier hockey league that is 93 years old). Considering that this book is more about hockey than about romance (which doesn’t exist in this book), then the hockey stuff, like above, is important.

Just like in the first book in the series, this is a solo POV book, and, already mentioned, follows Sophie Fournier. This is her second year in the league, and Sophie plans that this year she’s a) not going to be the only woman in the league (there’s this goalie that got drafted by a different team, and a forward that got drafted to her own team); and b) she’s going to get her team to the playoffs this year (despite how the team has never made it to the playoffs in their 18 year existence). Sophie is even going to have a roommate in her own apartment (instead of living with the GM’s family), and be a lot more of a ‘normal’ hockey player than some special exhibit.

Shortly before the start of the training camp/preseason, Sophie learns that her teammate, the woman drafted last year, and who was supposed to be her roommate, decided not to come over and join the team. But, instead, signed a one-year contract with her Swedish team (I think Swedish). Slightly before the regular season, the only other woman left in the league got sent to a minor league team. So the season will start with only Sophie representing the female gender in top tier professional hockey.

So, that leaves playoffs. Is Sophie going to be able to get her team into their first playoff game? She does have more power over this than on keeping other women in the league.

The book follows Sophie and her team as they compete in Sophie’s Sophomore season in the league. Battling each other (rarely), rivals (a lot), nasty insults (a lot), body slams and cross-checks and all the other physical hockey stuff (as is usual in Hockey), the media with their pointed questions and tendency to try to find the negative in every positive, family issues (the mother who makes comment(s) about relationships; and the father who never has anything good to say (I’d originally put this as ‘anything good to say about her playing’, but really, the father has nothing good to say about anything, he’s a controlling, stubborn, immature asshole), and has a lot of constant verbal abuse related to Sophie’s play, also he’s something of an immature baby – it’s his way or he is gone), and somewhat pointed questions about relationships.

As might be expected in a book like this one – there’s a ton of hockey action. Action that I, personally, found quite fun to read. There’s a chain of events that occurred right around when I got a hold of this book. I think, though I do not recall clearly now, that I went to a Washington Capitals hockey game because I knew the book would be available shortly thereafter, which in turn probably made reading the book that little bit extra fun to read. Eh, or maybe not. Read and enjoyed a curling book the other day, and I do not recall the last time I saw curling.

In terms of LGBT/relationships/etc.: I know the tags that got added to the first book by the publisher, and wanted to read this one so didn’t look to see how the second book in the series got tagged on the publisher's website. So I knew, going into the first book, that the main character would be on the asexual spectrum (demisexual), and bisexual (though I’d forgotten that bisexual part until I looked again just now at the book description). I do not specifically recall anything in the first book that would relate to either bisexual or asexual issues, beyond the part where there were no romantic relationships in that book. I did see, while reading this book here, that Sophie wasn’t that interested in romantic relationships (beyond the desire to not live in her apartment by herself – there’s a scene that involves Sophie seeing a couple, making a comment to herself, then clarifying it with something like ‘not a relationship, but it’d be nice to have someone to come home to, like a roommate, like I was supposed to have before [insert name here I can’t recall] decided not to join the team’), and that any comment about boyfriends by teammates, family, or the media frustrate her, irritate her, and annoy her (or go over her head). Basically the book conveyed the idea that Sophie was interested in relationships – friendship relationships, but wasn’t interested in romantic relationships. Which would make her aromantic not specifically asexual. But I also got the impression, that Sophie herself did not know what she was interested in, beyond hockey (though her brother’s reactions to certain events indicates that he either knows or suspects). That’s her life. Playing, practicing, watching game tape, preparing for her next game, hanging out with teammates, everything hockey, 24-7. Heck, the one time a sexual tingle occurred, the one time the book noted she even owned a vibrator (and used it), and the one time she was ever shown to have the ability to be aroused it was hockey related. There’s a joke that came up in the book – that she’s hockey-sexual. Well, she became aroused and pleasured herself because of hockey – specifically because she scored her 100th point in the league. It wasn’t mentioned what she did or did not think about while pleasuring herself, but it could very well have been a hockey puck she was thinking of.

Right, where was I. hmms.

Well, I enjoyed reading this book here. I look forward to Sophie’s third season, which, hopefully, will include more women in the league and possibly some self-awareness on Sophie’s part about whether she’s aromantic or not. I wouldn’t normally care, but for how much this seems like something of a tease in, at least, this book here (people making comments about one of her male friends being her boyfriend, the comments not explicit so they go over her head; her brother’s knowing looks; plus other things that slip my mind at the moment; like certain reactions Sophie has when communicating with the two other women hockey players mentioned in the book).

Rating: 5

November 27 2019… (meer)

There are six books I have rated 5+ stars so far this year, including this book here. Two were rereads. If I just look at those published in 2020, this book here is easily the best of 2020 I've read. If I don't include publication date, and just look at 5+ books as is regardless of when published, this book remains the best I've read this year.

It was fun, exciting, riveting, thrilling. Edge of the seat type book, mostly during the hockey games. You know what sports I've watched in the last 3 or 4 months? South Korean baseball. That's all I've been able to find live to watch. 'Watching' sports through a book read possibly raised the overall rating of the book. Most likely not, though. But I admit it is possible.

Sophie Fourner plays her third year in professional hockey. Her female roommate, who played another year in a European league instead of coming over to play with her in the previous year, starts the book and hockey season on Sophie's team. Regardless of what happens at the next draft, there will be at least two women playing professional hockey, and both will be on the same team.

I think the book opens with the draft, if not, it happens early on. So the total number of women drafted to play in this league is known immediately. The total number who will play that season, well, there are things like minor leagues, so the reader and the characters in the book have to wait for the season to start and then finish to know how many play in the top league.

As occurred in the first two books in this series, this is a book completely from Sophie's point of view, though certain thoughts/feelings/beliefs can be 'picked up on' from the actions and reactions of the people around Sophie. Even if Sophie herself can only observe but not spot every little hint in how people act/react.

More of Sophie's asexual nature gets explored/revealed in this book.

An overall great book with a great cast of characters.

May 24 2020

Rating: 5+… (meer)

Briefly pushing aside the many frustrations and annoyance the beginning of the book put me through (to the point I was back to my old ways of using 'strong language' on Goodreads) - pushing past that to say: I believe this is the best book I've read this year.

Frustrations/annoyances? I was caught up in the beginning just trying to figure out age levels and trying to figure out if the author was playing that old trick of using 'fake names' for real things (NAHL for NHL); creating a rival league (again fake) for the NHL; or actually talking about the real life NAHL, which has been around 40+ years and is a junior minor league - and not even the top minor league). Well it down right frustrated me, it did. Eventually I learned that it is a high level pro league, top tier. Not sure if the NHL is supposed to exist in this universe, or not, but there were vibes that the NAHL was relatively new-ish (older than 15 years, at least, but didn't seem to have the real NAHL's 40+ years).… (meer)