Power Play

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

Book 3 of Avon Gale's Scoring Chances series takes us to another ECHL team. I was a little sad to not have all the previous guys back in the story but, we get a whole new team to learn about! The Spitfires are the worst team in the league and owned by a wealthy jerk who hires Misha and Max to coach his team. He has little interest in them coaching and more interest in playing off their history to get people to attend his games. Both Misha and Max played professional hockey, until during a game they were involved in an on ice incident that ended Max's professional hockey playing career and even Misha's because of guilt. Unfortunately for the owner, Max doesn't hold Misha responsible for his injury and has moved on with his life. But Misha has a long life of feeling guilty. Misha and Max are really completely opposites. Max is light-hearted, has fun, is a people person and goes with the flow. He gets in over his head many times but because he's trying to do a good thing. He has zero knowledge about geography or the world. He has a family that is very liberal, who loves him and won't love him less for being bisexual. Misha is a Russian full of angst with a troubled past, raised by a gangster who was not happy his son was gay. He's quiet and keeps all his emotions bottled up. He's stoic. And though he feels he's not a people person, he's a protector to those he cares about.

As with all of the books in this series, there were some really funny moments that made me laugh out loud. This has happened with each of these books I have listened to. But it certainly isn't all light-hearted fun and bench clearing brawls. There's a lot of seriousness surrounding Misha and him accepting himself, along with the issues that come from his past and an issue with a team member. There is so much emotional depth in Avon's men, that I feel invested in each of them.

So far all of the Scoring Chances books have been narrated by Scott R. Smith. I enjoy his narration for the most part, but he really is terrible at accents sometimes. I thought that with the last book, but this one was really obvious. Max is from Minnesota but I thought the accent most of the time was more Canadian. And Max's mother, father, brother, sister-in-law and niece didn't have an accent so at the Christmas scene with the whole family, I was focused more on why Max had such a different accent from his family. The narrator didn't do a bad job with Misha's Russian accent and seemed to be able to do a deeper accent when called for.

I haven't read these books so I'm not going to choose between which version is my favorite, but I truly enjoy how these characters are brought to life through audio. Honestly, why not get the books and audio versions of each and make your own comparisons!

Overall: 4.5 stars
Performance: 4 stars
Story: 4.5 stars

5 Hearts Reviewed by Prime

Power Play is the third book in Avon Gale’s series, Scoring Chances. These books can be read as standalone books as characters from the previous books only make a brief appearance. I have to admit, if book 2 was my least favourite book in the series, Power Play is definitely my favourite.

There was so much to love about this book a couple of hunky retired professional ice hockey players, there is a lot of sweetness and romance as well as a good dose of angst. It is difficult not to fall in love with both of the main characters!

The story follows Max and Misha. They were playing for opposite teams in the Stanley Cup playoff some years previous when an accident by Misha sent Max to hospital with potentially life threatening injuries and ended Max’s playing career. Years later both guys haven’t really moved on but have been brought together (for the drama, of course) by the CEO of the ECHL team, Spartanburg Spitfires, as the head and assistant coaches. They have a lot of personal baggage (Misha is the dark and broody type and it is so bloody attractive) to work through but the attraction is electric as they learn that there is more to the other than meets the eye.

There is a bit of a secondary plot line involving the team goalie, Drake who likes that his coache is gay. Well, I’m not completely correct there – Max has an epiphany that he is bisexual (or at least gay for Misha) and Misha is certainly deep in the closest. I really hope that we are going to hear more from Drake in the future and he finds a guy that makes him complete, because he damn well deserves it!

This book is brilliant. Even if you are not a fan of sports, though loving a good hockey romance would certainly help. The guys are hot and thankfully all their angst is derived from their shared past and not their sexuality. Which made the book infinitely more enjoyable. Your heart will probably break for both guys and in the end, even the team CEO isn’t as bad you’d think.

There was a lot of cuteness and sweetness, but most importantly the HEA was more than satisfying.

This is the third book in Avon Gale’s Scoring Chances series and while I loved the first two books, I believe this is now my favorite.

Power Play is a bit different from the first two books because the two heroes are former hockey players and now coaches for the same team, the Spartanburg Spitfires. Don’t worry, there is still lots of hockey action! But the relationship between Max, a former player who retired from the game because of an injury and Misha, a former player who just-so-happens to be the one who caused Max’s injury, are the focus.

Max is a sweet, fun-loving, remarkably centered and well-adjusted man with a loving, supportive family. After a hot blow job from a male bartender during a vacation in Mexico, he realizes he is bisexual. He is not one to hold a grudge and harbors no ill-will for Misha for being involved in his injury. Accidents happen. No one is to blame.

Misha is a native of Russia where being homosexual is against the law. His family is terrible to him and the Russian laws have left him feeling ashamed about his homosexuality. He also carries a great deal of shame, guilt and regret at having caused Max’s career-ending injury.

The two men are paired up as the new coaching team for the last place Spartanburg Spitfires hockey team and quickly become great friends. And then the lovely romance, with big doses of hot sex, starts. I loved these boys and their every interaction took be right smack dab into my happy place.

If you like M/M romance, you will love this one. If you are a hockey fan, you will love this one. If you are a hurt/healing/comfort fan, you will love this one. I can’t think of a single group of M/M fiction readers I wouldn’t be able to recommend this one to.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

ARC FOR REVIEW
Avon Gale has a winner with the book. Max and Misha were brilliant characters. Max won me over with his fun personality and awesome attitude. There's no bitterness or negativity about not being able to play hockey professionally anymore. He's just so nice. Misha is Max's opposite in terms of personality. He is very quiet and stoic. Being from Russia where it is illegal to be gay Misha has a hard time accepting the fact that he is gay. He is very ashamed of himself. I really enjoyed Max slowly helping Misha come to terms with himself and learn to be okay with who he is. I thought Avon Gale did a wonderful job creating a story that draws you in and keeps you reading. The secondary characters were both fun and annoying. I really wanted to slap the GM so much through most of the story. I adore this series and can't wait for more.

I feel I’ve done a great injustice to myself for waiting to read Ms. Gale’s books. I now have to go back and read books 1 and 2 because I loved this one so much.
I’m giving this book 5 stars, not because it was earth shattering or life altering but because the writing was just so good and I really needed to read a book with good writing. This book made me a little gushy. I loved the banter between Max and Misha. I adore the brooding Russian complemented by the extroverted, highly entertaining Canadian. They made me giggle and smile quite a bit. They balanced each other perfectly coming from completely different backgrounds making them polar opposites that just work so well together. I honestly can't say which of the 2 characters is my favorite. My immediate response is Max because d@mn he's funny, but Misha is entertaining and endearing without meaning to be which makes me love him too.
And it’s fitting that I read this book as our local ECHL team, to which I have season tickets, is entering the conference finals.
The next book should be about Drake…which I’m highly anticipating. I’m also hopeful we’ll see more of Max and Misha too.
And I couldn’t help but share these so you have a small taste of some of the fantastic dialog from the book…
“What’s keeping us from winning?” Belsey demanded.
“Losing,” said Misha.
“Try picking up a few tips from your boyfriend over there. Usually he doesn’t shut up. I’m guessing that’s why you shove things in his mouth.”