And here we are again in freezing-cold Canada, where hot-headed, temperamental men wreak all the possible havoc both on and off the ice. This is the second book in the series and the stories are closely interconnected —in fact, they’re as close as a “friends with benefits” arrangement, so to truly enjoy the magnificent world-building, the masterfully crafted plot, and properly follow the banter and antics, I recommend a start from the very beginning! Fair warning!
From the blurb:
August Snow has everything except the one thing that matters most. At the peak of his career and ranked among the NHL’s elite players, August should feel like he’s on top of the world. Instead, he’s painfully alone and doesn’t feel connected to anyone—including his teammates. Then he locks eyes with a green-eyed stranger whose gaze stirs something buried deep in his past. A memory he can’t quite reach, but that calls to the hollowness inside.
Quinn Harlow is barely holding it together. Between raising his nieces alongside his brother-in-law and mourning the loss of his sister while inching toward an art degree, Quinn’s life is pure survival mode. He definitely didn’t realize his brother-in-law captained the same team as his high school boyfriend—the one who shattered his heart and vanished ten years ago—but, at least August doesn’t seem to recognize him.
Until one accusation, three glasses of champagne, and an impulsive kiss in a public bathroom changes everything.
Now August is the one watching Quinn, and Quinn is left with a choice:
Walk away and protect his heart, or let August back in just long enough to break him the way he had been broken.
But the past isn’t what it seems, and the man August has become is not who Quinn remembers.
Neither of them was prepared for how much a single kiss could unravel the horrifying truth of August’s past.
A truth that August had been hiding from everyone—including himself.
GaleM's review:
Second, and very important—GSM/game,set,match/ is dark romance. If you love dark chocolate, this story will feel like the most luxurious and delicious bite of your favorite brand: bitter at first, sweeter at the end. Bitter, because the darkness here stems from
1. Years of accumulated trauma
2. Characters who cope with it on their own, not always in healthy, safe ways,complicating not only their own lives, but the lives of those closely connected to them
3. A healing process that brings many surprises along the way
4. The loss of a beloved, important person and
5. A plan for revenge that definitely backfires spectacularly.
Sweeter in the end, because despite the difficulties, the pain, the despair, the emotional wounds, these characters find the strength and courage to rebuild their lives. And there is nothing harder, yet sweeter, than forgiveness and love that have survived the darkness before the dawn of new hope.
At the beginning of my reading journey, I was so absorbed by the dynamic between August and Nico—the push-and-pull between them—that Quinn’s appearance was like a summer downpour, trying to drown my blissful state of Zen. Wait, what? I checked the blurb to make sure it was an MM story, and went back to reading, realizing I’d mixed up the pair in my head (yes, that happens to absent-minded people like me).
It turned out to be the story of August and Quinn, errrr my bad, so I got back on track and back in the game of the other push and pull - August and Quinn.
August is the grumpiest of the grumps, truly—he can completely sour the fresh milk for your coffee with just one of his infamous glares. And Quinn is like an overdose of quinine. Combined, these two are a real test of mental endurance for every reader, me included. That’s why I really enjoyed my little ray of sunshine, Nico, who kept me company and brightened my day like the good boy he is. A true, honest-to-God rainbow. No, this isn’t MMM, breathe! Nico is simply the ray of sunshine that makes the cold bearable. August accepts Nico reluctantly as a friend, not without strong resistance at first. I doubt Quinn would have had a chance to break through August’s arctic defenses if Nico hadn’t helped melt the ice beforehand.
Kai creates incredible characters—the kind that gets under your skin and burrows so deep into the reader’s heart that it’s impossible to pull them out.
Hockey, as I’ve already mentioned before, isn’t my favorite subject to read about, but if someone like me feels spellbound and comes back for the next book, it means the author has done one hell of a marvelous job to win me over with the magic of their writing.
Game, Set, Match is currently available as an e-book and paperback and can be read as part of your Kindle Unlimited Subscription
Comments
Post a Comment