Scan barcode
tenou0's review
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
juanitaf312's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.75
pinkcowlandreads's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
dsauriol1991's review
4.0
Another solid hockey romance! I love a good friends to lovers story and this one definitely delivered. Zach & Nate are so so good together, at least they are when they communicate properly! They have great banter and the chemistry is so so good. My only criticism was that I spent a good chunk yelling at these two knuckleheads to talk to each other! I also felt that Nate’s experiences with anxiety were very well done.
ericawrites's review against another edition
3.0
Delay of Game starts in the wrong place. I was listening to it on audiobook, and I thought I had spaced off when the book jumps three years and immediately gives us the best friends relationship between Nate and Zach. It was so jarring. It also made all of Zach's growth from a very good hockey player, yet a disaster bisexual party boy, to a responsible team member who wants to be a model player and win his captain the Stanley Cup. I spent too much time also trying to figure out the timeline and how it worked with the first book Game Misconduct, given that Nate and Zach are on the same team as Mike. (Since I didn't read these back-to-back, I wasn't keeping track of side characters that well.)
The second half of Delay of Game lived up to the quality of the first book, but it never shook the rocky start. This seemed like something a developmental editor would've worked through with Baran.
There's a really great long sex scene that functions so perfectly to show how Zach has learned to love Nate and give him what he doesn't even know how to ask for. Nate's anxiety problems and his pressure on himself were well-done.
While there is some homophobia, anti-Jewish slurs, and racism used as "insults" on the ice during games, this version of the NHL is more progressive than the real one. It is interesting that our now 4 queer players are open with their teams, but not out in the greater world, and that it doesn't slip out. Every industry has "open secrets" (looks at Hollywood), but that also makes fodder for tabloids and outsiders.
I was glad the guysdidn't kiss and thus out themselves when they won the Stanley Cup, as that's become a bit of a trope in hockey romances. I am looking forward to reading the 3rd book in this series that comes out in June.
The second half of Delay of Game lived up to the quality of the first book, but it never shook the rocky start. This seemed like something a developmental editor would've worked through with Baran.
There's a really great long sex scene that functions so perfectly to show how Zach has learned to love Nate and give him what he doesn't even know how to ask for. Nate's anxiety problems and his pressure on himself were well-done.
While there is some homophobia, anti-Jewish slurs, and racism used as "insults" on the ice during games, this version of the NHL is more progressive than the real one. It is interesting that our now 4 queer players are open with their teams, but not out in the greater world, and that it doesn't slip out. Every industry has "open secrets" (looks at Hollywood), but that also makes fodder for tabloids and outsiders.
I was glad the guys
zaza_bdp's review
3.0
3.25 ⭐
J'avais eu un coup de coeur pour le 1er tome, notamment pour la qualité de la plume de l'auteur, du coup, j'étais impatiente de lire la suite, consacrée à un autre couple. Malheureusement, l'essai n'a pas été transformé, et j'ai eu bien du mal à aller au bout de ma lecture.
On est dans un classique friends-to-lovers, avec deux meilleurs amis et coéquipiers qui se mettent à fricoter ensemble sans trop se poser de questions (enfin en leur for intérieur si, mais entre eux, c'est des "bro" et des "buddy" à la pelle, galipettes en guise de porte bonheur avant les matchs et bières/pizzas sur le canap une fois leurs petites affaires conclues).
Si dans le 1er tome, j'avais été bluffée par la plume de l'auteur, et par la différence de caractère entre les personnages qui transparaissait à travers l'écriture, là ça a été tout le contraire, je n'ai vu aucune différence entre les pov, et bien souvent, je confondais les deux personnages, qui ont des personnalités et des peurs assez similaires et finalement interchangeables.
C'est dommage, parce que le pitch, bien que classique, est sympa, et c'est une dynamique que j'aime encore assez bien lire, mais la magie n'a pas opéré pour moi. Et puis une partie de l'histoire nous est dite, mais pas montrée, et ça, c'est vraiment quelque chose que je n'aime pas. Je lis une romance pour voir la relation évoluer, pas pour qu'on me dise (ou laisse sous entendre) qu'il s'est passé des choses, sans me les montrer.
Une déception donc ...
J'avais eu un coup de coeur pour le 1er tome, notamment pour la qualité de la plume de l'auteur, du coup, j'étais impatiente de lire la suite, consacrée à un autre couple. Malheureusement, l'essai n'a pas été transformé, et j'ai eu bien du mal à aller au bout de ma lecture.
On est dans un classique friends-to-lovers, avec deux meilleurs amis et coéquipiers qui se mettent à fricoter ensemble sans trop se poser de questions (enfin en leur for intérieur si, mais entre eux, c'est des "bro" et des "buddy" à la pelle, galipettes en guise de porte bonheur avant les matchs et bières/pizzas sur le canap une fois leurs petites affaires conclues).
Si dans le 1er tome, j'avais été bluffée par la plume de l'auteur, et par la différence de caractère entre les personnages qui transparaissait à travers l'écriture, là ça a été tout le contraire, je n'ai vu aucune différence entre les pov, et bien souvent, je confondais les deux personnages, qui ont des personnalités et des peurs assez similaires et finalement interchangeables.
C'est dommage, parce que le pitch, bien que classique, est sympa, et c'est une dynamique que j'aime encore assez bien lire, mais la magie n'a pas opéré pour moi. Et puis une partie de l'histoire nous est dite, mais pas montrée, et ça, c'est vraiment quelque chose que je n'aime pas. Je lis une romance pour voir la relation évoluer, pas pour qu'on me dise (ou laisse sous entendre) qu'il s'est passé des choses, sans me les montrer.
Une déception donc ...
kriseaf's review
3.0
3-, it was mostly great with one giant, frustrating downfall.
The book was fantastic up until 70-90% when our two MCs refused to talk to each other and that was the entire third-act conflict. Two adult men refusing to talk. Two best friends ignoring each other. Literally, that was it. No other conflict at all. Awful.
It would have been great to get that road bump out of the way in, say, 10 pages and then have our main couple conquer something TOGETHER in the last third, but instead it was a long, drawn-out, childish miscommunication. Not even miscommunication, really, but just lack-of-communication.
The epilogue went a long way towards improving that final, lasting impression.The Twitter-style Cup updates was really cute and heart-felt and the last line about Zack-and-Nate being maybe public about their relationship was a lot of fun.
The book was fantastic up until 70-90% when our two MCs refused to talk to each other and that was the entire third-act conflict. Two adult men refusing to talk. Two best friends ignoring each other. Literally, that was it. No other conflict at all. Awful.
It would have been great to get that road bump out of the way in, say, 10 pages and then have our main couple conquer something TOGETHER in the last third, but instead it was a long, drawn-out, childish miscommunication. Not even miscommunication, really, but just lack-of-communication.
The epilogue went a long way towards improving that final, lasting impression.
fuckitupvato's review
emotional
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
ginfizz's review
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75