Title: Breakaway (Scoring Chances #1)
Author Name & Publisher: Avon Gale (Dreamspinner Press)
Publication Date & Length: November 27, 2015 – 240 pgs
Drafted to play for the Jacksonville Sea Storm, an NHL affiliate, twenty-year-old Lane Courtnall’s future looks bright, apart from the awkwardness he feels as a gay man playing on a minor league hockey team. He’s put his foot in his mouth a few times and alienated his teammates. Then, during a rivalry game, Lane throws off his gloves against Jared Shore, enforcer for the Savannah Renegades. It’s a strange way to begin a relationship.
Jared’s been playing minor league hockey for most of his career. He’s bisexual and doesn’t care if anyone knows. But he’s determined to avoid another love affair after the last one left him devastated. Out of nowhere a one-nighter with rookie Lane Courtnall gives him second thoughts. Lane reminds Jared why he loves the game and why love might be worth the risk. In turn, Jared hopes to show Lane how to be comfortable with himself on and off the ice. But they’re at different points in their careers, and both men will have to decide what they value most.
I have to say that Avon Gale did an awesome job with the character Lane. Lane is one of those people that takes everything literally and has a way of saying everything that comes into his brain and does not realize that sometimes it would be best left unsaid. But even still he has the biggest heart and he believes the best of everyone. He has big dreams and when they come true he cannot put them into words because he cannot believe it is actually happening to him.
Jared is a hockey player on that plays for the team that is a rival for the team that Lane plays for and to say that their first meeting on the ice is explosive is to put it mildly. After spending time with Lane, Jared realizes that Lane does not mean anything negative in what he says, he just does not realize how things he says comes across.
I did not think that these two men would be a good fit together at first but the more I got to know these two characters I realized I was wrong and there could be no one more perfect for one another.
They are both competitive with one another but only in a good way and they push one another to strive to better themselves. And Lane is good for Jerod because his passion for the game helped Jerod find his passion for it again also.
I love how this story unfolded and how these two men came together. It was a really sweet story honesty. I do not know of any other way to describe it.
First let me say that I love hockey (especially the Red Wings) so when I saw this book that was offer for review I just could past it up. The author was clear in her introduction that this was mainly about ECHL which is basically the minor leagues in baseball. This book was very realistic and I really love that. I loved Lane and the how he was very socially clumsy. The author really has fun with Lane and I loved how she described him. Lane almost immediately meets Jared and I just clear picture them together.
Avon Gale is quickly become a must read for me as her stories are fun and very entertaining. I absolutely love her writing style and it makes for a really easy read. As I read this book and Ms. Gale would seem to be coming to the end and then she would come up with another cinereous to throw at us. It was a great book and a really great ending.
~Lynn
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
Publisher’s Website
Avon Gale was once the mayor on Foursquare of Jazzercise and Lollicup, which should tell you all you need to know about her as a person. She likes road trips, rock concerts, drinking Kentucky bourbon and yelling at hockey. She’s a displaced southerner living in a liberal midwestern college town, and when she’s not writing you can find her at the salon, making her clients look and feel fabulous. She never gets tired of people and their stories — either real or the ones she makes up in her head.
