I think this was a recommendation from the NYT, which goes to show that they can get things right every so often (guacamole with peas, a friend reminded me earlier today) (also, see, like, 100% of their coverage of trans kids and pearl clutching both sides discourse).
I know nothing of hockey! Well, that’s not entirely true I did play for a hot second (cold second) as I have played all sports known to mankind in my parents’ quest to find me a physical team activity that I enjoy. But definitely not enough to know anything about playoffs or Stanley Cups or even if the teams noted in this book are real.
But here we have a typical grumpy (really just quiet) sunshine (really just…hyper) romance, with a touch of inexperienced + experienced, and lots of rep! We have normalized, real bisexual representation!! Casey Hicks, our short ball of energy, is an out and about and unashamed trysexual type, who happily has sex with people of genders whom he respects and never shames. Landon Stackhouse is quiet and thinks he’s into men but doesn’t really know? In either case, they are delightful and the entire team of Schitt’s Creek-esque supportive ally types are excellent as well.
I will say that behind books about influencers/internet people, sports is not a category that I frequent because I associate men’s sports with turning men…mean. It’s a weird hang up from when I was a kid, and seeing how mob mentality overtook the handful of boys that I was moderately friends with. I should probably unpack that a bit, along with some of the other highly gendered subconscious biases I have. Isn’t it great adding to the TBR of neuroses to work on??