TEST
When Thrown Off the Ice first appeared in my GoodReads feed, the cover caught my eye, but I kept scrolling. When it kept appearing, day after day, I finally clicked through and read the blurb. It didn’t tell me much:
Mike knew he was making a mistake when he let the rookie climb into bed with him. He just didn’t know it’d be a mistake that would follow him for the rest of his life.
Since $5.99 is a bit more than I like to spend on a contemporary romance, I decided to pass. But it kept appearing, accompanied by rave reviews, and I finally broke down and bought it. Friends, I wasn’t prepared for this book. Yes, it’s a sports romance set in the world of hockey. But it’s nothing like other books in the genre. I can’t say I loved it while I was reading it – the story is alternately sweet and challenging and frustrating – but that ending? Wow. Six months later and I’m still blown away. Raw and painful, mesmerizing and beautiful… Thrown Off the Ice might be the best book I read this year.
Mike is a veteran hockey player and enforcer for a fictional NHL team, nearing the end of his career. (If you aren’t super familiar with hockey, enforcers use their size – and fists, when necessary – to deter opponents from messing with their teammates, especially marquis players). When Thrown Off the Ice begins, he’s become a reluctant mentor of sorts to a young and talented new player on the team, Liam. Mike, who mostly keeps to himself and likes it that way, isn’t sure why Liam is so eager to spend time with him, and he mostly just tolerates Liam’s attention. His apparent ambivalence doesn’t deter the rookie; in fact, it only seems to encourage him. It isn’t long before Liam begins to awkwardly flirt with him, whining when Mike appears immune to his charms.
Mike isn’t looking for a relationship, especially not with a young and immature teammate. He’s kept his own bisexuality under wraps for years, and he not-so-subtly tries to signal Liam to do the same. But Liam is relentless, and despite Mike’s protestations to the contrary, he’s attracted to him. He tells Liam to keep away and find someone else, but his half-hearted attempts to rebuff Liam fail. Spectacularly.
Told almost exclusively in Mike’s limited third person, present tense PoV (which took me several chapters to get used to), Thrown Off the Ice chronicles the relationship between Mike and Liam from that first shared season until the novel concludes more than a dozen years later. Surprising and funny and ridiculous and frustrating and devastating in equal measure, Thrown Off the Ice is engrossing from start to finish. What starts out as a purely physical relationship between the seasoned, experienced, much older Mike, and his eager, curious and passionate young lover Liam, eventually becomes… ahem. I can’t say. As their relationship evolves, via Mike’s PoV, we watch Liam’s career in the NHL take off, and Mike’s career… sorry, I can’t tell you that either. But trust me, whatever you’re guessing, you’re probably wrong.
As many of my friends discovered when they tried to review Thrown Off the Ice, it’s hard to talk about without spilling its secrets. The style of narrative is challenging at the beginning, but makes more and more sense as the novel progresses. I hoped for chapters from Liam’s wildly different PoV, but the author saves his voice for the last chapter – and wow, are his words powerful. If you’re a hockey fan, you may guess where the story is going late in the second half (I did), but I was still completely caught off guard by the ending, which puts this book outside of traditional romance. (If you are looking for a traditional HEA, you will not find it here.) Friends, I cried; I’m tearing up just thinking about it now. Suffice it to say, the story doesn’t follow predictable paths, and it will put you through the wringer and absolutely wreck you before it ends. I wish there was more I could tell you that might convince you to read it – but you’ll just have to believe me when I tell you it’s worth all the accolades and criticisms you might have already heard.
I loved and hated Thrown Off the Ice, and it’s absolutely one of the best sports romance novels I’ve ever read. Heartbreaking, sexy, funny and surprising – unforgettable. And that ending? Mind. Blown.
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Grade: A
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 06/12/19
Publication Date: 12/2018
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
I love romance novels - all kinds.
I love music - some kinds.
I have strong opinions about both and I like to share them.
Related Reviews
Finished reading it last night and for the moment just have to say, what a great review, Em! I’m hard pressed to comment here – I so want to talk about this book – but everything becomes a spoiler. Suffice it to say, I’m not surprised Em is still thinking about this book six months later.
I liked Rachel Reid too, and yes, this is different, but it is really worth your time. It isn’t a “typical” HEA ending, but it is a very emotionally moving ending. I really liked it. I also cried as well.
Onto the TBR pile it goes!
This is the best bookI have read this year. And it may be m/m but I so identified with things both heroes said.
You are wise.
Just read the sample on Amazon and, aaahhh, I want to download this book and read it RIGHT NOW (although, I agree, $5.99 is a bit on the pricey side). Based on the author’s comments in the Introduction and the section titles in the Table of Contents, I think I can see where the story is going and why there is no HEA. (I think I’ll wait for the New Year to read it…I’m too invested in HEATED RIVALRY being my favorite read of the year to add a different one. Lol)
Question: Does anybody know who did the cover art? I couldn’t turn up anything. It looks to me like Nikki McClure, who has a distinctive style.
BTW, it’s great to see an “A” review of a self-published title. It just goes to prove there are independently published gems out there.
“If you are looking for a traditional HEA, you will not find it here.” Incidentally, I read some interesting articles and saw some YouTube videos of gay male romance writers who lamented that traditional HEAs weren’t always reflective of homosexual relationships. I don’t know if Taylor Fitzpatrick is a man, or the pen name of a woman. But if he is in fact, a he, that may explain why the ending doesn’t fall into HEA expectations. (I haven’t read the book. I’m just basing this hypothesis on your review.)
The non-traditional HEA doesn’t really reference the sexuality of the principal characters: in this case, it’s to let readers know this novel isn’t doesn’t have an HEA or HFN & since so many of us consider that essential in a ‘romance’ novel, this one perhaps shouldn’t be categorized as such.
Oh, thanks for the warning. I misunderstood what you wrote. When you said it wasn’t an HEA, I somehow assumed this was an HFN instead. Thanks for the clarification!
This sounds very intriguing but the expressions “absolutely wreck you before it ends”, ” I loved and hated” and “caught off guard by the ending” are making me uneasy.
Then you also wrote this doesn’t have a “traditional HEA” so I must ask, is the happy-ever-after a definite fact to look for or is this more a happy-but..?
I don’t even want to check any other reviews in case I stumble on something spoilerish should I decide to try it. Thank you.
There is no HEA or HFN. It is a love story. That’s really all I’m willing to say. I think it’s worth the risk, but you’ll have to decide for yourself. Sorry!
I’m intrigued—another m/m hockey romance, Rachel Reid’s HEATED RIVALRY, is my favorite book of the year (so far), so I’m predisposed to read another. However, I have to say that cover isn’t doing the author any favors. It absolutely dies not signal romance—of any orientation—to me.
Does not signal…
/stupid autocorrect
I LOVED THE REID, TOO. It’s on my top 10 of the year, which you should see here shortly. But this book! Ignore the cover. READ IT. It’s sort of amazing. For real.
I tried to include this book in my 2019, list, and Caz shut me down since it was published in 2018!
Get your tissues ready.
I always keep two Favorites of the Year lists: one for books read and published in the current year and another list for books read in the current year but published in a previous year. My favorite prior year read this year is Kelly Hunter’s MAGGIE’S RUN, published in 2018.