But his team just made a new acquisition, and suddenly he’s linemates with the man who was the unknowing catalyst for his fall from grace all those years ago.
After seven long seasons, Hunter Michaud is done carrying his disastrously managed team. An unrestricted free agent, he startles the hockey world by accepting an offer elsewhere, signing with a team that works together and builds on each other’s strengths. And it doesn’t hurt that one of Hunter’s longtime idols is on the roster.
He just doesn’t realize how much his career is already intertwined with Jarek’s.
Or how much resentment is waiting for him in Pittsburgh.
Or how much chemistry is hiding under the ice between them.
Comment: One more book by this author which has characters who play hockey. This book has no connection to the other ones I've read this past July and June, but I thought I might as well get to it. I've also checked that the author wrote another book with this theme, seemingly not connected either, but that one doesn't seem as appealing to me.
In this story we meet Jarek Badura, who is finally feeling he is at the best moment of his career, and that happens mostly because he is in a team where everyone, between players and coaches and staff, seem to really want to work as a team. It also helps he has made real friendships, but his life takes a turn when the team announces the next player they signed up, who happens to be Hunter Michaud, the player he feels he almost destroyed his career for, even though he has no idea. Things start complicated, although Hunter is there to be a team player and not the star others might expect, but Jarek can't help see him through his younger player's eyes... still, such animosity has to give at some point. Will they discover they have a lot more in common than they imagined?
I had a good time reading this one, I think the author did a great job in sequencing things and in making them interesting. I think it's visible how much this story seems improved, in terms of hockey content, from the other ones. Not that I'm an expert, but whatever is shared here seems to be done with more confidence and it is a lot more detailed in relation to what had been used in the other books with the theme.
Some readers complained that the story took too long since we spend a lot of time with Jarek's thoughts about his "mistakes". The story is told alternately by Jarek and Hunter, so this isn't really a matter of pages, but of perception; Jarek's POV is quite set on what he thinks others will think of him if a secret he is hiding comes out, and Hunter's POV is certainly more about his new experience and trying to be part of this team. I liked it that both were out and no one seems to care much in what that means in regards to their hockey abilities (as it should).
I will agree that the perception of why Jarek's thoughts seem repetitive might not be that unlikely, though. He does spend a lot time thinking about what a terrible secret he has, and it gets to the point that, I mean, it really has to pay off, otherwise this would seem ridiculous. Well, the secret is quite serious, more than I imagined, and it does explain his fears and behavior. We might think we would not fall for the manipulation he was caught in, but, seriously, it would not be hard if one is as young as Jarek was when he did what he did.
Anyway, the dramatic issues weren't just props and I liked it that things were given proper meaning when necessary, but I confess my attention was on the romance, which took some time to be developed, a factor I liked, because it did give credence to the guys' feelings when they finally admitted they were attracted to one another. I don't think the romance part was that hard to accept because the tension between them and the common details brought them a lot closer too. So, I believed in them when they started thinking about love.
I liked both guys as individuals, and I liked it that we got to see them interact with their teammates so often, and in funny/special ways, reinforcing the friendship and the camaraderie. I think these things in sports are often only seen for publicity and it's almost as players don't see each other out of work, but I have to assume it's not so. We also see Jarek interact with his sister, but Hunter never really speaks to his family, I will assume due to geographical distance, but... it would have been nice. The fact they have a positive work place also gives credibility to the end of the story.
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