Tigers on the Way by Sean Kennedy

Documentary producer Simon and ex-footballer Declan are taking some big steps toward a lasting life together. They’ve bought a house, and they’ll need it for the family they plan to start. Their friend, Nyssa, has made the generous offer to be their surrogate, and Declan couldn’t be more excited about the idea of a baby.

Simon knows fatherhood is a huge commitment, and though it’s daunting, he sees how much Dec wants it, and he’s sure that together, they can succeed in anything—despite the worries nagging at him.

But just as their new life is taking shape, a health scare disrupts their plans at the worst possible moment. With time running short, Simon and Dec will have to bare their fears and doubts to each other so they can face them before their world changes forever.

It might mean a literal leap of faith.

Book 4
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Dreamspinner Press

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
This is a sweet and slow book. It is the one where Simon and Declan grow up. When we met them in Tigerland, Simon and Declan were idiots and their relationship was full of unnecessary drama. After the second book, they were both somewhat likeable and in Micah’s books we’ve seen glimpses of them as actual adults. It was difficult for me to justify the settled domesticity in this fourth book with the men I first met in Tigerland, but I suppose I’ve also grown up in the last ten years.

This was an emotional read for me. I’m the same age as Simon and Declan and some of their milestones and life experiences hit a little too close to home in this one. The bumps in Simon and Declan’s Happily Ever After are way too familiar. Their career changes, illnesses, and fertility issues will be instantly recognisable to all thirty somethings. I like the way Simon and Declan have grown into their relationship over the past ten years. I like the fact that they can now communicate, and I enjoy the newfound tenderness between them. But I also miss the fire, the passion, and the mishaps from the Simon and Declan we knew in Tigerland.

My response to this book is mixed. It was a slow read and I found some of the domestic details a bit tedious. I’m not sure I want to read a story about my everyday life. I read romance for escape and a little bit of fantasy. This series started as a somewhat fantastical professional sports romance and now we’re reading about property purchases, hospital visits, and small children.

SEAN KENNEDY lives in Perth, Western Australia, but his heart still belongs to his hometown Melbourne—which is also the home of Simon Murray and Declan Tyler from his series Tigers and Devils. A disciple of cult leader David Lynch, Sean is breathlessly awaiting the revival of Twin Peaks in 2016.

Connect with Sean

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Tigers on the Way (Tigers and Devils #4) by Sean Kennedy to read and review.

Micah Johnson Goes West by Sean Kennedy

Micah Johnson is living two separate lives. On the field he’s making a name for himself as a rookie with the AFL football team the Fremantle Dockers—at just eighteen. But when he steps off the field, Micah is a mess: confused, away from home for the first time, and feeling isolated from family and friends three thousand kilometres away. The foster family he’s staying with is nice, but Micah isn’t ready to open up to them about what he’s going through. Distracting himself with hookups and partying seems like a good idea until a friend’s life is changed by misfortune and Micah’s own health is threatened by his behavior. Micah knows he has to make a change, that he can’t do it alone, and that maybe there’s no shame in reaching out to others.

Book 2
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Harmony Ink

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
Micah is finally working as a professional footballer! Living far from his friends and family, Micah is a little less abrasive than he’s been in the past but he’s still struggling with the whole adulting thing.

In Micah, Sean Kennedy has created a beautifully flawed and honestly human character who will resonate with teenage boys everywhere. I still don’t know whether I love or loathe Micah and in this story, my feelings for him changed from moment to moment. He’s alternately infuriating and completely loveable. He is impossibly arrogant and terribly insecure. His temper is a little more contained than it was a year ago but he is still terrible at relationships.

This is a pretty gritty look at Micah’s first year away from home. Micah’s introduction to life as a professional sportsman is a little less gilded and a little more realistic than he might have expected but he still manages to get himself into some frightening situations. While Micah is still pretty self-absorbed, part of his growth in this story involves Micah starting to demonstrate some empathy and insight into the people around him.

This is actually quite a slow story but Micah had my attention the whole way through. He is a fabulous antihero and I’m already looking forward to his next adventures.


Erica – ☆☆☆☆
As this is the second book in a spin-off series, I do not recommend reading as a standalone. Please read Tigers and Devils onward first.

Micah Johnson Goes West picked up where the previous book left off. Moving away from his home to Perth, Micah is a rookie for the AFL team, Fremantle Dockers. On the field, he's focused – tight – but off the field, he's a train wreck.

Without spoilers, or giving specific plot points away: Micah is more mature in this installment, after showing growth in the last book, but he has a lot of growing up to do. Homesick, feeling adrift without his mentor and ex, he feels isolated, yet it's his own need to close himself off to others that is fueling this emotion. It's in Micah's nature to lash out to keep others from hurting him first, but it makes dealing with him difficult for anyone who wants to get close to him.

To be honest, it was difficult to read Micah's spiral downward. I was muttering at my Kindle, wishing I could shake some sense into Micah, then give him a hug.

Micah is always getting in his own way – creating what he fears – and this leads him to make poor choices, devolve. But this is par for the course in a coming-of-age book, needing a catalyst for change. Without Declan, Micah has a new support system he comes to depend on, developing another set of side characters for the readers to connect with.

The pacing was a bit slow for me in places, but not enough for me to lose interest. However, I could see where this may become an issue for readers who are used to more 'exciting' reads. There isn't a bunch of bells and whistles with the plot, and low on romance. This is a coming-of-age journey as a young man finds himself, showing character development via interaction with others.

Also Available in the Get Out Series

Book 1
Buy Links

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B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo
Harmony Ink

For reviews & more info, check out our The Ongoing Reformation of Micah Johnson post.

SEAN KENNEDY lives in Perth, Western Australia, but his heart still belongs to his hometown Melbourne—which is also the home of Simon Murray and Declan Tyler from his series Tigers and Devils. A disciple of cult leader David Lynch, Sean is breathlessly awaiting the revival of Twin Peaks in 2016.

Connect with Sean

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Micah Johnson Goes West (Get Out #2) by Sean Kennedy to read and review.

The Ongoing Reformation of Micah Johnson by Sean Kennedy

There is no Plan B.

After being outed in an especially brutal way and briefly running away from home, Micah Johnson has sworn to get his life back on the straight and narrow. Well, not so much straight, but you know what he means.

Unfortunately the path to redemption is not an easy one. With fights at school and on the football field and an all-round snarky attitude as his number one defense mechanism, will Micah survive the school year and the training camps to achieve his dream of making the national draft and becoming a professional AFL player?

His mentor, Declan Tyler, believes in him, but Micah wishes he had the same confidence in himself. Only time will tell if the ongoing reformation of Micah Johnson will be successful.

Book 1
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo
Harmony Ink

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
Micah Johnson is a fabulous character. Obnoxious, insecure, and arrogant, he is a wonderfully memorable anti-hero. This story of Micah’s progress from complete asshole to not quite as much of an asshole is alternately funny and frustrating.

Readers will spend most of the story cringing as Micah continually makes bad situations worse. He alienates his friends, antagonises the bullies, and constantly reaffirms his asshole reputation. For most of the book, it is almost impossible to like Micah. I had some empathy for the homophobic behaviour Micah faced – until his reactions made the situations worse. This is a story of personal growth and I actually really liked the absence of any sort of ‘come to Jesus’ moment. Micah’s progress is pretty limited. As a result, he feels like a real kid rather than a literary hero. He is far too familiar and his mistakes are painfully funny. I may not have liked him but there were many moments where I completely loved him.

This is very much a sports story. In his last year of secondary school, Micah is preparing for the AFL draft. The story tracks him from the end of school through summer selection camps. Many of the sports tropes in this story are a bit tired and the blatant homophobia feels outdated (though maybe not in Australia). Sports fans will enjoy the competitive tension and I found this a welcome change from all of the books about traditionally American sports.

I am annoyed that this book is marketed as the first in a new series. If I hadn’t read the Tigers and Devils series first, I would have been lost. As it is, I read the earlier books some time ago and I still found myself trying desperately to recall events and characters that the author assumes readers will remember. This is not the start of an autonomous series. It is an extension of the Tigers and Devils series and I really could have used some recap summaries at the start of this story because it took me a long time to properly get into this book.


Erica – ☆☆☆
3.5 Stars

A word of warning: as this is listed as the first in a series, I tried to read it shortly after its release. After three attempts, I realized my error. While it's listed as the first, it's a spin-off of an adult series (Tigers and Devils). I understand listing it separately, as it is geared more toward younger readers, with a younger narrator, it's nearly impossible to get heads or tails without reading the Tigers and Devils series first. Micah's journey 'begins' during Tigers on the Run (Tigers and Devils #3), as is obvious by the 'ONGOING' in the title. So my warning is to readers thinking this is truly the first in a series – it's not. Go read Tigers and Devils first.

After reading books #1 and #3 of Tigers and Devils, I restarted The Ongoing Reformation of Micah Johnson with great ease now that the info-dumpage from past books makes a whole lot of sense. I felt connected to the environment and the characters, and was able to read as if this was book #4 being narrated by Micah.

Micah is a difficult character to enjoy. He's arrogant and irritating, all a cover for his insecurities. While he wasn't a pleasant narrator, he felt real – emotions dictated by human nature. Every interaction is tainted by Micah's antagonism, no matter with who or whether they are being nice to him. This makes for a stressful read, where it's with great difficulty for the reader to connect with the narrator, because he rubs everyone wrong – friends, family, enemies, bullies – the reader. No matter how stressful to read, the author is authentic with Micah's personality, never deviating from the uncomfortable nature.

Micah encounters homophobia as he finishes out his high school career, enters camps, to prepare for the AFL draft. Heavy on Micah's personality, The Ongoing Reformation of Micah Johnson is also a sports story. One of the first I've read where it's not just used as a prop to propel the main character to a love interest, with a few passages to affirm it in the sports genre. Light on romance, Micah is an athlete dealing with homophobic and closeted jocks, while simultaneously reveling and fighting his antagonistic nature.

Recommended to LGBTQ fans, who enjoy reading coming-of-age characters, with a story based on character development instead of focused on romance and between-the-sheets action.

SEAN KENNEDY lives in Perth, Western Australia, but his heart still belongs to his hometown Melbourne—which is also the home of Simon Murray and Declan Tyler from his series Tigers and Devils. A disciple of cult leader David Lynch, Sean is breathlessly awaiting the revival of Twin Peaks in 2016.

Connect with Sean

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of The Ongoing Reformation of Micah Johnson (Get Out #1) by Sean Kennedy to read and review.

Tigers on the Run by Sean Kennedy

Young Australian Micah Johnson is the first AFL player to be out at the beginning of his career. Retired professional football player Declan Tyler mentors Micah, but he finds it difficult, as Micah is prone to making poor life choices that land him in trouble. Nothing Dec can’t handle. He’s been there, done that, more times than he’d like to admit. Being Simon Murray’s partner all these years has Dec quite experienced in long-suffering and mishaps.

As usual, Simon thinks everything is going along just fine until his assistant, Coby, tells him a secret involving an old nemesis. Simon and Dec’s problems mash together, and to solve them, they must undertake a thousand-kilometer round trip in which issues will have to be sorted out, apologies are finally given, and a runaway kid is retrieved and returned to his worried parents.

Book 3
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B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo
Dreamspinner Press

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆
I need to be honest, while I read and enjoyed Tigers and Devils, I skipped Tigerland. Why? I was satisfied where Simon and Declan ended the book – it felt final, like the beginning of their happily ever after together. I sensed Tigerland would just be unnecessary drama driving a wedge between my much-beloved couple, before drawing them back to exactly where Tigers and Devils left off. Going with my gut, I read reviews, finding out I was correct. This is great for readers who want to 'hear' more from their favorite characters, but I don't read as most readers do. I struggle with continuations where the main characters are in a 'good' place, only to be manipulated by the author until they arrive back to where they originally were. If they hadn't been 'there' yet, I would have read Tigerland in a heartbeat.

With the blurb of Tigers on the Run, I assumed there would be new narrators, with the storyline focusing on characters who were shown in past books. This is my bad. I'm so used to reading standalone series, or a mishmash within a series, where some books are the same characters, and others are by different narrators, so I didn't realize this would also be narrated by Simon.

In the future, which many fans were most likely salivating to know the outcomes for Simon and Declan and all of their friends and family, Tigers on the Run catches everyone up to speed. With three storylines running parallel but never truly intersecting, the contents of the blurb happen near the conclusion of the novel.

Simon is snarky and sarcastic, which is fabulous in the right mood, but also taxing and a bit annoying if not. This is solely dependent on the reader. Often times I found myself snorting out loud, or shaking my head at how ridiculous he was. I'd missed him from Tigers and Devils, by not reading Tigerland, but also knowing I could only deal with him in small doses. Anyone who has read Simon's narration will understand what I'm trying to put across.

Declan is sainted, but he comes off as a bit too perfect in a condescending way. At least that's my take on the guy. Simon's at fault, or whomever else, because Declan is always right – no matter what. While not humorous like Simon's antics, this is also slightly grating on the nerves (if the mood is right – wrong?).

Tigers and Devils was the strength of the series, not only the foundation but the actual story. It felt like Tigers on the Run was another installment to showcase Simon being Simon as the reader experiences the side characters soap-opera-worthy, over the top drama and angst.

I'm glad I read Tigers on the Run, as I had missed Simon's voice murmuring in my head. But felt not much happened with the plot, other than drama to draw out a story. Truth be told, I was satisfied at the end of book one. Wishing to read Micah's future books, I continued with the series. Now I'm second-guessing myself, fearing Micah's books will take on a similar path.

I'm in the minority here – this is my personal reading tastes, not enjoying a story being drawn out. I'm positive MM romance fans will enjoy the series, and not be able to get enough of Simon (which is why Tigerland and Tigers on the Run no doubt exist).

Also Available in the Tigers and Devils Series

Book 1
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo
Dreamspinner Press

For reviews & more info, check out our Tigers and Devils post.

Book 2
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo
Dreamspinner Press

SEAN KENNEDY lives in Perth, Western Australia, but his heart still belongs to his hometown Melbourne—which is also the home of Simon Murray and Declan Tyler from his series Tigers and Devils. A disciple of cult leader David Lynch, Sean is breathlessly awaiting the revival of Twin Peaks in 2016.

Connect with Sean

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Tigers on the Run (Tigers and Devils #3) by Sean Kennedy to read and review.

Tigers and Devils by Sean Kennedy

The most important things in Simon Murray’s life are football, friends, and film—in that order. His friends despair of him ever meeting someone, but despite his loneliness, Simon is cautious about looking for more. Then his best friends drag him to a party, where he barges into a football conversation and ends up defending the honour of star forward Declan Tyler—unaware that the athlete is present. In that first awkward meeting, neither man has any idea they will change each other's lives forever.

Like his entire family, Simon revels in living in Melbourne, the home of Australian Rules football and mecca for serious fans. There, players are treated like gods—until they do something to fall out of public favour. This year, the public is taking Declan to task for suffering injuries outside his control, so Simon's support is a bright spot.

But as Simon and Declan fumble toward a relationship, keeping Declan's homosexuality a secret from well-meaning friends and an increasingly suspicious media becomes difficult. Nothing can stay hidden forever. Soon Declan will have to choose between the career he loves and the man he wants, and Simon has never been known to make things easy—for himself or for others.

2nd Edition
First Edition published by Dreamspinner Press, 2009.

Book 1
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo
Dreamspinner Press

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆☆
Tigers and Devils was unexpectedly humorous, in a way that wasn't over-the-top or forced. As I'm someone who isn't a fan of slapstick comedy, the sarcastic air left me grinning and chuckling.

Instead of rehashing what is in the blurb, the who, what, why, I'll give my impression on the story.

At nearly 400 pages, the book read much longer. I read an upwards of 1000 pages a day, and Tigers and Devils took me 3 days of nonstop reading.

The pacing is slow, the way it is written is a bit jarring and all over the place. It's a storytelling type writing style, not necessarily in a fluid, linear timeline, like going back and showing a scene mentioned partially, before returning to the present. There was also a ton of everyday, inane short scenes that do not propel the story forward toward its conclusion. Redundancy.

All that aside, I truly enjoyed Simon and his besties, Fran and Roger, as well as the rest of the side characters. They added a ton of levity.

The stress and conflict caused by newfound celebrity felt authentic, as well as frustrating, adding a ton of angst.

This is definitely a book about miscommunication, running away, and being a coward. I sided with Simon, feeling as if it wasn't his fault, and got fed up with the immature running away attitude. At the climax, I didn't feel the communication necessary was shown, and know in real life, this relationship would be doomed, as his partner is not mature enough to be in a relationship. I was sick of everyone blaming Simon while catering to the wounded, woe-is-me runner. You can't grow up when coddled.

I'm curious to see where this series goes next, but am happy with this couple's conclusion, and I hope the next book is a new couple. With such a meandering book, I don't think I could keep interested if I read more from them, to be honest.

SEAN KENNEDY lives in Perth, Western Australia, but his heart still belongs to his hometown Melbourne—which is also the home of Simon Murray and Declan Tyler from his series Tigers and Devils. A disciple of cult leader David Lynch, Sean is breathlessly awaiting the revival of Twin Peaks in 2016.

Connect with Sean

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Tigers and Devils (Tigers and Devils #1) by Sean Kennedy to read and review.