Veronica –
☆☆☆☆
Hockey star Vic has a big mouth with no filter and his team has had enough. In
an effort to teach him how to behave, he is sent back to play with their AHL
team. Vic is instantly attracted to his new teammate, Dan Arou, so when the two
share a room on a road trip, they quickly fall into bed together.
These two together are absolute dynamite. We get to see them spend a good
amount of time between the sheets throughout all three books, which was always
fun and never got old. Every scene was just as sexy as the last.
I would usually find a guy like Vic annoying, and some of the time he is. Vic
referring to Dan as a hobbit got old fast and was a turn off. It was easy to
see Vic's mummy issues were causing him to lash out and were the driver of his
poor behaviour. He really is his own worst enemy. Over time though, Vic opens
up to the people around him and by the start of
Full Strength, I loved him. Dan, on the other hand, is a great guy,
well-liked by everyone, takes care of the people in his life, and he is pretty
patient with Vic, even when Vic doesn't deserve it.
Each story is told entirely from Vic's point of view and the musings that go on
in Vic's head had me laughing at times and cringing at others. I also have Vic
to thank for spending a day with the theme from
Laverne & Shirley stuck in my head.
The three stories in this box set,
Two
Man Advantage,
Game Misconduct,
and
Full Strength, were all solid 4-star
reads for me. The story of Vic and Dan's lives and relationship spans the
entire box set, taking us though lots of ups and downs in their personal and
professional lives. I was fully engaged with this story, from the first page
right to the last.
The Point Shot Trilogy, for me, got the balance of romance/relationship and
sports story spot on. I'm definitely going to be checking out more of Ms.
Locey's work.
Erica –
☆☆☆☆
Two Man Advantage: 4 Stars
Game Misconduct: 4 Stars
Full Strength: 3 stars
V.L. Locey is a new-to-me author. I found the writing style easy to read, quick
to fall into the story, detailed but not burying the storyline beneath the
inane, with lifelike characterization.
_______
Review of
Two Man Advantage: To be quite honest, I struggled to connect
to Victor when I started the first novella. If it hadn't been for the fact that
Cayuga, New York is in my local area, I may have stopped reading. But I was
curious, so I continued. I'm sure glad I did.
What was a struggle for me was the way Victor spoke – his narration. Like the
author was trying too hard to make him sound 'alpha male,' as well as with
other characters, such as the coaches. In the author's defense, Victor is a
self-admitted D-bag. While some of the commentary was inventive yet hilarious
(mad props on that), it felt way over-the-top, distracting me from the
storyline. But after a few chapters, this leveled out to a few of these phrases
per page, instead of every sentence.
Our narrator, Victor's bad attitude has him being shipped from the pros to the
minor leagues in hockey. A tough exterior, foul mouth, and serious attitude
issues are the makings of a bad boy with a hurt heart. As I said, I had a hard
time with Victor, but as the story unfolded, showing a small glimpse into his
past, I could tolerate Victor. But it was Dan who won my heart.
Daniel Arou – Dan is Victor's new teammate and hotel roomie while at away
games. Dan is outgoing, helpful, an all-around nice guy who is loved by all.
Dan tries his hardest to smooth the rough edges off of Victor's attitude.
Their relationship unfolded slowly, even with this being a novella. Tension.
Smack-talk. Banter. Heat. When Victor and Dan gave into their impulses, it was
hotter than Hades.
At the end of the novella, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it,
as well as feeling completely satisfied... which is why I've yet to start the second
novella yet. I will be rectifying that now. Be back to review once I've
finished.
_________
Review of
Game Misconduct: The second novella in the trilogy picks up
months after the first ended, tying up threads left unwoven. Victor and Dan are
living together, both playing for Cayuga after Dan was shoved back to the
minors by new draft picks in Boston.
The main conflict is two-fold: a thread from the previous book rears its ugly
head, causing a fracture in the budding relationship. Truth be told, I see this
from Victor's point of view. In a new relationship, with Dan moving to Boston
and Vic staying behind in Cayuga, I felt they were finished (conflict of the
first story). They had only been casual, never speaking 'forevers,' and Dan
leaving felt final. So any acts taken by Victor were none of Dan's business, up
and until Victor felt like sharing.
I believe in life, we all have the right to privacy, especially in our own
minds. We don't have to share bits of ourselves with friends, family, or the
person we are building a relationship with. It takes time, trust, and
the conversation
to make it exclusive. It's not lying. It's not lying by omission. It's '
none
of your business’ until we make it your business. So in books, and in
life, when I see a person fling out, "you're lying to me" when
someone holds back info that belongs solely to them, that gets my ethics riled
up. It's impossible to relay every second of your life from birth to death and
lay it at your partner's feet.
When whatever act impacts the new relationship, then it is the other person's
business. In this, Victor immediately tells Dan what happened – or tries – but
Dan flees for the hills. I'm on Dan's side with this part. If he needed space,
he deserves space. But I'm with Vic on another point. If you just spent many
months in a committed relationship when info that
predates said
relationship rears its ugly head, to flee without communicating is an immature
move. Bratty. After many months together, if you can't read your partner's
intentions, then maybe you both need to reevaluate the relationship.
In reading, and in life, miscommunication is a no-go for me. It's reserved for
emotionally stunted adults and children who have yet to voice their feelings
and thoughts – neither of which describes Dan. Dan, who I thought was awesome –
I understood his need for distance, but not his reluctance to hear what Victor
had to say. It went against the characterization for Dan to run and give the
silent treatment for the sake of conflict.
The second thread is what weaves into the last installment, so I won't spoil it
by explaining. I'm looking forward to the conclusion.
This is a vent, but it didn't impact the rating of the book. However, it did
impact the overall enjoyment of the book. I think this went a few steps too far
to sound 'manly.'
One peeve of mine is the negative way women are spoken about in this series of
books. One of the most derogatory MM books I've read to date, out of 500+
books. While I understand Victor after the way he was treated by his mother, as
a bisexual man, he seems to
loathe women. This makes no sense. Even when
he acts like he likes the woman, the 'blah, blah, blah' he's thinking negates
it, leaving it as tolerating women at best.
Gay men don't hate women – they just don't want to sleep with them. Straight
men don't hate men – they just don't want to sleep with them. Straight women
don't hate women – they just don't want to sleep with them. Gay women don't
hate men – they just don't want to sleep with them.
Why all the hate? The being nasty to women?
The way all the characters speak of women, as a card-carrying uterus and
ovaries owner, this stings. Keeping it authentic is one thing – acting as if
ALL men loathe women is another. Not all women talk nonstop, try to get
impregnated to get someone to pay their way, then are demanding and smothering
and controlling. Even if they are, that doesn't make them bad people – people
out there do love them. The way it was written, as if a woman's only worth is
between their legs, as long as they shut up and are perfectly hot (no fatties,
oldies, or uglies need apply). Other than a select few having value due to the
genetic lottery and their chronological age, the rest of us may as well go lay
down and die, because we don't deserve respect by these perfect specimens of
men.
I could understand if this wasn't from a bisexual man. I could understand if
this wasn't coming out of the mouth of every single male in the books –
straight, gay, bi – they all LOATHE women.
In this, I finally understand the bi-erasure commentary. Just because a
bisexual man partners with a gay man, that doesn't mean his attraction to women
evaporates. Not only that, the entire female gender is hated on a cellular
level.
_________
Review of
Full Strength: This installment I can't go deep into the
details without spoiling major threads of the entire box set. So I will comment
overall on all three books tying together. Most readers will enjoy the
continuity of how well they flow together, tying up all threads. I thought the
author did a good job with the flow.
However, since I wasn't a fan of how women were portrayed in the series, a
major thread was difficult for me to swallow. (I just about broke my Kindle
when Victor voiced to his therapist how she shouldn't be having sex because she
was old and fat). Heather – how immature she behaved. As if 14 years old, when
she was supposedly 21 and ready to graduate. How the author wrote her as dropping
everything to run to Dan and Victor's side, when neither needed her there, or
asked her there – never once meeting Dan previously, and only seeing Victor three
times in her entire life. Then saying she had to ride back to Cayuga with them,
after flying out. Who ever buys a one-way ticket? Who buys a one-way ticket
when they know they have to go home? It's more expensive than round-trip. Who
buys a ticket for 'nothingness' because they want to stick their nose where it
doesn't belong? Then makes Victor pay for it after the fact because she used her
rent money? This was an unsuccessful ploy the author used to push Heather in
Victor and Dan's orbit – one that was not palatable because it made Heather
look manipulative when the author was trying to make her look cute, friendly,
the guys' ally and new buddy.
Heather was an issue for me – not the storyline per se, but how it was written
and executed. How Heather was written. Paying for her college? Her living
expenses? Excuse me, what? Why? Victor and Dan don't know her, and from what I
saw of how she was written as a tween, I don't know why they would want to know
her. Apparently hot girls with big boobs are giggly morons who pout and get
what they want. Hooking up with Brooks? Eww. Just eww. Have some maturity and
wait. Yuck.
I'm sorry, but all of this, a major plot that I'm trying to talk around,
especially with all the 'women hate' – it made my gender look flighty, moving
from one guy to the next in a matter of minutes, with the intelligence of wet
paper. Whatever guy can provide is the right one. I wasn't the intended
audience of the plot featuring Heather. She gives my gender a bad name – she's
exactly why I try to educate women to be better, more logical, responsible
people who don't wait to be rescued for not using the brain in their head –
people who take responsibility for their choices, without shame but learning
from the situation. It's not cute – it's ridiculous. Require more out of women
than what's between their legs.
Truth be told, and this is only my opinion overall, but I would have been
satisfied with the happily for now ending of the first book, and been perfectly
happy not to read the following two novellas. Simply because that's the type of
reader I am. Once a couple is together, for me, it feels like drawing out the
story. I'm positive I'm in the minority, but this is the type of reader I am.
So I had more enjoyment in novella one, mild curiosity in novella two, and was
slightly disinterested during novella three.
One portion did keep me interested, the locale. I live in the Twin Tiers of
Southern New York and North Central Pennsylvania. The Finger Lakes is my
region. So I got a kick out of Cayuga, Seneca, and even an added bonus of
seeing our neighbor to the south – Scranton. I wasn't aware we were such hockey
fans, or that the press was 'that' interested in the personal lives of minor
league players. But the fantasy of it, the angst, made for a good read once I
suspended belief.
I do recommend this trilogy of novellas, and do look forward to more stories by
the author. This did and didn't work for me, because of my own personal issues
with how women were portrayed.
Book 1
