Reviewed by Morgan
Title: Linemates
Author: D.K. Dunn
Narrator: Michael Pauley
Heroes: Derek LaVigne/Trevor Ladouceur
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 6 hours, 59 minutes
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: August 12, 2015
Available at: Amazon, Audible and iTunes
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: Life is going pretty well for Derek LaVigne. He’s playing professional hockey in Los Angeles where hockey is barely on the radar, and this allows him to live in relative anonymity. Derek’s world is tilted on its axis when he’s traded to the Detroit Wheels. Not only is this one of the top teams in the National Hockey League, he’ll also be playing in a city that lives and breathes hockey. It sounds like a dream come true, but soon enough it becomes clear it isn’t.
The reason for Derek’s change of heart is Trevor Ladouceur. Five years ago Derek and Trevor were linemates on Team Canada at the World Junior Championship. They were inseparable both on and off the ice and became known as the Wonder Twins. After winning the gold medal, they slept together. Trevor was gone the next morning, and they haven’t spoken since. Now they’re together again, and the expectation is for the Wonder Twins to help Detroit win the Stanley Cup. Much to Derek’s dismay, he realizes he’s falling in love with Trevor all over again.
Review – Book: Derek is gay and plays for the NHL team in LA. He gets traded to Detroit for a chance at the Stanley cup. He should be psyched but he’s absolutely not because this will pit him head to head with the hit and run lover he had 5 years ago who left him all alone after a night of drunken sex.
Trevor, who is now 24, “can’t be gay” and plays professional hockey – or so he tells himself. He continually pushes Derek away and claims that the night they spent together was a mistake.
As the Wonder Twins begin to work with one another to win the Cup, they begin to form a somewhat stable friendship, or at least not openly hostile.
Trevor’s hot girl-friend – who is a total bitch – finally tires of playing second or third fiddle to hockey, the dogs and even Derek – and drops him. Trevor is forced to re-evaluate his life and realizes Derek has been right for him all along.
**
So… I wanted to like this. I like the idea of GFY/OFY, hot hockey players? – oh yeah; coming out stories – you bet! – enemies to lovers – awesome! This sounded like it had a bit of all that. Yeah, no.
It had a guy with his head in his a** the ENTIRE time, constant back and forth between the two MCs over the SAME ISSUE and only one – count it – one sex scene at the very end of the book. It also had a long list of things that bugged me: making most of the women in their lives act like b*tches, making fun of being gay, no coming out for either character and a totally unbelievable “I love you” declaration that came from out in left field.
When we get to the end, I have absolutely no belief that this relationship will work out, and really, I didn’t even care by that point. I sort of liked Derek, but never cared for Trevor at all. There was a LOT of hockey, a smidge of sexual tension, and very little romance.
Review – Audio Book: Michael Pauley did a good job with this book. He tried to give all the various hockey guys a unique voice and even tried a little Canadian accent now and then –eh? At times he sounded almost out of breath and I can’t tell if it was because Trevor was always angry but his narration made him always sound that way.
I can’t really recommend this book, as it didn’t do it for me on any level, but the narration wasn’t the problem.
Overall Impression: It was ok, but not good
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for a fair and honest review.*
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