Blindside Hit

I kind of just want to spam pleasant emojis and flail my fingers on the keyboard until the review limit is filled with excitable gibberish, right now. It's difficult talking about a book I enjoyed so much, because I just want to keep saying “I loved it, all of it, now you should go read it as well.” But, y'know, for as true as that is it doesn't exactly help explain anything to others who might be interested in this book. So I'll try.

First and foremost, I absolutely adore that this book portrays a healthy relationship with communication between partners. Where has this concept been all my life and why isn't it in more books?! There were so many times that I braced, expecting the same miscommunication tropes as always, only to be wonderfully and ecstatically surprised when either there was no conflict or the conflict was resolved through honest, meaningful conversations. Yes, there were misunderstandings between Etienne and Adam. Yes, they hurt each others' feelings (accidentally) sometimes. No, they didn't always see eye-to-eye on everything. But they always actually addressed their problems instead of throwing juvenile tantrums or any of the numerous other, questionable options. It made me so happy to see a distinct absence of the toxicity so prevalent in literature.

I also loved the characters. Etienne's struggle with both self-image and family issues felt very relatable to me and brought him to life in my mind as a realistic person. Adam didn't hit me on a personal level - thankfully I don't have health issues like his - but I still felt empathy for him and often wanted to just shield him from the world. These characters made me feel and got me invested in the story fairly early on, and the side characters were also a delight. There are a few I wish we'd seen in more depth, but even then I was able to tell them apart easily from how they were portrayed. Of the side characters, Adam's sister Noemi might be my favourite; she not only has a fun personality but is a nice dose of ace and curvy-girl representation. I thought I wouldn't like her at first because she seemed a bit meddlesome, but once she gets more scene time it becomes clear that she isn't so much a meddler as a loving, concerned sister who just has a friendly faux-rivalry dynamic with Adam. Of the hockey-playing side characters, I'd lean toward Johnny and Liam as my favourites. Their dynamic was absolutely adorable and I enjoyed the little glimpses of Liam becoming a better, more confident player.

Honestly? This book just has a little bit of everything I love. There's hurt and comfort; a character learning to cope with anxiety; strong characterization; very little melodrama; a loving and healthy relationship; communication; the dilemma of whether to come out as gay in a professional sport; hockey players (who actually play hockey on-page); and an insta-lust to best friends to lovers arc. If there were a chef's kiss emoji, I'd place one here.

That said, this book isn't flawless. There were a couple of stray typos and a few leaps of logic - one involving water skiing in January in Seattle and another involving Adam's fate (nope, no spoilers here; I believe this one should be traversed without foreknowledge of the ending). But as far as the latter goes, I can't even be upset. Seriously, the ending was perfect for Adam and Etienne's very touching journey.

Not only was this book an easy favourite, but I'll be heading on over to purchase a copy for myself after returning this to Kindle Unlimited. I adored how this wasn't 100% fluffy but still never got overwhelming and always just made me feel hopeful and good while reading it. I expect I'll revisit it when I need some comfort reading in the future.