A Puck of a Review

Thank you, sara (rinezha's version), for your Goodreads review of Tough Guy by Rachel Reid, the third book in the gay hockey series, Game Changers, which inspired the steamy Canadian television show, Heated Rivalry. Which I loved.

This book, however, I hated. Too bad I'm sucked into the cult-like fandom of these fictional gay hockey players, because I will be reading the subsequent books in this series, despite reading nearly this entire book with a grimace.

Aside from the bias I have of completely agreeing with you, this is an excellent review. I, a mostly straight woman married to a man, am also "way too lesbian for this book." I actually, literally laughed out loud when I read that first sentence. Then you address the thing that will haunt me about this book forever: the description of Ryan's penis. When I think of what I just read, the image of a chode sadly flopping around amidst a forest of red pubic hair is the first image that comes to mind. Is that even how it was described? I don't remember, and I'm certainly not going to check. I doubt that was what Rachel Reid had intended.

You also bring up some equally legitimate concerns: her failure to flesh out the relationships, the clichè and stereotypical nature of the B-plot characters, and - I'll be taking a bit of artistic license with this one - the insufferability of the aforementioned Fabian. Ryan, the sad lumberjack hockey player with ED, deserves better.

And then you wrap us by hitting the nail on the head:

"never thought i'd say this, but this book has way too little hockey in it..."

Bam! I don't give a flying hoot about hockey, but I could not agree more. This whole book was a "displeasure of reading".

Four of five stars, sara (rinezha's version)! I took one star off because it drives me INSANE when people don't use capital letters. How much time could you possibly be saving?!

See you next Tuesday.