Faceoff

Playing the Field #1

by J.M. Snyder

Christian "Magic" Magdziuk is a minor league hockey player with dreams of heading to the NHL someday, and he'll do whatever it takes to make that dream come true. So he only plays with the Richmond Rebels for one short season before he asks to be traded to the Bedford Blizzard, a farm team for the American Hockey League where he might get a little more notice from scouts.

His attitude on the ice left him few friends among the Rebels ... that is, until teammate Ronnie took a liking to him. One thing led to another and the two men became lovers during the time Christian played with the team. But when he transferred to the Blizzard, he left the Rebels -- and Ronnie -- behind.

Now it's the first game of a new season, and he's facing off against his former teammates in the season opener. But does something still smolder between Christian and Ronnie after all this time?

Genres: M M Romance, Sports, Contemporary, Gay, Romance, M M Sports Romance, LGBT

58 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

An author of gay erotic/romantic fiction, J.M. Snyder began in self-publishing and worked with Amber Allure, Aspen Mountain, eXcessica, and Torquere Presses.

Snyder's highly erotic short gay fiction has been published online at Amazon Shorts, Eros Monthly, Ruthie's Club, and Tit-Elation, as well as in anthologies by Alyson Books, Aspen Mountain, Cleis Press, eXcessica Publishing, Lethe Press, and Ravenous Romance.

In 2010, Snyder founded JMS Books LLC, a royalty-paying queer small press that publishes in both electronic and print format. For more information on newest releases and submission guidelines, please visit JMS Books LLC online.

Reviews

[Adrienne -kocham czytać- · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF and returned to Amazon (for offensive content? lol) at 40%.

I played ice hockey for 9 years, so I know what I'm talking about when I say that this author does not know hockey. At all. I started highlighting things the author said wrong, and built up quite a list in less than half of this short story. For example:

"...practicing on rollerblades, bodies pressed together as they checked each other's swings..."
What the hell are swings? You call them shots in hockey. Swings would be for baseball or something where you swing a bat or other object. In hockey, they are called shots, so "checking each other's shots," or "checking each other's form," or "practicing their shots" would be correct.

"The first thing Christian does when he's released from the penalty box is skate to where his coach stands on the sidelines..." Umm, yeah, see sidelines are actual lines on the side of a field for, say, soccer or american football. In hockey, they have boards that surround the ice and benches for the coaches and for the players to sit when they're off the ice. So it should have been "skate to where his coach stands on the bench" or something similar.

And then, Ronnie (Christian's love interest on the opposing team), goes to the penalty box for icing? WHAT? You do not get a penalty for icing. There is a stoppage in play and the face-off is at the other end of the ice, in the team's zone who drew the icing call. But there is no penalty.
(Plus, that scene just doesn't really make sense with Ronnie being distracted by Christian, who's on the bench, and then shooting at the net from behind the red line at center ice and missing, therefore drawing the icing call. And the announcer goes, "Would have been a great shot..." Wait what? No it wouldn't have. Sounds like a bad play all around. You're not going to score on a competent goalie from that distance 99% of the time, and the speed of the game and placement of the ice and benches just makes that a stupid scene. You dump the puck if you're going to once you pass the red line so that you don't draw an icing call.)

Besides all the misnomers and nonsensical things written in there if this book truly is about ice hockey, the writing wasn't that great, repetitive sometimes and a bit awkward in present tense.

So, because I especially love good hockey books, all around this book was disappointing for me and maddening in the worst way. I just think if you're going to write about something you should do a little research first. I can ignore a lot of things, but lack of research and mistakes coming from that, no.

[Ami · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is about Christian "Magic" Magdziuk, who is a minor league hockey player for Bedford Blizzard. On a night where his team plays against Richmond Rebels, his former team, he must also faces Ronnie (one of Rebel's best player), who became his lover for that short time Christian was on Rebels. Night full of tension, not just on the ice field, but also between the two guys, because just maybe, something is not over yet between them?

Oh, sports romance, yay!! My only wish, is that this story is longer. Of course, I know at the beginning that it's novella, so it's only like 50+ pages long. But with a story this good, you really want it to last. I love how Ms. Snyder works out Christian and Ronnie's relationship on flashbacks, how they get together, how they separate due to Christian's trade to Blizzard. At the same time, keep the intensity between the two in present time. A very good read indeed.

[Gigi · Rating 1 out of 5]

What the fuck did I just read?

[Wax · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars rounded down. I'm not even sure this can be classified as a complete story. It's really a teaser or a promise of a relationship. Christian and Ronnie were hockey teammates last year, but Christian was traded to another team. Now their teams are playing each other and Christian is having flashbacks to the year before.

Honestly this story could not have been less made for me. I'm not a fan of the third person present POV. (It always reads awkward to me, though some authors can do it.) I also could have done without flashbacks - they were not the smoothest of transitions and sometimes I couldn't figure out whether it was present or past. Then one of the MCs was just plain unlikeable. And end it without a HEA or even a strong HFN? Not the story for me. If it hadn't been for the fact that I was reading this for a challenge, I would've stopped.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an incredibly quick read. The story was made up of a series of moments, brief, succinct and fast paced rather than having the padding of a longer novel around it. Perhaps it is my fault for not looking more closely at what the word count of the book was when I was buying, but, at 40 pages in pdf I cannot help but feel a little disappointed that it was not longer. Especially as what I did read was enjoyable. I know I have whinged about this before, but when I pay that much for a book I guess I expected a few more pages. However, due to how the story was written maybe it would not have worked in a longer format.

The romance was sweet and hot and I enjoyed the characters. Christian with his drive and ambition to do better for himself and Ronnie with his quiet stoicism. The premise of the book is what initially made me pick it up and the lovely cover. I have a thing for sports romances and have all of Susan Elizabeth Phillips firmly on the shelf!

So, much locker room shots, men in towels and hockey sticks. Nice!

[Elisa Rolle]

This short story by J.M. Snyder it's all a question of "play": the hockey game Christian and Ronnie are playing on the ice, for the first time in opposite team after being fellow players the years before; the play of glances they are doing, Christian trying to catch Ronnie's look, and Ronnie trying with all his own to avoid him; the secret game they were conducting, playing the role of teammate and being instead lovers. The book lasts the time of the game, during which Christian replays his story with Ronnie and more the game goes on, more the time is near the actual one, and the final move will be played here and now.

Usually in a sports romance there is always the big issue of being gay in a uber-manly world, a world that seems to deny that gay men can also be good players (no pun intended). Instead in this short story, this issue is down-played; it's not denied, but it's not the main problem Christian and Ronnie had. When their relationship started, they probably recognized a fellow soul in the other man, the necessity to hide the relationship was common understanding, and the things seemed to develop nice and easy. But Christian is a young professional players, with still big dreams and stars in his eyes: he wants to hit the big game, and the little league where Ronnie and him are playing is not his final target. Ronnie instead is content with his life, with his steady role in a small town league that probably allows him more freedom, always with discretion. And so it's not the "gay" issue that torn them apart, but more Christian's ambition.

Now three months later, Christian wants to "play" their problem on the field, and instead Ronnie seems to prefer to avoid all of it. It's really ended between them? Actually there was not a break point, Christian simply left and Ronnie didn't stop him... the final confrontation will prove if their love (if love was, since no one said the big word), was real or was only another game.

As I said the book last only the space of a game, so it doesn't want to be all-inclusive of all the possible strand of the story; it's more a moment in life, but both characters are quite nice. Christian maybe is more developed, but Ronnie has potential: his reasons are not quite explained, I can only imagine them, like my idea that he prefers to "play" in a small field to avoid the judgment of the big media, but I believe this is a bonus; I have enough hint to fill the void that a short story usually leaves.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1602728275/?...

[Ro · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is told in the third person POV of Christian. Christian and Ronnie are players on the same hockey team. Ronnie is the veteran, Christian, also known as "Magic", the hot shot newcomer. The story begins with Christians first game against his former teammates, as after training and honing his skills, he accepted a trade to the Blizzard, leaving Ronnie and his teammates behind. While his former teammates are bitter towards him, Ronnie doesn't even glance Christian's way. The game progresses, with an ongoing inner dialogue by Christian, questioning the relationship he and Ronnie had shared.



Told in a flashback format, the development of Ronnie and Christian as a couple shows Christian to be fairly unlikeable. While I thought Ronnie was real, gentle and looking for love, Christian seemed selfish and surly most of the time. He had a tendency to keep a wall between himself and Ronnie. He is more focused on himself. When the time comes for the trade to Blizzard, he is disappointed when Ronnie doesn't fight it, yet he puts it forward himself as the best thing for him. He claims (in his inner monologue) to want Ronnie, yet is eyeing up a teammate in the locker room and the only thing that he can think is "He's not into Burle, personally, but it's been too long since he was last with someone." Yet he STILL doesn't make a move to Ronnie, someone he supposedly cares about?



This is one of the "lack of communication" stories, because Christian is thinking he wants Ronnie, but Ronnie doesn't push him to stay, so he then flounces off for three months with no word. It was aggravating. The story goes back and forth between past and present (the game against the Blizzard) to get the story told, and this was well done. Ronnie was a good character, but the story loses something for me because Christian just seemed selfish.

[Ralph Gallagher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christian is a professional hokey player who wants nothing more than to play in the NHL. When he gets traded from the Richmond Rebels to the Bedford Blizzards, he sees it as just another step towards the NHL. The only person he tells that he requested the trade is his teammate and lover, Ronnie. Now, months later, the Blizzards are playing the Rebels and he still has no clue where Ronnie and him stand.

Since this is so short, the characters are kind of flat. They're not completely cardboard cut-outs, but you don't really get to see the depth in them. They do have some depth however, they're not just brainless hokey players (most of them) and as such, struggle with inner conflict and emotions. It doesn't really detract from the story and is mostly just a side effect of it being so short.

I love how Snyder handled the plot. Instead of lumping all of the backstory into one section, she used flashbacks to give us a glimpse into Christian's past. Alternating between the past and present was an excellent idea, and made this novel much more fun to read. She handled the technique excellently and it was easy to follow which time you were in, unlike some novels.

Over all, I loved reading this novel. Snyder had a good balance of plot and sex, and didn't try to overwhelm the reader with too much of either. No grammar or punctuation errors jumped out at me, nor did any large plot holes. I would definitely recommend this story to romance lovers.

** Warning ** This novel contains sex scenes and may not be appropriate for readers under than age of 18.

[Shelby · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd probably give this 2.5 stars overall. The biggest problem with it is that Christian is just plain arrogant and unlikable. His ego bugged the crap out of me. I didn't want him to get his guy back because all he really seemed to care about was himself and how good he was. He never seemed to learn the lesson that sometimes it's better to care about the team over yourself. Just ugh and meh.

[J.M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my book so I'm not going to write a review.

[Ivka_s_knihou · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love it.

[Nichole (DirrtyH)]

I swear I read this but I don't remember when or what my rating would have been.

[Buda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A not-very-likeable MC plus some glitches with the hockey itself made this one a downer for me. 2.5 rounded up because it's hockey.

[H.A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great, short and sweet.