Okay, this post will be kinda complicated and full of spoiler tags. Hopefully everything makes sense.
As much as it pains me to admit this (so, so, painful ), I would not have found this author without an Amazon rec. She only has 2 published books and one or the other was consistently popping up as an “also buy” or as a specific rec on my kindle.
I started with You Could Make a Life. **can loan** Hockey The story itself is somewhat average but I liked the characters and the author is insanely knowledgeable about hockey. The more I’ve been reading about and watching hockey, I’m realizing how little it has featured in the previous hockey romances I’ve read. Encyclopedic super fan isn’t necessary but something a little more advanced than “Um, I think it’s a fight over the last Oreo?” would be nice. Maybe the authors are knowledgeable, idk, but it just hasn’t come through in a lot of what I’ve read.
((Him/Us, for example. Jaime is a goalie. Goalies have a reputation as weird. Obviously, I know there’s exceptions to every rule but wouldn’t it warrant a mention either way? Goalies are also crazy flexible. They couldn’t figure out a way to show this? Even besides the obvious sex reference? ))
Sorry, got a little off track.... Anyway, a few niggles with the story. The first time they get together
Dan has *just* come back to the hotel room after a hookup. I don’t begrudge him the encounter but it was icky that he was basically going from one to the other in the same night. Also, no shower. Eeeewwww!
Only one POV and the ending was a bit rushed. The hockey elements bumped it up for me and this’ll be a reread for sure.
I just don’t want to continue right now. It’s too hard knowing where it ends. Eventually, I’ll finish. It’ll just be one that I’ll have to go back and forth.
So, when I was checking out the reviews, one of the reviewers mentioned the author’s Archive of Our Own page. She writes under the name “youcouldmakealife.” She is very prolific and has a ton of free reads. I made my way through the majority. I haven’t really read anything from Archive of Our Own before (I keep meaning to check out Lisa Henry’s stuff) but I was able to navigate pretty easily. The link above is sorted by series. I’ll list the individual series below, with comments;) These are out of order but are in what (I think) are a good reading order. Everything she has written is hopelessly entwined. Almost all her characters make multiple appearances in other stories.
Giving Into the Influence 21,000 word short story. Dan from You Could Make a Life is a side character and all three are teammates. I liked it.
No Expectation of Returns 17,000 word short story. Childhood friends become more. Again, I liked it.
This is a threesome with Marc and Dan (You Could Make a Life) and Ulf, side character and best friend of Marc. Not my favorite plot point (I prefer a permanent MMM) but Dan and Marc are still a committed couple.
Vinny Gets a Life 58,000 words. Listed as complete but still an unfinished vibe for me. One H is asexual so they have a romantic but not sexual relationship.
The other H has occasional one night stands with women to satisfy his desire. I like them as a couple but don’t see this working out long term. He’s left with pretty much anonymous one offs for sex. I dunno.
Between the Teeth 159,000 words. Loved this. It spans about 6 years, iirc, but there’s a couple time jumps and they’re not a couple for the whole time. Socially awkward, emotionally stunted, conflicted H with a dysfunctional home life. The other H is a really good fit for him. No Amazon link yet but GR has this story listed for release in March. Labeled as book 1 so I’m not sure if it’ll be pared down or another story will be book 2. Even though I read this, I will be preordering as soon as the link is active.
Follow the North Star 126,000 words. Liam (from Thrown Off the Ice) is a major side character. MMM. I liked it. There are a few scenes that play out from alternate POVs and that got a bit repetitive. It just seemed to lose a bit of steam in the last third or so. Still good.
Always in Tandem This is separated into 3 segments on her series page. The second segment includes the chapters from the first. The third segment is new. I didn’t finish this. I liked the beginning but
They break up after one H cheats. They end up on the same team eventually and I thought they would end up together but I guess not. The cheating H ends up marrying a woman and having 2 kids. The other H ends up in a 7 year relationship with a man that ends amicably. I think she’s going to put them back together but it’s obviously going to be a long road. I’ll wait and see how it pans out.
Impaired Judgment Almost 300,000 words, 111 chapters. I read up to 110. 111 was recently posted but this is a new story arc. I’ll wait until there’s more posted before I continue. Loved it! The one H is young, just 17. The other is almost 21. Story spans a little over 3 years. Just very good. Nice growth as individuals and as a couple. I can see them going the distance.
ycmal outtakes Just the 4 outtake chapters, over 300,000 words. These are just a bunch of small scenes featuring pretty much all of the characters in the above stories. Some take place after the story chronologically. There are scenes between characters from different series and some Alternate Universe stuff (diff pairings, Harry Potter, fantasy). Overall very good and should be read last, imo. I’ve gone back and reread some as my knowledge of characters has expanded.
Fandom page I found online. Fills in some gaps on various characters. Spoilery if you haven’t read everything. There’s still a few characters I’m not quite sure about, not sure who they are exactly. The author is active on Tumblr so it may be more clear there. I’m not interested in digging around on another site.
Didn’t realize that would be so long. Hope everything is clear.
The author has a real knack for writing the small moments between her characters. I really enjoyed the outtakes. There’s quite a few with the Hs from You Could Make a Life and it greatly increased my enjoyment of their story. You get to see them later in life, after retirement.
There’s a lot of hockey and I learned quite a bit. There’s the usual gameplay, but also training, nutrition plans, travel issues, dealing with agents and front office. Road roommates, line mates, billeting, preparing for the draft...most of this stuff never gets mentioned in the usual “hockey” romance. All organic to the plot. It doesn’t feel like a Hockey for Dummies manual
There’s a few more stories in the series link that I didn’t mention. I skimmed them a bit but they’re incomplete-ish. Other than that, my knowledge is insufficient to post an opinion.
You can read online or download. The outtakes download as a bundle but the rest are by chapter. It’s a pain to have all the separate downloads but I don’t know that these will stay online. I’m not sure what the etiquette is for ArchiveofOurOwn but I would think stories get pulled before publication?
I misspoke A little more about Taylor Fitzpatrick....
Impaired Judgement She uses “like” in their dialogue a lot. **A lot** They’re young so it fits and it didn’t really bother me. I think it was realistic.
Between the Teeth GR has this coming out in March as Coming in First Place (Between the Teeth #1). No specific date yet. It’s 158,000 on ArchiveofOurOwn. Supposedly this is going to be pulled for publication and I’m not sure if it’ll be pared down for release. I’m wondering if she’ll split it into a duo and the first book will end
? Or maybe one of her other Archive stories will be expanded into the second book?
I really have no additional info and I didn’t even try to go into her social media.
Anyway, my point is you might want to download Between the Teeth from Archive while it’s still available.
Side note: Her editing on Archive is good. There are some grammatical errors (mostly missing commas) and an occasional missed word but overall it’s pretty good.
ArchiveofOurOwn also has some fanfic (I think it’d be considered fanfic) written by other members using Fitzpatrick’s characters. youcouldmakealike fanfic. I read a few. Mixed bag and variable quality but may be of some interest.
This is awesome, mjbett , thanks for all the information! I will definitely look into these. I'm wondering about downloading all the short stories now, in case they get pulled, then planning to read them after I read the two books that are available. Yep, definitely should win that lottery and become independently wealthy so I don't have to work. I could read so much more then!
ETA: I've always heard that goalies, in addition to being super flexible (obviously), are very superstitious. They have their rituals that they follow religiously and any deviation means they won't play well (they think, anyway). I've heard mention of the flexibility when reading hockey romances but yeah, it's never been a focus. I'm looking forward to reading these. Always happy to get a rec for a new author.
This is awesome, mjbett , thanks for all the information! I will definitely look into these. I'm wondering about downloading all the short stories now, in case they get pulled, then planning to read them after I read the two books that are available. Yep, definitely should win that lottery and become independently wealthy so I don't have to work. I could read so much more then!
ETA: I've always heard that goalies, in addition to being super flexible (obviously), are very superstitious. They have their rituals that they follow religiously and any deviation means they won't play well (they think, anyway). I've heard mention of the flexibility when reading hockey romances but yeah, it's never been a focus. I'm looking forward to reading these. Always happy to get a rec for a new author.
I’d really recommend downloading if you’re interested. It’s definitely a pain. Impaired Judgement alone has over 100 chapters. All said, I think it’s around 200 segments to download and the titles don't really help—it’s just the chapter title, no Impaired Judgement Chapter 1, 2, 3, etc...
It took me 20 min or so but at least they’re in my Amazon docs if anything gets pulled. It’s easier to read on the Archive site cuz you can just click to the next chapter. Obviously, you’ll need WiFi if you’re doing it this way.
I’ve really been enjoying the stories and I’ve been checking Amazon everyday for the new link to go active. I’ll post when it does:)
I got an email from Brooklyn Public Library this afternoon that a book I had recommended that they purchase was available to me as a loan: The House in the Cerulean Sea Kindle Edition by TJ Klune (Author) I was so excited I almost yelled -- but then looked at my phone where I was on a conference call and just silently did a happy dance instead. Thank God I wasn't on a video teleconference, right?
I had this on hold at my local library for a hardcover book, as no one had it in ebook form, but then my library closed down. I even was telling my hubby how bummed I was that the book was stuck at the library but for $13.99 for the Kindle version, I figured I would wait for my library to re-open. But BPL must have decided to purchase the ebook version, so here I am! I'm so happy about this!!!
So.....if any of you are interested, you can put it on hold at BPL. Happy reading!
The Last Kiss I was looking forward to this but mostly a DNF. Read about 25% then skipped to the last few chapters. Decent historical detail but I kept getting a preachy vibe. Attitudes were changing during this time but the more modern sensibilities felt too anachronistic. Not horrible but I wasn’t feelin’ it. Side note—I wish the era (and WWII) had more representation in the romance genre.
Onto Up Close and Personal: Auckland Med #3 . Haven’t read the first 2 books but I did pick up bookm1 on sale. Just barely started so too soon for an opinion.
Parable of the a Mustard Seed Lisa Henry. It was okay. Started as a slow burn but the transition to a romantic, physical relationship was awkward. I did like that the younger H’s issues weren’t magically resolved by the power of love. More realistic. Some religious content though less than I expected considering the title. Handled fairly imo and didn’t feel preachy though obviously readers who are bothered by Christian ideology should avoid. Nowhere near as good as her Emergency Services series and I doubt I’ll be rereading. **can loan
Parable of the a Mustard Seed Lisa Henry. It was okay. Started as a slow burn but the transition to a romantic, physical relationship was awkward. I did like that the younger H’s issues weren’t magically resolved by the power of love. More realistic. Some religious content though less than I expected considering the title. Handled fairly imo and didn’t fell preachy though obviously readers who are bothered by Christian ideology should avoid. Nowhere near as good as her Emergency Services series and I doubt I’ll be rereading. **can loan
I borrowed this via KU but haven't started it yet. Still reading Shelly Laurenston's latest honey badger book (god, I just love that series so very much) Plan to read this soon as it looks interesting. As usual, while I read a lot, I'd love even more time to read. :-)
Parable of the a Mustard Seed Lisa Henry. It was okay. Started as a slow burn but the transition to a romantic, physical relationship was awkward. I did like that the younger H’s issues weren’t magically resolved by the power of love. More realistic. Some religious content though less than I expected considering the title. Handled fairly imo and didn’t fell preachy though obviously readers who are bothered by Christian ideology should avoid. Nowhere near as good as her Emergency Services series and I doubt I’ll be rereading. **can loan
If this is still available, I will happily borrow it, mjbett.