Review: The Understatement of the Year by Sarina Bowen
SYNOPSIS:
What happened in high school stayed in high school. Until now.
Five years ago, Michael Graham betrayed the only person who ever really knew him. Since then, he’s made an art of hiding his sexuality from everyone. Including himself.
So it’s a shock when his past strolls right into the Harkness College locker room, sporting a bag of hockey gear and the same slow smile that had always rendered Graham defenseless. For Graham, there is only one possible reaction: total, debilitating panic. With one loose word, the team’s new left wing could destroy Graham’s life as he knows it.
John Rikker is stuck being the new guy. Again. And it’s worse than usual, because the media has latched onto the story of the only “out” player in Division One hockey. As the satellite trucks line the sidewalk outside the rink, his new teammates are not amused.
And one player in particular looks sick every time he enters the room.
Rikker didn’t exactly expect a warm welcome from Graham. But the guy won’t even meet his eyes. From the looks of it, his former… best friend / boyfriend / whatever isn’t doing so well. He drinks too much and can’t focus during practice.
Either the two loneliest guys on the team will self destruct from all the new pressures in their lives, or they can navigate the pain to find a way back to one another. To say that it won’t be easy is the Understatement of the Year.
Warning: unlike the other books in this series, this heartbreaking love story is about two guys. Contains sexual situations, dance music, snarky t-shirts and a poker-playing grandmother.
THIS BOOK IS A STANDALONE. NO CLIFFHANGERS. NO PRIOR EXPERIENCE NECESSARY.
REVIEW:
It has been a minute since I dived into a Sarina Bowen book and this book was just full of feels, conflicting characters, and all the drama I associate with college. I loved things about this story and I also hated things about this story. But the ending left me wanting more.
Rikker and Graham have a complex history to say the least. Their shared middle school and high school time shaped them into the men they are today. For better or for worst, their chemistry and their shared trauma molds them. Rikker was a rock steady man; he is the foundation, never shifting, swaying, or bending. He is confident in his skin, he owns who he is, and he knows exactly what he wants. Essentially, everything Graham is not.
I have really mixed feeling about Graham and while it seemed like Sarina wanted me to sympathize with him…I just couldn’t. I didn’t feel compassion for this cowardly man who took 6+ years to find his voice. He was weak, fickle, selfish, and for the majority of the book I felt like he was toying with Rikker. Did Graham have moments where he pulled his head out of his *ss? Yes, but I am not sure they were enough to save him as a character for me.
The plot flows over the course of the hockey season where the team celebrates both highs and lows. The secondary characters added some much needed tension and support. There was drama, both expected and unexpected, but mostly this is a story about Graham finding self-acceptance and self-love for who he is. I am on the fence as to whether this discovery came too late or not. The ending felt a little rushed and their was really no closure epilogue where they sail off into the sunset but overall, I did enjoy the story because no one does hockey new-adult romance like Sarina.
LINKS:
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
