RITA Reader Challenge Review

Him by Elle Kennedy and Sarina Bowen

This RITA® Reader Challenge 2016 review was written by Malin. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Mid-Length Contemporary category.

The summary:

They don’t play for the same team. Or do they?

Jamie Canning has never been able to figure out how he lost his closest friend. Four years ago, his tattooed, wise-cracking, rule-breaking roommate cut him off without an explanation. So what if things got a little weird on the last night of hockey camp the summer they were eighteen? It was just a little drunken foolishness. Nobody died.

Ryan Wesley’s biggest regret is coaxing his very straight friend into a bet that pushed the boundaries of their relationship. Now, with their college teams set to face off at the national championship, he’ll finally get a chance to apologize. But all it takes is one look at his longtime crush, and the ache is stronger than ever.

Jamie has waited a long time for answers, but walks away with only more questions—can one night of sex ruin a friendship? If not, how about six more weeks of it? When Wesley turns up to coach alongside Jamie for one more hot summer at camp, Jamie has a few things to discover about his old friend…and a big one to learn about himself.

Here is Malin's review:

While Wes is now sort of “don’t ask, don’t tell” out to his hockey teammates and coaches at college, he was only really coming to terms with his sexuality when he was eighteen and crushing hard on his best friend at hockey camp. Absolutely desperate for an excuse to touch him, he made a drunken bet and subsequently freaked out after he and his best friend fooled around one very memorable time. Feeling horribly guilty, Wes cut off all contact with his friend and they haven’t spoken for four years. Now their teams are likely to face off in the national championships, and Wes feels he should probably make some sort of gesture of reconciliation.

Raised in a large and loving family in California, Jamie really isn’t too bothered about the drunken experimentation at hockey camp, but he’s hurt and upset that Wes pretty much burned all the bridges of their friendship and never spoke to him after that one night. He’s surprised to discover that Wes has resurrected their old tradition of sending each other gag gifts, and suddenly seems willing to patch up their broken friendship as well. He’s even more surprised when Wes shows up at camp to coach for the summer, even though he should be getting ready for his big break in Toronto.

Having seen and spoken to Jamie again, Wes can’t get him out of his mind, and wants to spend as much time with him as possible, even if he can never admit his true feelings. He’s shocked to realise that Jamie wasn’t horribly traumatised by their one drunken night together and even more surprised to realise that he may even be willing to repeat the experience. After Jamie does some soul-searching and concludes that he very much seems to be attracted to either gender, the two friends can barely keep off each other, hooking up every chance they get.

While Wes has been more or less openly out in college, he doesn’t want to attract press attention during the first year of his new and promising hockey career. He’s planning on staying strictly celibate and a relationship is the last thing he’s looking for. Jamie’s due to be in Detroit at the end of the summer, but doesn’t even know if he wants a career in hockey. He only ever started playing to stand out from the other men in the family who were all into football and now that he’s done with college, he’s not sure his head is really in the game, if it doesn’t involve coaching. There doesn’t seem to be much of a future for the two of them, even though they keep growing closer as the weeks pass by.

I have yet to read anything else by Elle Kennedy, although I’ve heard good things about her Off-Campus series. I very much enjoyed all of the books in Sarina Bowen’s The Ivy Years, though, including her M/M romance The Understatement of the Year. That book involved a lot more angst, though, with Graham’s initial denial and reluctance to accept his feelings and sexual identity being both frustrating and a bit exhausting.

What I loved about this book is that there isn’t really a lot of wrestling with insecurities. Jamie has grown up in California, perfectly comfortable with homosexuality and doesn’t feel violated or traumatised by the drunken night he and Wes spent together at eighteen. By the time Jamie and Wes meet again, Wes has accepted that he’s gay and is out to his parents (who chose to mainly ignore his confession) and most of his friends. He tells the head coach at the hockey camp and Jamie shortly after arriving there and is comfortable in himself, but has never had a steady boyfriend, since he still secretly pines for the one man he can’t have, Jamie.

After an evening out, seeing Wes flirting with someone else, Jamie gets uncharacteristically jealous and initiates a passionate kiss. Wes assumes he’s just drunk and confused, and tries to brush him off, not wanting him to do something he’ll regret. Jamie’s really rather persistent though, and quite skillfully seduces his infatuated bestie. Despite Wes’ fears, Jamie seems to have no regrets come morning. He’s more than happy to keep hooking up with Wes for as long as they’re at camp.

As is par the course for any romance, the course of true love never does run entirely smooth. Where would be the fun in that? As ecstatic as Wes is about spending quality hockey time with his best friend by day and passionately hooking up by night, he’s pretty sure that once Jamie goes off to Detroit, he’ll find himself some nice girl to settle down with, and there’s that whole going temporarily back in the closet for himself, so as to not attract undue attention during his first year as a pro.

While the book starts out a bit slow, the story really picks up once the story moves to the hockey camp where Jamie and Wes first met many years ago and Jamie now coaches every summer. Both protagonists are funny and likable in their separate ways and the supporting cast around them felt nicely developed too. The love scenes are pretty much all scorching, from their very first kiss (in the rain, because of course it is).

I’m now a bit torn about getting the sequel, Us, that came out earlier this year. On the one hand, I’d get more Jamie and Wes and seeing how their life together is panning out (plus probably a lot more hot sex). On the other hand, I’m worried there’s going to be a lot more complications introduced before they get their eventual HEA after all, and I’m not sure I want that. As long as I have only read this one, they’re perfectly gooey and happy together. I really do need to get round to reading the Off-Campus books now, though.

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Him by Elle Kennedy

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  1. Chelle says:

    OMG! I adored this book and the sequel. the sequel shows Jamie and Wes figuring out how to make it work. I totally lapped both books up. Jamie seems to live in his head more than I thought he would, given how open and accepting his family is. But I liked the voice the authors managed to develop and the dialog was realistic. (At least compared to the male dialog I overhear at my house).

  2. bookworm1990 says:

    Does the story end at the sequel? It sounds great, but I’m not sure I wanna start an open ended series

  3. Quidnunc says:

    Him and Us are favorites of mine. The story is basically wrapped up after Us. The back of the book list does list another book coming up. It sounds like it will cover an event in the life of Wes and Jamie, but I suspect it will focus more on some ongoing drama with two secondary characters from Us.

  4. Jazzlet says:

    Is taking your T off while clutching your (hockey) stick a thing?

  5. bookworm1990 says:

    Thanks Quidnunc!

  6. Shana says:

    I <3 <3 <3 both books Him and Us. They had a nice balance of humor, angst, and hot passion/sex. And as a huge hockey fan, I appreciated that the hockey references were accurate. 🙂

    Looking forward to the next book by these two authors together and independently (love both their independent series too).

  7. Becky says:

    Am I the only one who thought of the Powerpuff Girls villain?

    https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6R4pnAh77Gg/hqdefault.jpg

  8. Theresa says:

    I loved both Him and Us. I hate open ended books but thought this one had great wrap up in the first. But Us is really my favorite of the two. The third book seems like it won’t be focused on them but they’ll be supporting characters.

  9. Kelsey says:

    I loved Him, but I haven’t read Us yet for the same reason. I liked the low-angst level of the first and wasn’t sure how it could continue into a second book, but reading the other reviews, I’m now curious.

    My one issue with this book was the incorrect Team USA opponent for the gold metal match. It was Finland not Sweden! I actually stopped to look it up because it jarred me out of the story. I’m a soccer player and not much into hockey, but I’ve seen Miracle. These authors are clearly big hockey buffs, I don’t see how they could miss this. Was it a test? A paper town of sorts to tag copyright infringers? An inside joke? Whenever I think of this book I can’t help wondering.

  10. cleo says:

    I liked Him a lot, although I have to confess that I got tired of the flashbacks to the drunken experimenting – I started to skip them after awhile. And I felt like Wes did a really fast turn around from no-one-can-ever-know to I-can’t-give-you-up. But I still re-read it like a dozen times this year.

  11. KF says:

    I also love both Him and Us. Cannot wait for the next one.

  12. cleo says:

    The other RITA challenge review of this made me realize I was probably too measured in my earlier comment here – everyone loves this book so much I feel bad being the lone dissenting voice. But I trust the bitchery and I think you’ll understand where I’m coming from.

    As a queer bi woman, I’m incredibly ambivalent about this book. On the one hand, I really resonated with the portrayal of Jamie’s bisexuality. On the other hand, the whole blowjob scenario and the excessive flashbacks about it felt incredibly fetishizing to me. And it did feel (to me) kind of like a straight person’s idea / fantasy of what it’s like to be queer and that made me so uncomfortable.

  13. Trix says:

    I was shocked at how much I enjoyed HIM, though I can relate to Kelsey’s feelings about the Team USA gold medal game inaccuracy. What really niggled at me was Jamie’s Anaheim Ducks fandom. Speaking as a lifelong NorCal gal and a diehard Sharks fan (why yes, I *am* freaking out about Game Six tonight, actually), I guarantee there is NO WAY that a guy born and raised in San Rafael would be a Ducks fan without major extenuating circumstances (like a family member in their system or something). They mention it *twice* in the book without any explanation. Is it an in-joke of some sort? Maybe they just (gasp!) don’t like my Sharks? I’d love an explanation. Other than that, I’m looking forward to reading US. I definitely understand Cleo’s concerns; if it makes you feel any better, Jeff Adams (a gay writer of m/m whose own YA series HAT TRICK is wonderful!) really loved US (even recommended it in his own newsletter)…

  14. cleo says:

    @Trix – I didn’t care for Us, although I’m glad Jeff Adams liked it. I felt like the whole conflict (around Wes being out/outed) was incredibly contrived and annoyed me more than most big mis conflicts.

    I just didn’t get it. Why didn’t his coach support Wes more? Why didn’t he talk about it with his coach? Why didn’t his coach help him come out to his team? Why oh why did the PR team think it was a good idea to wait for Wes to be outed instead of trying to control the story? Why didn’t someone reach out to one of the organizations that support gay athletes for help and advice? Maybe I’ve read too many story-behind-the-coming-out-story type articles, but I just didn’t get the authorial choice to put Wes back in the closet and passively wait to be outed.

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