Time to Shine
by Rachel Reid
Content warning: Dealing with the grief of a close family member’s death which took place prior to the book starting.
I read this book in a day. A delicious day. A work day! In between meetings and emails I was reading this book. (Sorry, boss.)
Landon Stackhouse, a hockey goaltender, has been called up from the Calgary farm team to play in the NHL as a backup goalie due to an injury. He’s riddled with anxiety in so many ways and tends to stick to himself. Casey Hicks, a star winger on the team, isn’t deterred, however. He loves talking to people and welcoming them to the team. That he hates being alone is just by the by. Landon is due to be in Calgary for a bit longer than anticipated and so Casey offers one of his spare rooms up to Landon.
This is a niche reference, but I see Casey Hicks as a fictionalised version of a South African rugby player – Faf de Klerk. This is how he celebrated South Africa winning the 2019 Rugby World Cup: wearing only SA-flag underwear, drinking out of the trophy and shaking hands with Prince Harry, bold as you please. Sadly there’s no GIF or video encapsulating all of this, but if you google it, you’ll see the general vibe and look that Faf/Casey has.
Or maybe not quite, because Casey is scared of being alone in the dark. Like can’t-sleep scared. But put Casey in a room with someone and he sleeps like a baby. The dark is no longer scary. Meanwhile, Landon’s anxiety ratchets up before matches where he’s the starting goalie. When he feels that way, he sits in the dark with an old goalie mask on and meditates because he too cannot fall asleep. Put Landon in a room with someone else and he also sleeps like a baby. You see where this is going?
I spend 80% of my day being an anxious wreck about unlikely things like the building collapsing on me, so you would think that I’d be more supportive of characters with anxiety. But Landon and Casey’s anxieties so neatly ‘cancel’ each other out. Put them in a room together and magically their matching anxieties cease to be a problem. Colour me unimpressed, but I’ve not met someone with anxiety for whom the fix is so easy and so mutually satisfactory. In my experience, anxiety is never so conveniently managed, especially the kind of anxiety that will not let me sleep one wink. The anxiety as written feels too much like a plot moppet. You have to actively suspend your disbelief to buy into it.
I very much appreciated the amount of communication between them, particularly during sex scenes. Landon has a very low sex drive and he’s not even sure if he’s gay. He’s a virgin and has had no inclination to change that. Until Casey. Their sex is hot, in part because there is a lot more talk about consent. Casey checks in with Landon often while they’re trysting and they have open and rather hot conversations about what they like and don’t like. And if you’re a frequent reader of m/m hockey romances, I’ll let you know that there was no homophobia to overcome/deal with in this novel.
If you’re prepared to do a bit of heavy lifting when it comes to suspending your disbelief about mental health issues, this is an immersive story with an emotionally satisfying ending. I liked both characters, and while I struggled to fully appreciate the ease with which they dealt with their own anxieties, I had a lovely day not-entirely-working while reading this book.
– Lara
For Landon Stackhouse, being called up from the Calgary farm team is exciting and terrifying, even if, as the backup goalie, he rarely leaves the bench. A quiet loner by nature, Landon knows he gives off strong “don’t talk to me” vibes. The only player who doesn’t seem to notice is Calgary’s superstar young winger, Casey Hicks.
Casey treats Landon like an old friend, even though they’ve only interacted briefly in the past. He’s endlessly charming and completely laid-back in a way that Landon absolutely can’t relate to. They couldn’t have less in common, but Landon needs a place to live that’s not a hotel room and Casey has just bought a massive house—and hates being alone.
As roommates, Casey refuses to be defeated by Landon’s one-word answers. As friends, Landon comes to notice a few things about Casey, like his wide, easy smile and sparkling green-blue eyes. Spending the holidays together only intensifies their bromance-turned-romance. But as the new year approaches, the countdown to the end of Landon’s time in Calgary is on.
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This is priced at $19.87 on Amazon Australia. I think that’s the most expensive romance ebook I’ve ever seen. I paid $7.63 for Heated Rivalry in 2020 and that was about the most I’ve ever paid for an ebook. This one sounds lovely but not so remarkable that I’m coughing up that much just yet.
I’m reading this right now! I got really lucky and received my hold from the library early yesterday otherwise would’ve probably had to wait ages for a sale. Had to control myself all through the work day not to start reading, but then stayed up late because I didn’t want to put it down. I’m loving it so far.
Read it yesterday, it’s a lot of fun. I would say B also, maybe even a B+ if you go in wanting something very unrealistic. The anxiety cancellation (much like the total lack of homophobia in professional sports) didn’t seem likely, no, but… wouldn’t it be lovely? If the book had been longer it might have hurt my teeth, but as it was I was fine with it. The characters didn’t appeal to me but I loved how they appealed to one another.
The third act Big Problem and its resolution is where I quibble. The way it’s structured seems clumsy, formulaic, unnecessary.
Oh hey, since I am in moderation detention, could I presume to ask someone to put this bit in a spoiler before posting it (assuming you post it)?
But all that is actually really minor, because the book largely keeps everything moving fast enough that one can, as it were, skate past any plot holes.
I have been stalking the library website to get on the waiting list for this. Somehow I missed the posting so I am at the back of a good-sized queue, happy to wait my turn. I can’t quite reconcile myself to $10 for an ebook yet though I absolutely believe authors deserve proper compensation for their work (and have no qualms about paying $18 for a paperback these days).
@Lara, I too totally enjoyed Landon and Casey–I loved how they were able to come to see each other with genuine acceptance and support, and provide that to each other. And I just loved how compassionately Ms Reid writes them and their teammates and families. I agree that the price is very steep; I will definitely be using the library and also keeping an eye out for a sale!
Generally, $9.99 (which is what I paid) for an ebook would be too rich for my blood, but I really really really wanted to read TIME TO SHINE as soon as it was released, so I switched a few things in my book budget to justify the purchase. I’m glad I did—I started reading yesterday and it’s so smoothly written and Landon & Casey have such utterly different and distinct voices. I’m not sure this will be in HEATED RIVALRY territory, but it’s definitely a wonderful read so far.
Would go slightly higher with a B+/A-. Solid, but as noted above not quite Heated Rivalry.
I think I was the only one who felt meh about Heated Rivalry (bad pacing; first 30% boils down to “I shouldn’t sleep with my hot rival” and not much more plot to justify the Crosby/Ovechkin fanfic vibe), but I loved Common Goal. Sounds like Landon could be demisexual; is this affirmed on the page?
I enjoyed this book tremendously. Like kkw, I also noticed the unrealistic lack of homophobia in this hockey universe. It made me think of the speech Eugene Levy gave when Schitt’s Creek won an Emmy for best comedy series a few years back. He called the show “a celebration of inclusivity and a castigation of homophobia” and I think that’s what Rachel Reid gave us in Time to Shine.