Goalie Interference is a nice read.

It clicks many popular tropes
💜Interracial sports romance
💚Enemies to lovers

Have what all romance novels should have
💛 Hot AF UST and sexual chemistry
💙 Likeable characters

Why no better rating?
😳Long internal monologues aren't my favorite things and Goalie Interference have way too many. It slows down the story and makes it unnecessarily long.

Just reviewed Goalie Interference by Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn through NetGalley.

It's all action. Hockey action, sexy-time action, rivalry action, friendship action . . . just all of it. And perfectly woven together to give us a winning story, one I'm going to have to re-read again, and again.

We meet Ryu Mori in book one of this series. I identify a lot with Ryu, not the most social person, not the most open and warm person, not the best in big groups of people, and not the most tactile either. Cool and aloof is Ryu but as the story develops we get to see more. We got glimpses from his best friend Tristan's POV in 'Off the Ice' and now we get Ryu's POV with the full story -- and who he is makes sense. It's partly cultural, partly family history, and of course just who he is. Not everyone can be warm, fuzzy, teddybear types, I should know. ;-)

New comer to the series and the Venom team Emmitt Armstrong was a fun character to learn. He's loud and brash, but also serious about his sport, thoughtful, and what could be surprising but isn't really, is he is usually the voice the reason between the pair. I adored him, He's not ashamed of who he is and what he wants, but he takes his time to think, to use reason, and then he goes for it like a crazy-man.

Watching Emmitt and Ryu shift from rivals to partners was pretty spectacular. And I think the best part was that as their relationship evolved neither men changed who they were, they just found that their differences actually worked better together than against each other. And their snark and sass was on-point throughout.

We get a lot of Hockey in this book. I'm a New Zealander who knows basically nothing about Hockey (give me Rugby and I can have a conversation with you, heh) buuuuuuut, the Hockey was written brilliantly. The intensity, emotion, and thought processes for both Ryu and Emmitt came off the page. And the authors didn't make it too technical that a layman (laywoman?) like me would get lost. I was totally in sync with the wins, losses, and game play. I had to pause my reading to take deep breaths, it was exciting, I got excited.

Fans of Tristan and Sebastian will get plenty of chances to see this couple. I always thought the friendship of Tristan and Ryu was a little one-sided but, I was totally wrong. Ryu adores his friend, their friendship is solid., I want Hockey friends.

MVP goes to Morley. That guy, OMG. For all his loudness and out-there attitude, he's also a great friend and amongst all that gravitas he is incredibly astute.

There were some brilliant one-liners in there too which had me laughing out loud. I'm not going to quote them, you can stumble across those little gems on your own.

A most excellent addition to the Hat Trick series. I'm looking forward to next story by this writing duo.

Goalie Interference is the latest collaboration between Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn, and is book two in their Hat Trick series. It isn’t necessary to read the first book in this series, but it was nice to see Sebastian and Tristan pop up again.
Ryu Mori is a goalie for the Atlanta Venom, and it’s finally his chance to be the starter, but things get complicated when the Venom acquire Emmitt Armstrong, a rising star from the AHL. Naturally, they’re disinclined to like one another because they’re both competing for the starting spot, but they realize that as both goalies and men of color, they have much more in common than they realize. A friends with benefits fling becomes a full fledged relationship, but things get dicey when the Venom enter the playoff series and only one of them can be the starter. They have to figure out if their relationship can survive the high stakes of the NHL and where they both belong both on their teams and in each other lives.
I liked this one better than the first book in this series! Ryu and Emmitt balanced each other out nicely, and I appreciated that Gale and Vaughn took on this issue of the overwhelming whiteness of the NHL. The issue the couple faced was realistic and believable, and I couldn’t figure out how the authors were going to resolve the conflict. Overall, an enjoyable read!

This was cute, I can say that for sure. Although I did find the plot a tab bit dull and I also felt the end of this book was rushed. I liked the characters and the romance. It was kind of forgettable though.

Very entertaining read about a one cocky black and a cool Japanese-American Hockey player!

Content warnings include: temporary sports injury, Hockey related violence; mentions of racism, homophobia and biphobia.

One of my absolute favourite things about Goalie Interference was that this was a queer sports romance were the whole "we need to keep it secret or else we'll be found out" WASN'T an issue. There was no coming-out storyline whatsoever. Though the two characters do come out to a few people at several points, it's never a big deal, the reactions are always positive and it's never to the public or the NHL.
I get that the big public coming out storylines are important and sometimes the appeal of sports romance, but it's often stressful both for the characters and the reader, so I was happy to see that it was not a thing here.

Besides, Emmitt and Ryu had their fair share of other things going on. Both have family stuff in the background, but the main plot was around them both wanting to become the starting goalie for their team instead of sharing the position.
Add in opposites-attract and enemies-to-lovers and Goalie Interfernce had a perfect formula for an extremely entertaining read, which I'm happy to report it turned out to be.

The one thing that bothered me was that very sudden shifts in their relationship. Be it from hate to attraction, from not-so-good-natured teasing to fuck-buddies, or from no-string-attached to serious, I was always a bit jarred when it suddenly happened.
It wasn't so bad that it ruined the flow for me, but I certainly found myself blinking at the book in surprise a few times when these transitions happened.
The worst one for me was at the very end, which sadly made the book end on somewhat of a lower note for me, as it didn't feel properly resolved at all.

I still had an overall great time reading this, and I adored Ryu and Emmitt and their teammates. I liked that they talked about being men of colour playing hockey at a several points, and brought up how their race affected them in their chosen sport.

I have read Avon Gale before but not Piper Vaughn and honestly I thought this was an okay hockey romance. not the best but not the worst either.

This was so good! I love me a good M/M hockey romance, so this was totally my catnip. And 2 goalies?? Sign me up for a 5 star review, because this did NOT disappoint!
Thank you to netgalley for the ARC!

When it comes to romances, I have high, not expectations necessarily, but standards of a sort. Namely, I like slowburns. And the kind of slowburns that leave you desperate to see the couple get together. Like in physical pain kind of desperate. Which means not so much as an almost-kiss until at least two thirds in, and a steady ratcheting up of tension. Basically, make me want it as much as the characters themselves do, because else I get bored.

So, while I did enjoy Goalie Interference, the fact that they first hooked up around a third of the way through kind of made the next two thirds a bit tension-less, I guess? Like, I was even hoping for a big blow-up angsty scene just to make things interesting. I would even have taken some goddamn miscommunication and you know how much I hate that as a trope.

But let’s back up a sec, and talk about what I liked. As ever, Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn have created two likeable characters who you can so easily root for and a cast that you’ll come to love. In this case, we get Ryu Mori (a side character in book 1) and Emmitt Armstrong (a wholly new character). And almost immediately they latch onto a piece of your heart and hold tight. But they also hate each other. So you think, here we go, here’s some good enemies/rivals to lovers. And, ultimately, it is a good enemies to lovers story. It just happened not to be an amazing one for me.

Because, honestly, they get together too early. Sure, it’s hate-sex or whatever, but it still feels too early. I needed more tension, more pining after one another even as they don’t admit it’s pining. I wanted to want them together more than I did. Once characters get together, it’s more likely I’ll get bored. And that was kind of the case here. Gale and Vaughn’s writing was engaging enough that I wasn’t bored out of my mind, but not enough was happening. Or rather, the tension between them wasn’t there. And that’s when I started wanting some big angst (the angst that did happen was fairly understated and didn’t really fulfil my need. Guess I should just be glad it wasn’t miscommunication based).

Issues with tension and slowburn aside, I did sort of feel like Ryu played into stereotypes a little as a character. It was more a sense I got than anything specific, but yeah.

But if you want a romance where you can just shut off your brain and read? Then this would be it.

I remember how exciting it was to watch hockey when I was growing up, and this novel brought a bit of that back! Ryu Mori and Emmitt Armstrong are competing goalies on the Venoms hockey team! Young, cocky and talented – Emmitt is the kind of guy that Ryu wants to roll his eyes at. Emmitt posts thirsty selfies on Instagram and always seems to be up for a party. Once he’s firmly embedded as Ryu’s competition in goal the tension amps up between them… until it borders on hostility.

Tension… naturally leads to sexual tension, right? It does in this case. In spite of the fact that they seem to rub each other the wrong way, Ryu and Emmitt quickly end up in a physical relationship that’s supposed to have no strings. The problem is that they are still competing for the spot as starting goalie… and the more time they spend together, the more complicated their feelings seem to become. Being emotionally connected to one another is a real issue as the competition for the play-offs continues to pit them against one another and they are faced with wondering if they can even be together.

This book is set in a magical world where there are more than a few players on the hockey team who are living diverse lifestyles, and you have to be able to suspend your disbelief a little when reading. Any time one of the hockey players comes out, the reactions from everyone on the team and fairy-tale perfect… and while I appreciate that this is fiction, I found that a little unrealistic. Homophobia in the sports world is still a very serious problem and this plot kind of glosses over that issue.

I thought the authors did a great job of exploring how it feels to have parents with high expectations. Both the main characters in this novel deal with a parent who isn’t overly supportive of their career choice. One of the things that read as really authentic in the relationship between Ryu and Emmitt was the way they were able to connect as they discussed feelings about not living up to their family’s expectations.

Overall, this is a great story that definitely brings the excitement of hockey to the page and teams it up with a very spicy relationship between two goalies! Don’t worry, you don’t have to know a lot about hockey to read this story! Just the basic positions will do fine! Although not for Ryu and Emmitt!! 😉

This was a great companion to Off The Ice. Ryu was a side character I was really intrigued about in the first book, so I was super happy to read his story along with Emmett.

Avon Gale and Piper Vaughen are such a power duo and write amazing love stories, this book no exception.

Very sweet romance. I did enjoy how Ryu and Emmitt were pitted against each other, yet on the same team in more ways than one. It was great how they were able to make both their professional and personal relationships work really well.

Thank you Carina Press and NetGalley for the ARC!

Goalie Interference (Hat Trick #2))
Grade: C

I've enjoyed many books by both of these authors, including the first book in this series, Off the Ice. Much of what I liked about that book is present here too: clear appreciation and understanding of the greatest sport in the world, likeable opposites attract characters, and hot sexual chemistry. Unfortunately, there isn't enough to the story to sustain a full length novel, and there's so much repetition of events and conversations (especially via the internal PoVs), I felt like I was reading the same thing over and over until the story eventually concludes. Goalie Interference is an entertaining, not very romantic ode to hockey. It’s too long and too slight to sustain it’s length, and the authors fail to capitalize on the potential inherent in their couple and their romance.

Ryu Mori and Emmitt Armstrong are goalies with distinctly different playing styles, but their results are the same. They win. A lot. Ryu is a star goalie in the NHL playing for the Atlanta Venom, and Emmitt (Army to his friends and teammates) is the top goalie in the AHL, the NHL’s development league. After a surprise early exit in the play-offs, the Venom sign Army to their team - hoping a partnership with Mori will help them win a Stanley Cup. Army is thrilled by his call up to the NHL, and eager to prove his ability to the team - but he’s wary of the quiet, controlled Mori. He wants the Venom to win, but he also wants to be their number one goalie. Mori isn't nearly as happy. He thought he was a lock for the top spot, and assumes that since Army is joining the team, his coaches don’t think he deserves it. Forced to share game time and compete for a job his thought was already his - with an arrogant, immature and outspoken rookie - he keeps his distance and thoughts to himself. Ryu is Army’s complete opposite - controlled, quiet, and intense. When the coaching staff informs them they aren’t competing for the top spot, and that instead they want them to work in tandem for the duration of the season, their animosity eventually gives way to a begrudging respect.

Once Ryu and Army stop actively disliking each other and competing for the same job, they’re free to acknowledge (internally at least) they’re attracted to each other. Their chemistry is combustible, and after a heated discussion in the showers results in mutual hand jobs, they agree to balance their ice time with some recreational, no strings attached sex. That’s always a great idea.

Everyone in Romancelandia knows opposites attract, and that no strings attached sex eventually leads to ties that bind. Well, sorry: spoiler alert if you didn't actually know that. So, as expected, Army and Ryu spend lots of time having sex, thinking about each other, wondering about these new, not so hateful feelings - and a teensy, eensy bit of time talking and eventually sharing their complicated familial relationships. Army's dad wishes he played football and never hesitates to talk about the sport he once played professionally; he isn't interested in Army's hockey career or talent. Ryu's parents are uber-successful stars in their own chosen professions and expect the same from him. They don't celebrate the journey - they look forward to the inevitable, successful finish. Both men have strong women in their lives who keep them sane, and love them warts and all. Aww. Friends, get out the world's tiniest violins, because FOR REAL, these are the issues that drive this story. Oh, hold up. We also make a brief foray into queer solidarity - ARMY’S BISEXUAL. DEAL WITH IT - after he discovers Tristan is gay and out to their team; and the importance of diversity in hockey (Army is black; Ryu is Japanese/American) after they pair up for a Venom sponsored community outreach program.

Look, I don’t want to diminish the importance of these topics. Queer, professional male athletes exist in sport, and in our toxic hyper-masculine sports world, they’re forced to hide their sexuality. I liked that the authors raise the issue, and offer a compromise of sorts. Tristan is out to the people that matter in his life - and that includes his Venom teammates. Army outs himself as proof of his own tolerance. Apart from this confession - and the authors apparently delusional belief that this compromise solution (coming out to the team) means ‘problem solved,’ there's very little attention paid to the fact that these are two teammates engaged in a same sex affair. Come on, you chose this setting - that's simply ridiculous. Tristan and Ryu are gay, Army is bi-sexual (along with another secondary character), and in this fictional world, it's now a non-issue to the rest of the team and the local community who see them out and about. I don't need suffering and fighting and unhappiness - but let's keep it real. It's not all unicorns and rainbows in the locker room. This avoidance of the topic is disappointing. I was similarly unhappy with their decision to cast a diverse principal couple...and then only barely address their skin color and its impact on their professional careers. Hockey is a mostly white sport; the authors acknowledge this lack of diversity and touch on the racism Army (and Ryu) experienced coming up in hockey, but it’s such a minimal aspect of the overall story, it felt like a missed opportunity. This is a romance set firmly in the world of professional hockey. The lack of diversity in the sport - sexual and racial - deserved more attention in this novel; instead this important issue simply provides window dressing for the budding romance between Army and Ryu...and their relationship, ultimately, isn't very romantic at all.

So what about the romance? No strings sex means these two get busy whenever they’re not in public. Which is all the time. Apparently. Most of it is off the page - so I have to take their word for it, and none of it is romantic or suggests a growing intimacy between the pair. When they aren’t making suggestive comments about all the sex and forthcoming blow jobs (enough all ready! We get it. You LOVE sucking cock!), they engage in one (maybe two?) substantive conversations about their parents and their skin color...and then, duh. They realize their relationship has lots of sticky strings and they should just admit they’re boyfriends. Oh, and from there, it’s a short hop to true love. Oops. Friends, I wanted to enjoy this story - Opposites attract! Sports! Teammates! Hockey! Sexy times! - but the journey from enemies to true love is blink-and-you'll-miss-it, and while I'm willing to believe this love story somehow developed off the page, I was never invested in these two and their happily ever after.

I enjoyed revisiting Sebastian (aka ‘Dad’) and Tristan from Off the Ice, and I'm assuming the authors are setting Morley up for his own story because he makes quite a few appearances in this one. [Although he felt uncomfortably familiar to this romance reader who counts Us and Good Boy by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy, as two of her most favorite hockey/sport romance novels.] This is a cast of characters ripe for creative, entertaining, sexy, romantic sports stories...and I hope in future books there’s less pandering and more story telling.

I'll be nervously back for more.

This is a fun enemies to lovers story.
Ryu has been back up goalie for the Atlanta Venom, and with the previous starter traded, he is sure it is his turn to shine. But then rookie Emmitt shows up and Ryu learns he must compete for the starting spot.
What starts out as no strings attached sex to blow off steam gets complicated when feelings get involved.

This is a M/M enemies to lovers sports romance. Book two in a series (book one is also M/M) and each can be read as a stand alone. Set in the NHL world, a rookie goalie new to the team and a back up goalie fight for the spot of starter. There is animosity between the two as they both feel they deserve the top spot. There is also a physical attraction, though the anger towards each other prevents either from making a move. Once they start getting to know one another, they realize they are more a like than they thought. Both have families they are trying to make proud and despite playing for the NHL they still feel less than stellar when it comes to impressing the parents (though they both know they are a couple of the best in their field and take great pride in their work.) Their home lives may be similar, their personalities are very different. One is a man of few words, and always straight faced. The other is outgoing and very vocal and generally an upbeat person. The side characters bring in some humor and some moral support. It alternates between POVs. There is sexual content, not an over abundance, but enough to deem this worthy for mature readers. While it's not a dark or heavy read, aside from some of the fun antics between the characters, for the most part this is a more serious read. Not a rom-com. There are a couple more emotionally tense scenes. The story seemed to move a bit on the slower side for my tastes, but overall it was a good story with a happy ending.

*I received a copy of this book from Netgalley.

I really enjoyed this, as I enjoyed Off the Ice, but for me at least the ending was a bit rushed and I wanted more there. I really loved their relationship though and all the members of the team.

I've been waiting for this book FOR YEARS and it did not disappoint! Throughout the book, I wondered how the conflict between Ryu and Emmitt would play out and I was very satisfied with the resolution. Raising the profile of players of color in the NHL was interesting and I appreciated seeing how both Ryu and Emmitt handled that challenge. I was glad to see Sebastian and Tristan as well as Morley and Bellzie. Now comes the long wait for TRADE DEADLINE. I have my suspicions over who will be the main characters and I can't wait to see what Avon and Piper do next!

4* I started off not liking the rather cocky Emmitt, but the authors gave us his, rather than Ryu's, thoughts, winning me over.

This was a case of opposites attract in some ways, and also like drawing out like in others. Emmitt - Army - was the newbie to the team and whilst I admired his confidence, and saw behind his brashness, I thought he was a bit too cocky and too ready to find his place in the team. Or, maybe that was the best way to do it, to make his intentions clear and state his piece, show that despite being the newbie, he wasn't up for having to prove himself; he'd show that via his actions on the ice? In the end, he turned out to be the guy who melted Ryu's ice and cool, understated confidence, though his arrival brought doubt and then stress to Ryu's life.

I did like that Ryu came to life with Army, initially through hating his confidence/cockiness and then later, when they fell for each other. I didn't get to see as much of inner-Ryu than I expected, but that's because the authors gave us the tale from Army's side more. We got to hear Army admit what he wanted, voice his love, try to repair them when he thought they were in a bad place, and it made me see that he was a decent guy, just a not unreasonably ambitious one. The guys also connected in their family histories, a little. They loved their parents, were only children, and had stilted relationships with them, other than Army being close to his mother. His father seemed to be holding on to his glory days and couldn't see Army as a successful guy in his own right, and Ryu's Japanese parents were ambitious, driven, wanting their son to be the best and match their achievements, but they didn't show any of that. They came across as detached and cool (not cold, but not showing emotions), portrayed as being traditionally Japanese, I believe, but these guys were Americanised and Ryu was US-born, so I struggled with that aspect a little...

The character in this tale that stood out the most for me was Tripod, whose actual name I can't recall, and who was a bit of an overgrown giant puppy here, as well as a bit of a manwhore. He had a great heart, was really generous and protective and without much of a filter on his thoughts and thought pattern/process, and I found myself hoping he'll get a story of his own. I'm not sure that'll be the case, as the captain, Bellzie, is divorced now and I'm pretty sure he's being set up as a future lead, but there were no scenes between these two guys and I'm not sure they're for each other. There is mention of a fellow league player, briefly, in a scene where naming him was justified, and I suspect he'll be a lead. Hmm. Now that I think about it, given Tripod's... ahem... preferences, I wonder if the final book in the series might end up being an MMM tale? Could that be possible in the NHL? I mean, at the end of this tale, Ryu and Army were out to the leads from book 1, and Army had hinted to Tripod that he was seeing a fellow player, but they weren't out officially, so... would the NHL be ready for guys in a triad relationship? I wonder. Something to look forward to, for sure.

ARC courtesy of Carina Press and NetGalley, for my reading pleasure.