Home Or Away intrigued me right from the start because of the setting in Minnesota and an atmosphere created by the sport of hockey. The author absolutely nailed the dynamics of the sport, from the way hockey consumes a family’s activities, the competitive nature of the sport for children even at a young age, and the way success, and failure, can form the identity of a player that remains throughout their life. I do think readers can relate these aspects to other sports which would make this novel interesting to a wide range of readers, not only those who are familiar with hockey.

In Home Or Away, the story is told from different character’s points of view over a period of time in the near future, and we also go back 20 years to when the main character Leigh is trying out for the women’s Olympic hockey team. The author does the alternating points of view so well which paces the story brilliantly. The characters struggle and triumph, both individually and in their relationships, but most importantly show their humanness in their feelings and decisions, some of which may force the reader to come to terms with how unlikeable the characters can be. But again, human. Most captivating is how a damaging secret that Leigh has held on to for so long, propels the reader along and builds a tension that undeniably clenches the heart of the reader who knows it will be extremely difficult to witness the fallout should the secret no longer be protected.

This was the first novel by Kathleen West that I have had the pleasure of reading, and I really enjoyed it. I will definitely be exploring her backlist.

Thank you to the Berkley Publishing Group, NetGalley, and the Thoughts From A Page podcast Patreon for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Home or Away is the perfect novel for hockey fans with some life drama mixed in. The first half of the book is pretty heavy on the hockey games, while the nine year old is gearing up to be on the super competitive travel club team. His mother, a so close olympic hockey star, deals with the emtion of moving back home from Flordia. It alternates between 2001 and 2022, the olympic tryouts and present day. There is marriage/family trouble, and general hardships, giving this book heart. And while the heart is really great, if you aren't a sports book fan, this might not be the book for you. Luckily, I really love hockey, and have a child in a competitve club sport, so I really enjoyed Home or Away!

This was my first read by Kathleen West, and I will make it a point to read more from her in the future!

Home or Away is about two women, Leigh and Susy, vying for spots on the Olympic hockey team. When Leigh didn’t make the team, she started over elsewhere and left hockey behind. Twenty years down the road, Leigh’s family decides to move back to her Minnesota hometown, where she must confront both personal demons and former friends.

While I connected with both Leigh and Susy, I didn’t always find them likable throughout. I think this is part and parcel of what makes this story and its characters so relatable. Their shared history, approached by different perspectives, really helps to address their paths and actions. This story has so much depth and packs an emotional punch. I highly recommend this read!

Note: I’m not well-versed in hockey, but you don’t need to be to enjoy this book.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Berkley Publishing (thank you!) and am leaving an honest review.

Hockey has dominated Leigh's life, and now that of her 9 year old son Gus, and it dominates this novel. Leigh, her husband Charlie, and Gus have moved back to Minnesota from Tampa, where Chalie managed a bookstore and Gus was a star on his youth league. Leigh has a black cloud that's followed her since she did not make the US Olympic team and now she's got to face up to it. Susy, the best friend she ghosted for 20 years, is the coach of the best youth team and Jeff,. her former coach is crucial. This is told from the perspectives of Leigh, Charlie, Gus, and to a limited extent Susy, with some emails from the team manager. Know that some character development (I would have like to know more about Susy for example) is sacrificed for details of hockey practice and minutia. There's an important me too issue as well as self esteem. I felt for Gus, liked Charlie, and was ambivalent about Leigh. Those who have been involved with youth sports will recognize the other parents and situations (and smile or grimace!). Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

A mom is returning to her Minnesota hometown with her husband and son in tow, so that her son can enter a more competitive hockey "market" with players who have been playing longer than they could walk! Leigh, the mom, sort of ran away after she tried to get on the Olympic team and didn't make it and there are secrets that are still hidden that she she returns may come to light.

I love a book where a character or two are returning home and when they do, they will have to confront some things from the past. And while I am not a hockey connoisseur, I loved how this author put us in this specific sports world and made it interesting to someone who doesn't know much!

I am trying not to spoil the big secret and its reveal, but gosh darn did it make me think of some news stories that made a lot of athletes and their parents stop, watch and ask questions.

I have read two out of three Kathleen West's books and I want to catch up on the one I haven't read and I will be looking out for what comes next.

Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for an advanced copy of Home or Away by Kathleen West.

I just want to go watch hockey after reading this book or maybe some Mighty Ducks??

I loved this book -- I don't have kids but the competitive world of kids sports nowadays is fascinating to me. Things are very different from my days and it makes me wonder what I'd be like....

Leigh and Susy were BFFs and both trying to make the 2002 Women's Hockey Olympic team, but when Leigh doesn't make the roster she completely leaves the sport she loved behind. Two decades later she decides to take a job opportunity back home in Minnesota but she'll need to face her past because her 10 year old son is really good at hockey. All of a sudden she'd thrust back into the world of ultra-competitive hockey and Susy. Will some actions she made in her past come back when all she wants to see is her son succeed?

I loved this mix of hockey and family drama along with tough choices. I loved the different relationships here and how you look back at actions you took and the question of what will you do for your kids? I loved playing sports growing up and while I was never anywhere this level, the friendships are some of my favorite parts of sports.

If you love hockey or books about sports or family drama you'll love this too!

The new Kathleen West book (author of 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘋𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘴 & 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘴 and 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘞𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘠𝘦𝘵?) continues to take on the role of parents in today’s society, this time focusing on the youth hockey world in Minnesota.
Once again, West does a fantastic job of entering the minds of parents and showing us the stresses in childrens’ lives of today. A quick read that provides questions about the world of club sports…
Is it really healthy for our kids, or is that what the system wants us to believe?
Is it necessary to dump thousands of dollars and scads of hours into team travel, specialized training, and pricey uniforms? Or is it fear of our kids missing out?
What do they get out of the single minded focus on just one sport? Can they find team comraderie and friendships in other places?
How do we protect our girls from the insidious grooming of male coaches, from the inappropriate messages given to female athletes?
As a former “soccer mom,” I cringed as I occasionally saw myself in this book. I often wonder would we do those travel teams again with our girls, splitting up as parents most weekends? Or would time spent together as a family have been the healthier choice?
I know I’d pick Door #2 today. So would my daughters.
I love family dramas from this author - can’t wait to see what topic she tackles next!

Minnesota native Leigh Mackenzie, a former elite hockey phenom, returns to the “State of Hockey” with her young family to foster her 9 year old’s love for the game. Her prestigious job in finance won’t distract her from her haunting memories of the Olympic selection process 20 years ago, as unanswered questions about her sudden departure from the sport come into focus. The current climate of ultra-competitive team play, both on the ice and off is a theme, and the story kept me engaged until the final buzzer.
Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Winning is all that matters? Right? Even if the people who are on the team are nine years old. The competition is cut-throat. Leigh, a former hockey all star, now turned finance wizard, moves her husband and nine-year-old son, Gus, back to Minnesota so Gus can play hockey. Gus has played on Florida leagues which are in no way as competitive or talented as Minnesota leagues. Gus ends up being placed on a team well above his playing level, but he soldiers on. Leigh had been on her way to the Olympics, makes some bad choices at the Olympic trials and did not make the team. Angry and disillusioned, she quits. Done. End of story. Except the same competitiveness forces her to push Gus, and she makes deals with the same sleazy guy who derailed her career twenty years earlier.

We hear from Charlie, Leigh's husband, and his obsession with scores and team and hockey in general. And we find out what caused the rift between Suzy and Leigh's long friendship which came to an abrupt end twenty years earlier. There was a lot of hockey in this story. Parents of children sports players become obsessed with the lives of their children, oftentimes to the detriment of those involved. In my not-so-humble opinion, this is what's wrong with children's sports today.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Home or Away is a mom-dram (and so much more) that you need to pick up when it is released in March!

Leigh and Susy were close friends in the 90s as they both were on Team USA (ice hockey) and had Olympic Dreams. Leigh would do anything to make the team -- and she did things that she had to work to forget -- but she did not make the Olympic Team. Following that rejection, Leigh went back home and proposed to her college boyfriend. The two of them made a life together in Florida and had a son, Gus. Susy went to the Olympics, received medals (not gold) and ended up as a PE teacher and hockey coach in Minnesota.

When Gus becomes a 9-year-old hockey star in Florida, Leigh and her family move back to her hometown in Minnesota to give Gus a shot at real competitive hockey. In Minnesota, she has to face her past, old friends, her ambition and her parenting style.

A very interesting page turner and look into competitive hockey for kids and life in general.

Having enjoyed one of West’s earlier novels, I was optimistic about this one, and I was not disappointed.

West does such a great job approaching modern suburban/parental issues in realistic yet unpredictable ways. Her characters are complex and dynamic and the dialogue immersive. While the subject matter is series, the novel’s style and pace keep the reader turning the pages. This versatility means it should appeal to a wide audience.

It’s also an ideal book club choice because there are lots of avenues for discussion. Readers’ varying opinions about the plot points and the characters’ choices should ensure lively discussions.

I didn't get too far into this one.

I play hockey and was so excited to run across a book that had women who are hockey players! But I couldn't even make it through three chapters. The writing felt really disjointed. Sentences that were put together in paragraphs didn't seem to work together- the narrative hopped all over the place. It also felt like the information about the characters was given awkwardly. The husband character didn't feel real at all. I just bounced off it and have no desire to try again.

Home or Away is Kathleen’s third book, and I could definitely tell while I was reading it that she’s growing and morphing as a writer. I rated both Minor Dramas & Other Catastrophes and Are We There Yet? 5 stars. I loved them! So I was really excited to dive into Home or Away.

The first thing I’ll say about this one is that it’s definitely the most serious of Kathleen’s books so far. Sure, the other two had some serious things happen, where relationships were on the brink of combusting and lives were disrupted. Home or Away, though, deals with the most serious subject matter: Leigh’s inappropriate relationship with her coach when she was vulnerable.

This book had a lot of building up to the most dramatic moments, but it was slower than Kathleen’s other two. That’s the only reason why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 – it was just a bit slow for me. I knew it was building up to something and I definitely still wanted to read it, but I needed more to happen at times.

I did struggle a little to connect with Leigh. She’s just so very opposite of me in some ways that I couldn’t quite understand why she was doing what she was doing. There were definitely flashes, though, of her inner workings that clicked more with me. She’s so hard on the outside but just fraught with grief on the inside.

Read the rest of my review at https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/02/review-home-or-away-by-kathleen-west/

I’m a huge fan of Kathleen West’s writing style and the topics she chooses to write about, and her latest is no exception! She is so great at creating situations where there’s no clear right or wrong answer, and you really have to think before judging the characters for their actions. While I didn’t find Leigh to be particularly likable throughout most of the book, I did find it easy to relate to her and understand why she acted the way that she did. Around the 80% mark, I started to get worried about the direction things were going (trying to avoid spoilers here), but the ending was the perfect mix of being satisfying while still being realistic. The story has so much depth, well-developed characters, and a ton of heart and will be the perfect book to cure your post Olympics hangover!

After a disappointment, Olympic bound Leigh gives up the sport of hockey. Two decades later she finds herself back in the competition with her son. Same town, same sport, same people, same secrets.

I have loved Kathleen West’s previous books so I was really excited for this one. It already has great reviews. I feel like I’m the odd one out because I just couldn’t get into the groove of it. So, so much hockey. If you’re a hockey fan or like hearing about sports and competition, please read this! You will really enjoy it. It just wasn’t my thing. The plot besides hockey was good but there just wasn’t enough of it for me in between the hockey practices, games, and competition.

“It would be worth the secret-keeping when she made the team, when she made them all proud.”

Home or Away comes out 3/29.

This might be my favorite book so far by Kathleen West. I love a book that focuses on sports, and this one was well timed for me, given that we're now in the midst of the Winter Olympics.

One time Olympic hopeful Leigh is back in her hometown - something she never imagined. But, her son is showing great potential in his own right as a hockey phenom, and she'd do anything to make his dreams come true. So, she's left to confront long-forgotten memories and wrongs that still need to be righted in order for her to move forward.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

I really enjoyed this book. The character development and the multi points of view in the story was well written. Leigh and Susy were best friends they were on Team USA and both hoping to make it to the 02 Olympic hockey team. After Leigh was cut from the team she vowed to never get into hockey again. 20 years later Leigh, her husband and her son are moving back to MN to experience Minnesota youth hockey. There Leigh comes face to face with Susy, and someone she would rather forget.

4.5 stars, rounded up. I think there is a wide range of readers who will find something to connect with in this story, whether it be the sports aspect (the competitive youth sports and the entire culture around that- in this story it's hockey, but I think the culture transcends and is likely similar, in different areas, for other sports-, or the story of two friends- one former Olympian and one who had her Olympic dreams crushed), the family story aspect, the timeliness of the examination of Leigh and her former coach's conduct.). Short chapters and a variety of perspectives make this a well paced read, while still focusing deeply on the characters.

This book is well written and it shows the ugly side of competitive sports. Parents who expect their kid to be number one and lose all perspective. The politics of competitive sports is displayed for all to see, favors exchanged for getting their child on the right team. I found some of the characters unlikable. The story is told from multiple points of view. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.