Let's Talk Books

I feel compelled to confess that I did not read the first book in this series (The Kennedy Rule) although I have seen it recommended across hockey romance lists since its release, and I appreciate that a deep love of the first novel in a series can sometimes carry someone through the more lacklustre titles… I think you can see where I’m going with this.

The Call-Up had a good premise, a rookie languishing in development is called up to play alongside an ex-billet brother / childhood crush, and must balance the pressures of his sudden career success with his personal desire to pursue a relationship with someone he has loved since his teenage years. I will also admit that Carmichael is not an actively poor writer, there are moments of brilliant humour, some very sweet scenes, and wonderful friendships which feel quite genuine, her weak point, rather unfortunately, seems to be romance and sex.

I found The Call-Up to be very ‘tell-don’t-show’, and rarely felt that the leads had any real chemistry, or even romantic compatibility. Far more of the novel focused on hockey than I thought it would, given this is within the romance genre, and I struggled to believe these two were in love, based on their interactions. There was initially some quite believable sexual tension, but as soon as this was broken the relationship fell very flat, and the intimate scenes were a bizarre mix of ‘really only sexy in context’ language, and sparse detail, that was neither satisfyingly steamy, nor oblique enough to focus on the emotional impact of such relationship development.

Both Brandon ‘Baby’ Bouchard and Ryan Christianson had some interesting internal issues and emotional baggage, and were ripe for not only meaningful development, but some heavy hitting angst, or heart-string pulling confessions, but instead these issues were glazed over. Baby seemed to simply announce that he maybe could believe in himself more, whilst Ryan never truly addresses the injustices he experiences from his family, although he does, at least, tell his friends about it all. This attempt to make them fuller, actually made both men read flatter, and it made some potentially meaningful scenes rather pointless in retrospect. The wider cast felt a bit more realised, and it did make me consider both if I would want to go back and read the first in the series, and if I could be persuaded into the next provided it focuses, as I think it might, on the ostensibly hard-edged Russian goalie: but I do worry I would be disappointed again.

This absolutely has its audience, those who want a sweet, low angst, low thought romance, who are not especially bothered by shallower characters and an abundance of sports in their sports romance, will likely thoroughly enjoy The Call-Up, but it isn’t for me. 2.5 stars.