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The Understatement of the Year

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The Understatement of the Year

By: Sarina Bowen
Narrated by: Teddy Hamilton, Christian Fox
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About this listen

What happened in high school stayed in high school. Until now.

Five years ago Michael Graham betrayed the only person who ever really knew him. Since then he's made an art of hiding his sexual orientation from everyone. Including himself. So it's a shock when his past strolls right into the Harkness College locker room, sporting a bag of hockey gear and the same slow smile that had always rendered Graham defenseless.

For Graham, there is only one possible reaction: total, debilitating panic. With one loose word, the team's new left wing could destroy Graham's life as he knows it.

John Rikker is stuck being the new guy. Again. And it's worse than usual, because the media has latched on to the story of the only "out" player in Division One hockey. As the satellite trucks line the sidewalk outside the rink, his new teammates are not amused. And one player in particular looks sick every time he enters the room.

Rikker didn't exactly expect a warm welcome from Graham. But the guy won't even meet his eyes. From the looks of it, his former...best friend/boyfriend/whatever isn't doing so well. He drinks too much and can't focus during practice.

Either the two loneliest guys on the team will self-destruct from all the new pressures in their lives, or they can navigate the pain to find a way back to one another. To say that it won't be easy is the understatement of the year.

Warning: Unlike the other books in this series, this heartbreaking love story is about two guys. Contains sexual situations, dance music, snarky T-shirts, and a poker-playing grandmother.

©2014 Sarina Bowen (P)2016 Audible, Inc.
Contemporary Contemporary Romance Romance Hockey High School

What listeners say about The Understatement of the Year

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loved it

This book has it all. It was beautiful and sad and I fell head over heels for these two boys who deserves to find some happiness.

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Loved it

Gosh, what a beautiful thought provoking story above love and acceptance. I loved everything about this story and I’m so glad that Michael and Graham found each other again ♥️

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Slow burn, Big love

These boys! Kind and smart and damaged and sexy. Performances were lovely to listen to. Passionate and heartbreaking. Closeted and Bigoted stories are always so tough but I just wanted to keep listening and hoping they’d make it together

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Fun and sweet

The book was wonderful and really fun, but emotional and sweet.

The biggest issue I had was with the audio quality. It was a bit grainy but I still enjoyed the book a lot!

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Best book in a very long time!!

This book is well written and inspiring to do better in life, to be a better person to others. Highly recommend.

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Recommend!

This book was so well written and such honest, real life reactions to highs and lows of all aspects of life. Particularly felt the struggles of carrying years of guilt and how that impacts our everyday actions.
The narration as expected was perfection! I am a long time fan of Teddy H, but new to hearing Christian Fox and will definitely be on the look out for his books moving forward. Both narrators did an amazing job with distinct voices for characters, a great job with the female voices, and above all else - made us really feel the pain, heartache, vulnerability, through to joy, love and all that’s in between. Did not disappoint!

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Narration is fantastic

I LOVED The Understatement of the Year - there was just the right amount of angst between Rikker and Graham, I only wish there was more of them together. As soon as I finished this, I went straight to Extra Credit, and to the novella about Rikker and Graham. I adore these 2 guys, and was so happy there was more to their story. ALSO - The narration for the audiobook for The Understatement of the Year is SO GOOD!! After finishing the ebook, I decided to purchase the audio, and the narrators were fantastic.

Bella was an interesting secondary character. I'm excited to see what happens next in her book, and what angst she has to go through before she finds her own happy ending.

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Bowen, Hamilton and Fox = a winning combination

What is it about masculinity that can cause toxicity? Bowen explores the pressures within a varsity ice hockey team who has a gay player forced on them and the pressures on the two gay players on the team: John who has come to terms with being gay and out, Graham who hasn’t and isn’t. I was very moved by some of the scenes in this book. Good story, great main characters, phenomenal narrative performances!

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So good!

Gah, I loved this so much!! I don't usually read MM but Sarina had well and truly sucked me into the story by this book and the writing was amazing! I loved Rik and G and their story together. Narration was on point as well.

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Deceivingly GOOOOOD

I was expecting a cliché plot with a cheesy narrative. Dude, was I WRONG. The plot was interesting and unraveling at a good pace. Every character felt well thought out and with a clear purpose to the story, which is hard to come by in this genre. I also found myself interested in learning the ins and out of hockey. My only complaint is that the ending felt a bit rushed.

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