Review: See the Light by Cassandra Carr

Title:  See the Light*
Author:  Cassandra Carr
Series: n/a
Genre:  Contemporary Erotic M/M Romance
Publisher:  Loose Id
Format: E-book
Date/Year: February 25,  2013
Reviewed by:  Michele

*This book was provided to the reviewer by the author in exchange for an honest review

Summary from the publisher:

Hockey player Jason Monroe lives a double life—star defenseman and soon-to-be Olympian on the ice and closeted gay man outside the rink. A serious relationship is out of the question, and Jason makes do with anonymous sex in barroom bathrooms, not willing to take the chance on coming out as gay in a decidedly macho sport.

Advisor to the US Olympic hockey team Patrick Parker knows a thing or two about being a professional hockey player who’s not out. He’s fifteen years older than Jason, and when he senses the sexy younger man is interested, he knows he shouldn’t give in to the attraction.

The two men can’t keep their hands off each other, though, and with each heated encounter it gets harder to hide their relationship. When their world blows up around them, forcing them into the limelight, though, will their love survive or be put on ice?

My Musings:

Most of my reading experience with M/M romance comes from M/M/F menage stories, so when I got the opportunity to review See the Light, I was eager to see how Cassandra Carr, one of my favorite erotic romance writers, would handle a strictly M/M story without including a woman as part of the mix. I’m a big fan of her hockey menage romances so I knew that the details of what obstacles two closeted gay men associated with both Olympic and professional hockey might have to overcome would be as accurate as possible, given there are yet no openly gay hockey coaches or players.

The attraction between Patrick and Jason begins with a mutual physical appreciation that is overwhelming on both sides, yet remains unacknowledged for so many reasons. It’s not just that they are both closeted gay men, or that Patrick is significantly older than Jason. The official coach/player supervisory relationship between Patrick and Jason would condemn any sexual contact between the two of them as inappropriate at best, with possible legal implications despite the fact that both men are of age. It’s only when Patrick finally gets up the nerve to find out why Jason is acting so strangely around him and makes that first dangerous reach out to the younger man that the two of them finally realize that the sexual attraction is shared and oh so very real.

They begin their relationship slowly and carefully, albeit with great sexual passion, working up the courage to meet in secret whenever their schedules allow and even engaging in phone sex when they can’t be together in person. We can see that they both are instinctively looking for a more emotional bond even if they can’t admit it to themselves or each other, but it takes time together and apart for both Patrick and Jason to move past their personal fears and trust in their new relationship. Patrick worries about their 15 year age difference and the implication that he’s taken advantage of a player under his supervision. As the person more deeply in the closet, Jason is afraid that someone will find out about their relationship, but he also worries that he isn’t enough for the older and more experienced Patrick. It takes a public tragic event to push Patrick and Jason out of the closet completely and permanently, but by then each has already come to his own conclusion that the other man is the one person they now depend on for personal happiness.

I was rooting for Patrick and Jason all the way through See The Light and cried happy tears when they finally reached their Happy For Now ending. My only quibble was that the story ended so soon after the two heroes declared their love for each other. I’m a huge proponent of the HEA epilogue in romance, and if anyone deserved that epilogue, it was these two wonderful guys who had to go through so much to love each other. I enjoyed their story so much that I wanted to see it through all that they would have to endure from the public exposure, but I do understand why it had to end where it did. Perhaps one day reality will catch up with fiction and we’ll see a professional hockey player publicly declare his love for another man. Until then, See The Light gives us an idea of just what that player will have to endure to get to his own happy ending.

Ratings:

Overall: 4.5
Sensuality level: 4
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Other Reviews:

• RomFan Reviews (5)
• Goodreads (avg rating as of 3/6/13=3.86 stars)

 

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