Book 995: Ice Devils (Bethesda Barracudas #4) – Ryan Taylor & Joshua Harwood

This was my least favorite novel of the series.

Some of that comes from reading the books back-to-back with no break in between, but more of it comes from the two characters and choices made by Taylor and Harwood that just really bothered me. That being said, kudos to them for including their first non-white protagonist.

Ice Devils Is the story of Blake Conti and Mark “Sako” Sakamoto. Conti is out and proud and Sako is so deep in the closet that it’s painful to read. Seriously, like I get the closet, it worked in many of the other books, but don’t make your first minority protagonist have more issues than any other character. It’s not a good look.

Sako is terrified of his parents and friends finding out that he’s gay.

The thought of telling my family and people I’d known all my life made me queasy. I dreaded the looks on their faces when they realized I’d lied to them for years. While I had no intention of staying in the closet for the rest of my life, I was waiting for the right time to let everyone know. It seemed that time might be around the corner. If Blake and I got together, there was no way I’d remain silent. I’d want to shout from the rooftops about him being my boyfriend, and he was too good a man to have to hide to protect me. (61)

Which, again a legit fear, but it was just so heavy on the novel it detracted from all the pranks and fun that Sako and Conti got up to. It also cast a spotlight on Sako’s internalized homophobia in a horrible way. I get it that Taylor and Harwood are writing about hyper-masculinized professional hockey players, but up until this point they’d managed to avoid the internalized homophobia, but they dropped the ball on this one.

They could’ve made up for it if they would’ve shown Sako enjoying all aspects of sex with Conti because the talk the talk and have Sako think/talk about bottoming because he wants to do and be everything with Conti, but what do the authors do? They either chicken out or lean even further into the hetero-toxic bullshit that he needs to reaffirm his masculinity by only ever topping and this horrible scene:

‘Can we just leave things how they are?’
Turning on my side, I kissed the top of his head. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I haven’t fucked you yet. If you ever want me to, I will, but I like things how they are.’
I rubbed a hand over his lower back. ‘Are you admitting once and for all that you’re my man, and you like how I take care of you?’
He gave a quiet chuckle. ‘Long as you don’t tell the other guys. Promise you’ll fuck me every day?’
‘You can count on that.’ I kissed the side of his throat. (212)

Don’t get me wrong there’s nothing wrong with Conti knowing what he wants or anyone knowing they only want one type of sex. However, from a creative point of view, Taylor and Harwood led the reader along for so long, building up tension and nerves explicitly having Sako think and even say to Conti that he would bottom because he wanted it, even though he was nervous/scared. It’s like the worst form of a tease. Fuck that. Needless to say, I’m annoyed enough that I probably won’t read another of their novels for a bit, which is sad because they are decently written and edited as well as proofread (a major bonus).

Recommendation: UGH. If there was ever a novel that talked the talk and didn’t walk the walk it’s this one. I was so excited that they included a non-white protagonist, but Taylor and Harwood let me down and leaned into what felt like some toxic masculine heteronormative bullshit. Seriously, the fact they teased it and talked about it the entire novel and then just didn’t let it happen pissed me off. I couldn’t even talk about the things I actually enjoyed in this novel and it’s been weeks since I finished reading it!

Opening Line: “Men soared around the ice like rockets. My legs were on fire from skating so hard, and the weight of my sweaty pads was almost too much to bear.”

Closing Line: “Blake had never felt better in my arms, and now I was sure he’d be there forever.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)

Additional Quotes from Ice Devils
“I was bi, and I’d had my share of good times with guys, but they were always men I was attracted to—not nutjobs like Sakoshit.” (4)

“‘I like you, but I’m in the closet, Blake. I’m confused, and that’s part of why I freaked. I’ve never had a kiss like that before. It was beautiful and hot and sweet, and I’ll never forget it.” (51)

“‘Son, sooner or later, we have to take responsibility for our own lives. How we grow up has a major influence on us, but eventually, we need to think for ourselves.’ He cleared his throat. ‘We can’t blame our upbringing forever.'” (201)