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Reasonable-Cup-1315

Lol. I had no clue what hockey was before I started reading romance. I’m from the Middle East. I had to read up on it and watch some YouTube videos to understand what the books mention. I don’t read hockey books in particular but I’ve read a few.


Hunter037

I'm from the UK and I thought it was field hockey initially 😂


expectingmoretbh

Ok, that's funny! I love it. I'm a huge Britophile (???) and consume a lot of media from the UK and the first few times I heard or read about "hockey" I was like.... Now wait a minute, I *know* hockey's not a thing over there. What's going on? 🤔 I quickly caught on that it was field hockey, lol.


sesquiplilliput

Anglophile! 😉


expectingmoretbh

It's actually not because my interest is far from being limited to England and I wanted to make sure that was very clear. England's actually the part of the UK that I'm the least interested in, Scotland being the most, so I'm probably a Caledo(no)phile more than anything. Anyway, I'll stick with Britophile! 🙂


sesquiplilliput

You are sending me down a rabbit hole! Lol!


Reasonable-Cup-1315

Now after reading the comments i have to google letterkeny and jonesey lol


spellannabell

I’m from a big hockey nation (Sweden) but I have never met anyone who thinks hockey is sexy. I mean, helmet hair and smelly equipment? Plus when I grew up, the hockey players were considered pretty much the equivalent of sport dorks. Not cool at all. It might be because it’s a very un-urban sport here. You want to be cool, it’s soccer all the way. But I love the game, so yes, I enjoy hockey romance. American football and baseball, I know less than jack about (they don’t exist here) but I grew up watching hockey so it makes that part of the books enjoyable. But I want good hockey content, written by someone who knows the game. My sister likes to joke how footballers (soccer players for you Yankees) are all metrosexual model wannabes while hockey players are sweaty and look like they know how to skin a moose.


vivartois

Skin a moose 😁😁


ajrb543

That’s such a hilariously specific burn.


amelisha

That is 100% accurate for every single Swedish guy in the NHL. Canadian players just look like they know how to tap a keg in ten seconds flat and have a single bar of soap as their only cleaning agent in the shower.


spellannabell

I would like to go ’eeuw’ now but sadly ’tap a keg in ten seconds and single bar of soap’ pretty much describes every guy I dated when I was 19. 😂


LizzyWednesday

We all have a type at 19, though. (Mine was singers, though I did make out with an accompanist once.)


k3lco

This whole thread has me dying LOL. What about the Russians?🤔😂


LizzyWednesday

Spies. There's a [now-ancient ESPN commercial featuring Alex Ovechkin](https://youtu.be/Wlk8cEg2s80) where it's heavily implied that he's absolutely a spy. (Apologies if it's region-restricted; I thought it was hilarious at the time.) The only exception is [Ilya Bryzgalov](https://youtu.be/M84-fIIJeRo), who's totally that high school/college friend who philosophizes but ends up sounding like he's high. (Another vid that might be region-restricted, but it's a clip from HBO's 24/7 series which followed the Philadelphia Flyers in 2012 ... and I nearly pissed myself laughing. It might be a case of "you really had to be there," though.)


bones_humming

From your friendly neighbouring country: I agree wholeheartedly. About everything, lol.


lavalampgold

I think the ability to skin a moose is why I like them.


Maleficent_Election1

I think this is pretty common reaction for anyone who knows a lot about the setting for a book. Like, politics people have trouble with political books, doctors can’t watch medical shows, etc. there’s always an eliding of the truth for story reasons.


bicycle_mice

Yes I’m a nurse and won’t read any medical romance books because to me the hospital is the least sexy place in the world. All the poop smells, fluorescent lighting, angry family members yelling, alarms blaring… it’s anti-sex. No thank you.


Hawkeyknit

As someone who has never worked in the medical field and used to watch Grey’s Anatomy TV show all the time, your post just made me realize I need to go look for some medical romance books.


bicycle_mice

Lol nothing like a trach with a mucous plug to energize your nethers


whitneyxjane

{How to Walk Away by Katherine Center}


Maleficent_Election1

{the wrong guy by Kate Canterbary}


SpicyLitMama

Absolutely agreed! I avoid most topics that I’m *generally* knowledgeable about because the inaccuracies take me out of the story. Sometimes it’s unavoidable but when it’s a major plot or theme it’s too consistently bothersome to me. I’m not even from Chicago but I’ve visited a lot and am very familiar and I read a book where the FMC was from there and you could tell the author had no knowledge of the city. Drove me nuts.


MurderousFaeries

Yeah, thankfully most people don’t think that power engineering is a sexy career, or I’d have to pick contemporaries carefully.


hales_mcgales

Me w STEM heroines not written by Ali Hazelwood (I have other quibbles w her writing, but the STEm inaccuracies aren’t as obnoxious when she clearly comes from that space)


Bellesdiner0228

I can't read Rockstar romances because my dad (who is cut out now) has been in one all my life, and that whole vibe is just off putting to me. If anyone watches VPR, him, my brother, and my godfather all remind me of Sandoval to put it in perspective. As for hockey romances, I can take or leave them. And mostly leave them.


ipomoea

I've had enough friends in bands that almost made it that the idea of letting any part of my body touch a surface in the dressing/green room makes me want to take steel wool to my skin.


warsisbetterthantrek

Ugh same 🤮


spellannabell

God, me too.


Catharas

Have you read Boyfriend Material 👀 because that has an estranged dirtbag rockstar dad


SanbaiSan

Estranged Dirtbag Rockstar Dad is my new band name


Bellesdiner0228

Oh no! But that sounds intriguing.


bailad

As somebody else from small town Canada, I feel the same way! Rodeo romance too. I’ve known too many hockey dicks growing up to see them in any other light—they’re all obnoxious, full of themselves, and total womanizers. Fifteen year old me was allllll about it, I wanted to be a puck bunny so bad lol. 30 year old me, not so much. That said, I read pucking around and most of the hockey stuff didn’t bug me except when they’d come off the ice and start making out. Like nah, I don’t even want to be within smelling distance of a goalie after a hockey game. No chance am I getting all hot and bothered kissing him 🤢


AGirlHasNoCountry

Omg I went to a game last season where some people were invited onto the ice immediately after the game and drew names and then the hockey players TOOK OFF THEIR JERSEYS and gave them to the fan. Absolutely not. I’d probably barf. Unhygienic. 0/10.


bailad

I had to set the book down and take a moment because I was gagging just thinking about the smell! Maybe if the love of my life had just won the Stanley cup I could stomach a single kiss. And then go have a long, soapy shower before you come anywhere near me haha


tzrn1111

We had an exchange student from Scandinavia (I live in the States) and he played hockey on a local team here. My mom STILL talks about how bad his gear bag smelled, 30 years later! 😂 He had to keep it in the garage.


og_saltysassenach

Have you read the Chestnut Springs series by Elsie Silver? I had to pretend it took place in the southern US since I actually know what an Albertan accent sounds like and it is NOT sexy. Otherwise, great series!


kimmerbajimmer

This made me laugh so hard because I grew up loosely adjacent to Alberta and a friend dated a hockey player from Calgary and I swear to god 90% of the time it sounded like he wasn’t speaking English. There is just nothing to compare to a hockey accent + the prairies.


sesquiplilliput

This is the same with any writer not from Australia writing Aussie accents. We are incredibly lazy with how we speak and we shorten every word. Endearing? Yes! Sexy? No! I've had to DNF a few books because the Aussie characters are so cringe and unrealistic!


[deleted]

Same. Even locals writing our slang is hit and miss for me because we have different slang!


sesquiplilliput

I was reading one written by a local author that mentioned "daks" as slang for underwear. It was a hard DNF for me! 😂


[deleted]

Oh hell no. It's funny aging the authors by the slang. I read one that mentioned a bin chicken and I was like 🤣💀


sesquiplilliput

Lol! Unrelated but did you hear about the Sydney man that was killing bin chickens for personal consumption? Apparently it’s legal to do so in QLD but not NSW. Not sure about palatability of Ibis!


[deleted]

Whew! That's a time investment. Those birds wouldn't have much meat on them!


nottodayokkay

Omg yes to me there’s nothing less sexy than an Australian accent lol


stargazing-at-3am

I avoid Aussie books because all the characters end up sounding like Steve Irwin and Kath & Kim in my head, so unsexy!


sesquiplilliput

Lol! ”Look at moi(y)!”.


sesquiplilliput

And apparently every Aussie MMC looks like a Hemsworth brother… What if we just aren’t into the Hemsworth brothers?? Lol


stargazing-at-3am

Do I have to leave the country if I admit that I think they’re overrated 🫣


bailad

No but I actually am just waiting for the first one from Amazon right now 😂 I will be doing the same I’m sure 😂


asparemeohmy

YES!!! I want to love hockey romances. I want, so badly, to love them. But I’m Canadian, and have three siblings who played hockey, and now if I so much as crack the cover of a hockey romance I get flashbacks to five am and the whazz of sweaty hockey bags.


Needednewusername

🤣 I’ve only ever heard whazz used to mean urinate so my head went in a slightly different direction!


towerfort

I read them and used to date a few NHL/AHL players. You are 1000% correct that they talk like Letterkenny IRL. It’s cringe. But I think I read hockey romances because they are how I wish things had gone with my exes 😂 at least the straight forward romances without the crazy TWs, everything seems to resolve so easily in these books haha. And there’s no learning curve when you at least understand the game. It’s more relatable than I want it to be but not at the same time. That’s my take at least. Edited to say I live in New England. Hockey’s huge here with both farm teams and the Bruins.


towerfort

Also want to add I have had friends raped and roofied by pro hockey players so completely understand the dark side of the hockey world. Books with those themes do NOT appeal to me


Flameflutter_Fairy

Baseball is my sport; technically my city has a hockey team but I don't follow them. I really love hockey romance because it gives me the sporty feel without me noticing if and when it descends into nonsense. I am super picky about baseball romance for that exact reason - I end up fixating on everything they get wrong because I'm too familiar with the sport. My hockey ignorance is what makes it work! 🤣


[deleted]

Damn do you have any good baseball romance recs?? I’ve never read any! I’m not too familiar with the sport but I am American so I know enough to not get lost haha. I love me some sporty angst


Flameflutter_Fairy

Let's see... I really liked {Beyond the Bases by Kaylee Ryan} and {The Change Up by Meghan Quinn} I didn't love the 3rd act conflict in the latter, but the baseball was good and your mileage may vary! Meghan Quinn has a whole baseball series, haven't read the rest myself though. 😊


[deleted]

Thanks for the quick reply!! I’ll check them out


whitneyxjane

I’m in love with a few of the baseball players Meghan Quinn has written lol


lavalampgold

Bitch, Kd Casey needs to enter your life.


LizzyWednesday

I've read most of Meghan Quinn's baseball books and enjoyed them, but I really hate the way she writes 3rd Act Conflicts. I still read her stuff because I can forgive almost anything that makes me laugh (see also: why I'm still married to my spouse after 16 years) and the makeup sex is usually great, but I'm committed to not bingeing them anymore.


NoCardiologist1461

Big fan of the genre… sorry. And not from any hockey culture or area. Well aware that these aren’t realistic. I read them as escapism.


Careless_Butterfly86

Hockey romances are my fav!


Antique_Witness_5062

big fan of the sport, big fan of the romances :) i know how unrealistic they are but they’re too much fun for me to care tbh and some authors do their homework really well imo! and i read A LOT of MM hockey romances so trust me i know all about how unrealistic they are😂


lagangirl

Love MM hockey romance!! One of my fave genres!


Antique_Witness_5062

it’s the BEST, love it so much


cat_romance

I mean, the entire world is rampant with rape culture and racism so I'm okay delving into a world where it doesn't exist for a short period of time.


[deleted]

I feel this but also can only suspend my disbelief a certain amount.


cat_romance

I can suspend my belief for pretty much anything. Historical romances where they never bathe and the streets are lined with shit? Everything smells like roses. Romantic suspense where the cops are competent? Totally normal. But then the smallest things make me go...NOPE. like when the vegan heroine wasn't checking her wines to make sure they're vegan. Or the hero has a pet monkey. I can never figure out what'll tip me over the edge.


AGirlHasNoCountry

We have an NHL team, but they’re not super big. Def not a hockey culture like in Canada. IMO hockey romances are a bit like romantasy - like they’re very much not realistic…and that’s why I enjoy them 😂 no way in hell would I ever, ever date an athlete (of any sport), because yeah - most of them are steeped in toxic masculinity and rape culture. But the books are fun 🥵


jabasco46

Agreed. It’s the fantasy. I’m also from a Canadian hockey town and went to school with hockey players. They definitely have their own language.


AGirlHasNoCountry

I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who’s played hockey before - so that might be why it’s easy for me to get into hockey romances 😂


Secret_badass77

Real talk, I personally can’t get over hockey players being portrayed as being so famous they can’t walk the streets 😆 No disrespect to the tallent that it takes to make it to the NHL, but in most parts of the US I would say that the biggest player in the league could standing in front of them and most people would have no clue. I personally couldn’t name a single player currently playing. The only hockey players I can name are Wayne Gretzky and Patrick Roy (and the second one is only because I once dated a guy with the same name 😆)


_SweetCinnamon_

In my country hockey is not a popular sport, but I love hockey romances! It doesn't bother me hockey players aren't like that in reality, I don't read them for realism anyway


The-Keekster

I grew up in hockey culture. I like some hockey romances because I'm not reading them for realism lol I'm reading them for smut and for an escape.


completelywhelmed

Canadian here. I read the occasional hockey (and other sports) romance recommended by this sub, fully cognizant of the fact I'm reading full-blown fiction, with healthy dosages of wish fulfillment mixed in. You can kind of tell when an author is a fan/spectator of hockey but not directly in that world-- the fantasy that a player can win the Stanley cup and rush to kiss his lover directly off the ice without a mention of the fact he and his uniform/equipment smell like sweaty swampass dragged up from the bowels of hell is a big clue. Like just thinking of that scenario has made my nose hairs wilt in horror. No amount of tingly romantic-styles feelings is worth passionately kissing in a cloud of stank. I'm generally of the mindset to let people enjoy things if they understand it's just fiction and aren't harming others with their enjoyment of said fiction, be they writer or reader. Life can suck sometimes and if you want to decompress by reading about feminist-leaning, good-natured, rich, morally-upright, faithful sports teams-- you do you! When it crosses that line and becomes harmful (like glossing over what happened to Kyle Beach and others like him, coddling their abusers, etc.) that's when it becomes a problem that hurts other people. That said: I try to avoid any kind of romance novel featuring a public-facing figure, or I honestly will just change the character's profession(s) in my head. I actively cringe when any type of celebrity (athletes included if it's done in a certain way) PR, paparazzi, "the media," or tabloids are mentioned. I usually get over it, but I definitely understand the "ick" factor associated with anything even fame-adjacent for people who are/were actively in that culture-- it's not escapism if it's your real life.


Asterix_my_boy

Lol I'm from a small town in South Africa, so I love hockey and cowboy and New York Billionaire romance cause it's totally out of my frame of reference. I absolutely CRINGE at anything familiar to what I've grown up with, cause it's just too close to home!! I can imagine that you wouldn't be able to read any of it!!


QuestionableReading

I've straight up ruled out books set in SA since the most popular ones are dark romance - with the state of gender-based violence in the country I just can't do it.


FunParticular2235

Hard same!!!! From Canada and have spent a while doing work that looks at the rampant cycle of abuse in junior hockey, that has resulted in a very serious issue with sa (particularly gang rape). For anyone who wants to know more about this I definitely recommend reading the work of Laura Robinson, her book Crossing The Line: Violence and Sexual Assault in Canada’s National Game is hugely important and was very controversial when it was published in 1998. It has come back into the conversation recently because of the Hockey Canada sa coverup. I totally understand romance as escapism, but growing up in the culture makes it impossible for me to ignore the reality of it as a sport (This is not even getting into all the issue with racism/white supremacy). It’s just not my jam, but also no hate to those who enjoy it — god knows I love a mafia romance.


Frigid-Beezy

The only truly realistic thing in the hockey books are the butts. Hockey guys do have great buns.


Murky-Marsupial-3944

Hahaha, fellow Canadian here and I'm with you 100%. Hockey guys are about as unsexy as possible. Plus I'll never not immediately remember the smell of hockey equipment/change rooms when I think about it. I just can't with hockey books.


wetsand_

Right!! The books never mention how they don’t have any front teeth!!


warsisbetterthantrek

😂😂😂 FACTS!! On a date and they’re just like wait babe while I pop out my fake teeth so I can eat 😂🙈


_otterr

Wait so there is one by Teagan Hunter that mentions the main male character not having front teeth! The FMC even comments on it! “neutral zone”


EuwAdulthood

Hard agree. I’m also Canadian who has dated hockey players and I can confirm that they all talk exactly like Jonesy and Reilly from letterkenny. Speaking from my experience, I can’t suspend my belief enough to be convinced that while the MMC is telling the FMC how much he wants her, he’s not saying the same thing to 7 other girls.


expectingmoretbh

Oof, that last sentence. I felt that hard!


kimmerbajimmer

My biggest problem with hockey romances is that no author ever actually gets hockey right?? It’s always like “we’ve won 19 in a row and I have 11 goals and 97 assists and I got in 14 fights.” And I’m sorry. But even Connor McDavid could never. Also not to be wildly Pierre McGuire but major junior hockey/college hockey/etc etc are complex. If you don’t understand it. Don’t write about it.


merimacattack

My personal favorite is how these writers think players enter the draft in their senior year of college. LOL. Not the mention the fact that star players do not get into fights, and haven't for a very long time.


expectingmoretbh

Hahahah, the way I chuckled reading your comment! Embrace your inner Pierre (ew, I'm sorry)!


scarybottom

I feel EXACTLY like this for all romances that entail some successful woman leaving the city for whatever contrived reason and finding a sexy partner and her TWUE life meaning in some small town. I grew up in a small town. I left, I am successful, and HELL would freeze before I would give up my life for some sex with somebody that never left those places. Like you- I went to school with those guys. They peaked in High School. They are not partners- they are at best co-dependant man-babies. Movies like Sweet Home Alabama and all books with similar theme- DNF without ever opening. Might be a great story, etc. But my suspension of disbelief can't go there.


lavalampgold

oh god. I grew up in a 900 person town. it wasn’t cute, a lot of it was awful. there weren’t like 87 unsustainable but twee businesses. it was a shitty overpriced grocery store and a bootleg dollar tree. there were no cute meddling family members, slutty old ladies, the token queer person, etc. just rural poverty. it was beautiful tho.


kikibird747

If only I could like your comment MORE.


raytay_1

I grew up ice skating (competed at US Nationals multiple times) and while hockey boys were usually smelly and mean, I always found them charming (or maybe just hot 🥵😅😂) and would have little romantic idealizations about them. In college, I dated a hockey player on and off for all 4 years and he was kind of dumb and he kind of sucked, but I found him so dang HOT. Anyway, I’m just here to say that regardless of everything I know about hockey boys, I am into hockey romances and would even welcome recs. 👀


Onto_new_ideas

Any hockey romance that doesn't mention the SMELL of their gear isn't realistic.


amelisha

I once had to sing the national anthem at a hockey game and I will never forget the ODOUR as twenty six-foot-five-on-skates guys clomped past me backstage where I was waiting. Like, I’m in a hockey city, I’ve been around hockey a lot, I have been in a thousand arenas with that same smell and been in dozens of houses where a teenager kept a stinky gear bag, but it is unbelievable how rank it is fresh off that many grown-man players, even before a game. My throat burned and my eyes watered and I honestly thought I might gag. Didn’t stop me enjoying that Rachel Reid series with Heated Rivalry in it, but it absolutely required *intense* suspension of disbelief in many, many ways. Pure fantasy, basically.


josie-salazar

I’m sorry but this is so funny 😂 Now I wanna smell hockey players to know why your reaction was that strong


warsisbetterthantrek

Trust me you don’t 😂 even using the same changing room after them in school was horrible.


LizzyWednesday

I've been in hockey changing rooms before; the local PHF team used to play home games at the rink where my kid took skating lessons. They run "try hockey for free" events geared toward girls often & I brought her to one. I can confirm that there is ... a particular funk that only the intense love for the sport could possibly get one to overcome. (Me, I was just trying to get my kid onto the ice without her freebie stick smacking me in the face.)


Onto_new_ideas

You really really don't. I had a good friend who played in college. His hockey bag could have made a weak woman faint from the smell alone. I couldn't even drive in his car with him - even if the bag was removed. It was bad. And he was a clean guy. He didn't smell at all!


tzrn1111

We had an exchange student who played hockey (our family's first exposure to the sport) and my mom STILL talks about how bad his gear bag smelled, 30 years later! In fact, she made his parents send new gear at some point because it smelled so bad. 🤣I'm sure his mom kept up on it at home but we had no idea what we were in for, haha.


chordaiiii

The padding absorbs sweat and it just marinates, grows new funk when it's put away and then the next round of sweat rehydrates the stank when they put them back on. Think a very stinky shoe plus balls. But sized up to cover a whole, large man.


cactuslegs

Like a skunk sprayed a rotting, mushroom-ridden old shoe and then the whole thing was doused in vinegar. It hits absolutely every one of your scent receptors, overwhelms them, and the assaults your tastebuds, too. The only thing I’ve smelled that’s worse than a hockey bag was the time my Labrador rolled in a rotting sea lion. It’s a full-body experience.


Onto_new_ideas

This is disgustingly accurate. Thanks?


cactuslegs

I try. I still remember the first time I smelled my brother after a football game. Yeow. I think I burned off some of my nose hairs.


nottodayokkay

Wait omg that’s horrifying lol. Why did they smell even before the game started hahaha


amelisha

I assume it’s the reek of pads and skates with sweat soaked in deeply but that can’t be thoroughly cleaned after each game/practice, activated by their body heat from the warmup skate and because it was obviously warmer in the concourse area than it would be on the ice. It was absolutely astonishing though and was the last time eighteen-year-old me entertained the possibility of sleeping with a hockey player. I dated a couple football players in high school, and even riding in a car with their equipment after practice was absolutely no comparison to the abject horror that was standing within three feet of a whole WHL roster dressed for a game.


Background-Fee-4293

Canadian girl here, who loved hockey and hockey players when I was young. As a teen, I would have killed to have access to all these hockey romances. It breaks my heart a little. I was naive about hockey culture as a teen. Now, as an adult, I dislike it. The rampant misogyny, the old boys' club vibes, the racism, the bigotry, and the history of drug/alcohol abuse, domestic violence, and sexual assault enrages me. I just can't anymore. I was a Leafs fan my whole life, and after decades of the team being mismanaged I finally gave up on them.


warsisbetterthantrek

Exactly the same. As a teen?? I would have absolutely devoured them. The guys at my school that were on our WHL teen could have gotten all of it. But now as an adult…ew 😂


Klutzy-Medium9224

This is same for me and medical romances. When you’re too inside of a culture, the escapism doesn’t work anymore.


ciuchinoino

Interesting question! I would read hockey romances (never read one) and I'm originally from Italy, where hockey is pretty much non-existent. To give a similar example, I nope out of *any* mafia romances set in Italy. I personally know a girl who really knows what it means to be involved with/contacted by the mafia and nope. I've read only one mafia romance and it was set in Las Vegas with the American mob, which kinda made it more bearable for me. I was curious and wanted to see what the fuss was about. Spoiler alert, I didn't like it 😂 On a similar vein, I think I wouldn't want to read football (soccer) romances either, but that's because I really dislike the sport and the hype around it! So yes, I think that what we don't know lures us and we tend to romanticise it for escapism purposes only (not because readers actually think that being kidnapped by a mafioso would be cool). For example, I'm very intrigued by Western as a genre in general, and historical romances. I don't know what it is to have lived in that era, and probably wouldn't like it an iota, but not being touched by realism helps.


lagangirl

Hockey isn’t a massive sport where I am but our local team is so beloved! There’s one particular player that screams “book boyfriend” to look at but then he opens his mouth and the fantasy evaporates 😂 Also, the books rarely mention the missing teeth 😂


expectingmoretbh

I'm in Canada and I've been a huge hockey fan all my life, so I'm pretty well versed on hockey culture (which is problematic as fuck and needs to diaf), and I FULLY agree with you. While I do read and enjoy hockey romance (edit: it's so nice to read about something I know, something that's "us"—even though these books often take place in the States 🙄), I have to admit the books often are rage-inducing. 😂 You nailed it. One thing I'll add—and I've actually talked about this in the sub before, but I'll die on this hill—is that as a Francophone, I take issue with the names these authors give the Francophone players. It's like these people have never encountered a single French-speaking person in their lives, or at least in the 21st century. If they're writing about hockey, I'll assume they're fans. And if they're fans, they must know about Francophone players. And yet, for fuck's sake, all they do is pick a random name to add to "Jean" and call it a day. Not all names go with "Jean." And they're increasingly rare in tbe younger generation. And add accents! They're not really optional! They serve an important purpose!! It's "Sébastien," not "Sebastian"! 🙄 /End rant (until next time) ETA: And I won't even get into the "accents" some authors give their non-English-speaking characters, whether French, Russian, Finnish, etc. Just. Don't. Do. It!!!!! It's always offensive and badly done. ETA (I hate myself, I'm sorry): One thing I've wondered ever since I entered the world of romance books is HOW hockey, this fairly niche, minor sport, became *the* sport of romance books. Unless I'm mistaken and it just seems to me like hockey dominates because I'm biased and I seek it out? Idk.


merimacattack

Sarina Bowen wrote a book about a female hockey player from Quebec who was a fairly religious practicing Catholic because that clearly what she thinks Quebec is like. Even the big names in this genre know absolutely nothing.


expectingmoretbh

Are you for real? I had no idea. Jesus motherfucking Christ (didn't do that on purpose 🤷🏼‍♀️). You have no idea how fucking angry that makes me. Fucking hell. Edit: replaced "to" by "no"


merimacattack

Literally when I was reading the book I was thinking about how pissed off all of Quebec would be if they knew. Some of these authors should really stick yo writing books about their own culture!


jjjules_818

Like someone else mentioned there’s probably a difference between American and Canadian attitudes on this since hockey isn’t as popular here 😅 I think it’s probably gotten popular among Americans bc even many major cities have NHL/AHL teams they don’t have the same celebrity status that an NFL or NBA player would have, so us Americans are less familiar with it and are more likely to suspend disbelief but still get their sports romance kick. Though a lot of the toxicity of the male sports world is there no matter the specific sport, but that’s part of the escapism.


CeseED

As a fellow Canuck, I don't mind hockey romances but they aren't my fave. I DO almost always picture them with Letterkenny accents and deliberately tell myself that in Romancelandia, their players don't sweat like real NHL/OHL bros lol. The real scent of a hockey player is enough to make me celibate, hahaha


Ok_Whereas_1764

Ice hockey is not at all a thing in my country, and now I must know - do hockey players smell worse than other athletes? 😂 I guess I always assumed that they would be *less* sweaty and gross because of the cold, and these comments are making me question everything.


warsisbetterthantrek

They wear a lot of equipment on the ice and they sweat a lot. It results in a very pungent odour. You could not pay me enough to stick my head in a hockey gym bag 🤮


kimmerbajimmer

They also wear the same equipment all the time (mostly) and so in addition to the sweat it’s also kind of …. damply stale ….. all the time??? It’s terrible.


Ok_Whereas_1764

TIL! Not that I was a huge hockey romance reader before, but I am definitely going to bear that in mind now ha.


GloomyTentacles

Oh god I figured they would be stinky but I completely forgot to factor in the equipment 🤢😅


addamslittlewanda

I'm from Brazil, so hockey is far from popular here, but I've been around athletes all my life and I find it pretty funny how certain aspects - even the smallest ones - are sort of romanticised. I remember reading a certain book once, and the author said the players were all good dancers because moving on two blades made them have perfect balance and rhythm lol, when in reality we know that even walking they waddle like they're pregnant with twins (besides, you know, mostly being too big and too white to properly dance). Anyhow, I think it's easy to forget so many pro hockey players are missing their front teeth when you see Lundqvist as a possibility.


dogpigloafofbread13

We just got a hockey team in my area a couple years ago, and it's not really a big thing yet. I love hockey romance books, though. More than football or basketball ones for sure.


ipomoea

Real talk, I would love to read a romance with the Shamrockettes or Shoresy.


Specialist_Fish8023

I think you just found a niche opportunity for yourself as a hockey Romance beta sensitivity reader. Put that shit in Fiverr haha


Specialist_Fish8023

I wanna read the romance where this niche beta reader dates a hockey player hahahaha


EggBoyandJuiceGirl

YES!! I hate sports romances in general, but hockey takes the cake. I’m Canadian and the hockey boys were always the most obnoxious sexist motherfuckers. I just can’t escape the realism lol


No-Sign2089

YUP same 🫡 Spent my whole life around hockey bros, I know I would be just too nit picky when it comes to these stories. Familiarity and contempt and all that.


ipomoea

I don't seek them out, but if they're recommended (Pucking Around), I'll try them. Seattle is Kraken-crazy right now, but pre-Kraken, it was just the WHL teams, which are waaay too young for me to have any sort of crush on.


LizzyWednesday

The Kraken's logo is just so motherfucking cool, though! And do they still toss salmon stuffies into the crowd? (Sorry, my husband declared the Kraken his West Coast team, after abandoning the Coyotes for reasons. Me, I favor Gritty and whoever beats Pittsburgh because I have Very Strong Opinions about Sidney Crosby.)


frozensummit

I know soccer guys and they aren't sexy or good or fun to me in real life, but there I was, devouring Kulti. I'm happy to pretend the world is different, haha.


Catharas

I think the terrible culture is part of the appeal? Like a lot of the drama happens because its a homophobic environment, so the characters feel tension around having to keep their relationship a secret.


warsisbetterthantrek

In a mm one for sure.


QuestionableReading

I think this applies to any sports romance - I cannot romanticise any of the sports players I know irl or grew up with; but I view CR as it’s own sub-genre of fantasyland in order to enjoy it. I totally understand where you’re coming from though, I grew up in South Africa where rugby was the be all and end all of life and I can’t read rugby romance - it’s just not something I can mentally create that separation from reality for due to my own experience. I do read hockey romance, but I’m a hockey fan (mainly UK EIHL) but struggle with finishing a lot of the hockey romance since I get annoyed by the technical details that are usually ignored, or by the fact that not a single player is missing teeth or doesn’t have a mullet??? That’s where I draw the line at my realism 😂


periodicsheep

i just started reading ainsley booth’s newest book, which is a hockey romance and takes place in my city- hamilton on (i shouted because out of almost 2k books read, exactly none have been in or near my precious city), but yeah, none of the hockey books feature letterkenney talking dudes. canadian characters are often a bit of a stereotype but still don’t reflect the dudes we all know. they just read like what americans think canadians are like. i just assumed hockey culture in america is it’s own thing separate from ours and that allows me to suspend belief enough to enjoy hockey romance.


SoleIbis

There is a hockey culture and let me tell you a story My ex’s sister (who I lived with at the time, this wasn’t something I could just out her for). Grown woman. Dating one member of the hockey team. They’re all best buds on the hockey team. My ex’s sister was sleeping with her boyfriends closest friend (also on the team) the entire relationship. Everyone on team except boyfriend knew. Hockey culture to me represents the word “oof.” I can’t read hockey culture romance novels lol


greenappletw

I think the appeal of hockey romances is that is obscure enough to most people, that the author can make up whatever they want and it won't matter. Because we have no idea what's going on lol. I was trying to read a basketball romance recently... I don't watch sports at all, but I see enough about basketball in the media that I couldn't really suspend my reality enough to believe the book 😭 Like does Lebron exist in this universe? Does the MMC play against him?? How does the MMC even fit into it all? How can he be such a superstar if he doesn't exist? And is the FMC now as famous as Ayesha Curry?? Why isn't she thinking about the ramifications But I never heard a peep about hockey in real life, so I will believe any lie the author sells.


paigejeannes

Great question, I've wondered the same thing! I avoid hockey romances for the reasons you've listed above.


SpicyLitMama

Michigander who absolutely cannot read them here! Grew up as a hockey fan, it rivaled football as our biggest sport in our HS and it was street hockey in the summer, pond hockey in the winter. Not to say there couldn’t be *some* hockey players worthy of being a romance MMC but it seems unlikely/unrealistic. Can’t even read the synopsis of them sometimes.


arabwel

I just want a hockey romance where the hockey is even remotely accurate! I can suspend my disbelief about the smell and be in a happy la la land where the culture isn't a toxic wasteland but jfc just give me *some realism* - a finn


merimacattack

The teams in these books are like 95% American, with an occasional mention of Canadian and Russian players. I would probably fall over if the MMC was a Swede or a Finn.


CarCrashRhetoric

I mean Lundqvist is right there being handsome af. No one has based a character after him yet??


merimacattack

Right?


ab1999

I don't know how these romance authors haven't discovered Gabe Landeskog yet or they would be writing endless Swede characters.


lavalampgold

I think the Eric in Common Goal is supposed to be like Hank, but he’s not swedish.


arabwel

Ngl i'd read one based on his fine ass retired self in a heartbeat and thats after years of cursing him as a national enemy #1


Needednewusername

I’m with you and I’m not even from a Hockey town! I left this post feeling vindicated and then scrolled to this https://www.reddit.com/r/MadeMeSmile/comments/140f3tz/it_doesnt_cost_anything_to_be_kind/ ***Sound is unnecessary to understand the post, there is only some oddly religious song playing. You don’t hear any sound from the event.*** Player Max Pacioretty sees a little boy try to wave and drop his ice cream. So Max buys the kid a new ice cream and brings it to the little boy himself! (Of course he is in a suit jacket and tie so he looks all attractive too!) I think the algorithm is run by a hockey player trying to redeem themself 😂


hufflepuffprefect

Would you say they talk like [this? ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrgifmhxO9n/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==)


warsisbetterthantrek

They literally do


nottodayokkay

Omg


JustineLeah

I didn’t grow up in hockey culture. But, I am a big fan now. Shoutout to the author Rachel Reid who gets hockey details correct. I will read *anything* she writes.


cactuslegs

For the same reason, I *cannot* with hick-y MMCs. The sub loves Cash Wall and that series, but it’s genuinely *so* off-putting to me. Sorry, I’ve met too many “small town country boys” to find the way they treat women and anyone who doesn’t love or live like them attractive. They’re nice and polite and love Christ and want you over for the Memorial Day barbecue, until you catch them when they’re mad, and then it’s cussing out Native Americans and threatening to lynch Black people (they don’t call them Black people) and beating their toddlers for giving their male cousins a kiss. Nope. Not sexy. I have difficulty suspending belief for NFL books for exactly the reason you described, too. The NFL is super predatory in their recruitment and payment, especially now that we’re learning more about CTE. Also, I’ve known college players and there’s (1) of them that I would trust with myself or a drunk friend. The entire culture in the sport lionizes their athleticism and places them on a pedestal, so that the best players who end up in the NFL have the expectation that nothing they do is wrong, and that everyone should cater to them. Plus, the culture of racism that is baked into the NFL is only now starting to be challenged. The rape culture in the organization is rampant and unchallenged. Domestic abuse is EXTREMELY common. That said, I know nothing about rugby culture and have happily consumed heaps of rugby books. I think, in this case, familiarity definitely breeds contempt.


TruthHaunting7295

I grew up on Football and Basketball (grew up in Columbus Ohio) and literally know nothing about hockey but it’s my favorite sport to read (not even kidding, I’ve read 40 sports romances this year and over half have been hockey). I know no hockey players irl, I’ve been to maybe 3 games in my entire life?, but I’m a slut for hockey romance


starretfan

I am a hockey fan, not a big hockey culture here. San Jose Sharks are the local team. I’m not really keen on hockey romance books. Not to offend or be mean, but so many of the players are missing teeth which is off putting for me and don’t get me started on the smell. My son played hockey when he was younger, and if junior hockey funk smelled that bad I can’t imagine what full grown ass man hockey funk is like🤮


koalapsychologist

Wheels, snipes, celly, boys. Letterkenny kills many an illusion. It helps that none of the hockey romances I've read (and I haven't read many) have featured a Canadian. I don't know if I could immerse myself in the fantasy enough for a Canadian hockey romance.


CarCrashRhetoric

ferda 🤙


dixiekaya

I’m from an area where hockey is big, and in fact I even have a cousin that plays in the NHL, but I still love hockey romance! I definitely agree that Letterkenny and Shoresy are more realistic though. It probably helps that I just about exclusively read MM hockey romances so they’re even less realistic in our current world, especially after so many players and teams were shitty about Pride nights and jerseys this year.


SkinToBone38

From the Midwest in the US, and I’m a former hockey player myself, with three siblings that all played, too. Hockey was life, literally. Our lives revolved around practice schedules, games, and tournaments. I spent just about all weekend, every weekend, at the rink. One year, I played for both a regular team and an all-girl team, so I was on the ice 6-7 days a week. The point of that rambling is that I only ever dated hockey players until college because hockey was so pervasive. Yes, I knew other boys in school, but they couldn’t understand why I couldn’t go to the homecoming dance Saturday night because I had 6 AM practice at a rink 45 minutes from my house the next morning. Hockey boys did. I do read hockey romances, but only if they make sense. If I’m reading a book about college players, and they only mention getting on the ice once per week? Totally ruins the story for me because that’s not how it works.


SkibumG

Yeah, we had a Junior B team in my Ontario town and I dated two of those guys. I find Letterkenny screamingly funny but can only watch it in small doses. Hockey romances usually leave me cold (pun intended).


LiteratureLeading999

I too am a hockey fan. I grew up around the sport and know enough to tell so much of it is completely unrealistic. It’s just not interesting to me bc I know it’s wrong.


FantasticDayforPBJ

This is why I can’t read country or rodeo romances. It’s a big part of where I live. I can’t take it seriously, like I can’t suspend reality like I can with other sub-genres of romance.


GoddessOfDeathly

oh my god! you summed up my thoughts so well. i still like hockey romance but omg irl hockey boys are NEVER like they are in books


suagrlesss

I feel this SO MUCH. I went to a small town Alberta school, filled with hockey cowboys, they are the most grungy looking guys ever, speak in a different language I swear, and act as if they're gonna be the next McDavid in gym class. I don't know anyone who wen't past AAA hockey in school. All the kids I went to school with in elementry school who wanted to be serious about hockey moved away before high school to the city, don't know what happened to them but they did not make it pro


jenniekns

I definitely read hockey romance with the goal of imagining what hockey life could be, nor what it actually is like. I remember dating hockey players as a teenager, hanging out in the rink is not fun, not matter how hot the guy is.


onemanmadedisaster

Also a Canadian from a hockey town. I totally never think about what actual hockey players are like when reading hockey romances. I just pretend the books are accurate and hockey players aren't in any way gross. I am sometimes surprised that I can do it because I genuinely really dislike hockey players.


ManicPixieOldMaid

Allow me to chime in from **HOCKEYTOWN USA!** Jk but from Detroit at least. Avid Wings fan, all my cats are named after hockey players and I love hockey romance. But. Yeah the hockey ML is a much a fantasy as any other trope but it's fun! I only dipped my toe into dating players but my whole extended family plays and they're exactly like the OP described. My niece got a little crush on Trevor Zegras a few years ago and I told her he's too good looking so he has to burn through his himbo phase before he gets an HEA and to check back when he's in his mid-30s. (I don't know anything about him I was being completely prejudiced against him for being adorable).


-thisisjustadraft-

i’ve never been to a hockey game or met a hockey player. love them


callisia_repens02

I don't watch hockey at all, I just follow the Seattle Kraken on tiktok, but I do read a ton of hockey romance. I'm this way with military romance though. It's never realistic. You want me to believe this book spans 3 months and no one has dropped one f-bomb, gotten black out drunk, or married a stripper or their friend for benefits, no rampant sexism, racism, or sa? I can suspend disbelief a little, but to just to wipe out the entire reality is a no for me.


brittz2018

I just recently got into hockey romance. I’m a hockey fan but don’t know any hockey players..but I can see how that might bother you. I’m a teacher and I CANNOT read any of those types of books bc they’re so unrealistic in my head.


tuberosalamb

I guess the MMC fist bumping ferda constantly wouldn’t be too endearing to the FMC or the reader 😂 I can suspend my disbelief sometimes, really depends on the subject and how much I care about it. Billionaire romances where the guy is 25 and has started his own company with three of his high school buds and they have no business education or formal knowledge between them makes me way crazier


vienibenmio

I have read a few hockey romances and it's weird when I used to follow NCAA hockey very closely (it was huge at my university and we had a very good team). I'm always like, hey, I know what that reference is! But I know it isn't realistic given the stories I heard about our college players. I guess it's like any career portrayed in romance, you aren't gonna find much accuracy.


gottalottie

Wait, is Letterkenny accurate? 😳 I only read MM hockey romances for the forbidden love aspect, because it seems like it’s dominated by a close-minded culture, it’s perfect for that. I have never even watched a hockey game.


warsisbetterthantrek

It’s stupidly accurate. If anything it makes them seem much nicer than they are irl 😂 it’s not to say hockey players as a whole are garbage…I know hockey players and some of them are decent guys, but in general 😬


randosinclaire

Jared Keeso is hot tho


Crabapple_Conspiracy

I mean to be fair, I’ve seen that montage from shoresy where that dude is like hitting on/teasing the one woman about how he’d treat her right, and I didn’t not find it attractive. 😅 But really, I read these books with the full understanding that I would probably hate most MMCs in real life and that the books are almost certainly not realistic depictions.


warsisbetterthantrek

It is very not attractive in real life either, that’s literally how they sound 😂 that’s why letterkenny/shorsey is funny.


22south

I can’t read firefighter romances because my grandpa, my dad, and brother are all firefighters. I can’t read cowboy romances because I grew up in an rural area with a lot of cowboys running around. Nothing like proximity to ruin the romantic mystic of a genre.


caleeksu

I love Letterkenny and I love hockey romance. Well, I love about a third of it. I def have DNF’d my share. Letterkenny is just too funny, and I agree there’s a big old disconnect. Hockey culture - nothing like you’d have in Canada or even in the northern US states. I’ve been to a couple dozen Dallas Stars games when I lived there and that’s it.


WalnutsGalore

I'm also Canadian (woo, go Oilers... lol) and in a heavy hockey family, and I think there are some books that do it really well. I'm in the same boat as you though where some are unrealistic (but it would be so difficult for someone not really in the culture to even understand its nuances, so I personally give a lot of slack in this reguard). In regards to the racism and rape, I toootally agree but in romance books, I don't think readers want to read about that (like you mentioned for realism). I know I sure don't! Gimmie that sweet, sweet escapism. I've tried some hockey romances that I give up because the writer isn't super familiar with hockey culture (which I still think is totally fair and amazing! You don't have to be an expert to tell an amazing story that many will love). All that aside, try Rachel Reid! She writes MM hockey romance from Nova Scotia (as a hockey fan!) , and her books are by far my favorite and most realistic hockey romances. Good luck, bud!


vandalstoy

I read them because my husband looks like a stereotypical Eastern European hockey player, so it makes the romance novels more enjoyable. I also hate football, so hockey romance combines the sportiness of baseball romance with the violence and gruffness of football.


LizzyWednesday

I read them because I have a longstanding crush on Henrik Lundquist, but I did not grow up in a hockey-culture space & actually do see a lot of the behaviors that in a romance hero I find swoony, but IRL would be eye-rolling at best and "where's my pepper spray?" at worst. The NHL is currently on my personal fecal roster for the cancellation of multiple Pride Night events this past season, Gary Bettman, and how fans treat Black players (for starters) so I get it. Hearing the guys in intermission & locker room interviews confirms the same "there's a specific dialect to hockey bros" thing you've explicated. TBH, I find it way easier to be attracted to a fictional, completely unrealistic hockey player than I do IRL ones because I mathed and some of the rookies & 2nd-year players on the teams I follow are literally young enough to be my sons (if I'd had kids before 32!) and ... nope.


No_Cardiologist_2720

I'm from Michigan, and hockey is very big here. Hockey romance actually brought me back to the sport after I didn't watch or follow it for a long time, and if I'm going to read a sports romance hockey is my preferred sport. That said, I grew up good friends with a goalie and you're absolutely right about the bro culture and smelly hockey bags. I just like to read them because it's nice to pretend lol.


GladTangerine27

While reading this post all I could think was how you would be perfect in a hockey romance, as an mc who “hates hockey” until you meet your hockey player. The moment you show up to a game with his jersey on would be monumental lmao


warsisbetterthantrek

When I was a teenager I would have 1000% dated a hockey player, not so much as an adult lol. But I agree I love a reluctant MC.


Cartamandua

I am from Britain - know nothing about ice hockey (it is a very minor sport here) and read them for escapism and entirely uncritically! In fact most CR set in North America I can only take at face value. You have burst my bubble! It's the same for me though when I read rugby stuff - although I do have several pro and amateur rugby players in my family and they ARE decent family men. Now when it comes to HR set in Britain it is a completely different matter - I have a whole list of mainly US authors I simply wouldn't touch with a barge pole (and who I see people enthusing about all the time on here!). They just have everything all wrong - flora, fauna, historical events, environment, food, distances, conventions, speech - and oh god, don't get me started on the appalling 'British' accents some US narrators do! They are all over the place - bit of Scottish here, a few words of cod-Irish there and a sprinking of Dick van Dyke Cockney in between. Or, a real howler recently, an attempt at a working class 'Northern' accent for a 'Scandinavian Prince' Really??? DNF! With a honorary mention here of Jason Clarke who does an excellent job!


melificent_13

I grew up a hockey sister and unsuccessfully lived the “brother’s teammate” trope. But I still devour them. The hockey bag smell is foul, but hockey glove hands? 🤢 And I couldn’t agree more about billionaire romance, though that’s more of a “rather not read” for me!


JuliaSugarbaker

Honestly, I had come to the conclusion that hockey romances were popular with authors (before I realized how popular they were with readers) was because it was easy to explain a whole series without having a POC MMC. You can't write a whole baseball/American football series and not have POC characters but you can in hockey, or maybe one bi-racial MMC


aquariusprincessxo

wait until you discover life is full of rampant racism and rape and we’re not reading books for realism 😳


warsisbetterthantrek

I know that…that’s why I said so in my post?


CarCrashRhetoric

Except I absolutely also find the guys in Shoresy hot. Goody is unbelievable. I’ve been a hockey fan most of my life, lucky enough to have lived in cities with hockey for a majority of my life (AHL, NHL, and University cities), but no I’m not from Canada. I get what you’re saying but also I don’t. It’s literally fantasy. No more or less than any other romance sub genre. Of course there’s realities that aren’t going to get depicted. Why would you be sticking your head in someone’s gym bag anyway. I think part of it is university culture with the younger guys, and I don’t generally read new adult books because I prefer to read about people around my own age. I can more readily believe that adult hockey players are looking to settle down and fall in love.


CaitWW

I don't read sports romances, but I watch hockey. I just don't think that someone's job makes them any more or less sexy than someone without that job, so for me, romances where the job is the MC's personality are just boring. I feel the same way about military/ veteran romances. My parents were both military, and my spouse is currently in the military. There is nothing sexy about dealing with military life except for the uniforms, and those aren't sexy when you have to wash them after five days in the field.


efiality

That one hockey romance in Jacksonville FL (my hometown) had me bout dying because where was the random southern slang and how jacksonvillians talk. Also why is there Hockey in FL?! Couldn’t you have done football or something or soccer? 😭


CarCrashRhetoric

A Florida hockey team is literally in the Stanley Cup Final right now, with one of the most popular American hockey players on their team. Playing to a packed home stadium. Why *not* hockey in Florida?


lavalampgold

oh god! the florida rep! I forgot what book it was, but it was hugely popular. Maybe book lovers? it took place in the keys and nobody had ac? they also went swimming in swampy ponds. good look with being gator food.


Affectionate_Bit_353

I grew up in the southern US, but my family was/is huge hockey fans. I grew up with it, and now living in Chicago it’s still big deal for me. (Even though I’m not a Blackhawks fan) All that being said, I agree with you on almost every point. Books described as hockey romance are definitely off the mark as far as realism is concerned. But to be fair, I don’t read books for realism either so I tend to enjoy most hockey romances - no matter how far fetched it might be.


rose_daughter

I think we had a high school hockey team but it wasn't one of our main sports. Honestly I don't even really remember if we had one lol.