The King’s Men (All for the Game #3)

September 19, 2018September 19, 2018 Simplistic ReaderLeave a comment

The King’s Men

Nora Sakavic

23594461

Publisher: Self Published by Nora Sakavic

Release Year: 2014

Date Read: September 17, 2018

Genre: Sports, LGBT, Contemporary, Young Adult,

Grade: A+/ 5 Stars

***This book contains torture, murder, talk of sexual abuse, gangs, and physical abuse. If you are sensitive to any of these then either read with cautious or do not read at all***

“Fight because you don’t know how to die quietly. Win because you don’t know how to lose. This king’s ruled long enough—it’s time to tear his castle down.”

― Nora Sakavic,

Neil’s time to stay with Foxes is almost up. Soon he will have to abandon the place he has made within the team. He thought it would be easy, but he broke all the rules his mother taught him by befriending and trusting the other Foxes, and broke even bigger one when he found himself attracted to one. Neil still thinks he can just run away, but as the time gets closer he starts to see how hard it is. He still has to win against the Raven’s, hurt Riko in the process, and find a way to escape the same monster he has been running from for eight years. The truth of Neil’s life is bound to come out, but when, and how will the people he found himself caring about take it.

The first book was good, the second book seemed impossible to top, the third did just that. It’s been a while since I loved a series so much. Every part of this book was amazing. It made me cry again, both from sadness and relief. Watching Neil deal with it all to the point of breaking made me feel broken with him. The book had me pulled inside it so deep that I refused to do anything else that would tear me way until I finished it. The day after reading it all I had done was look up pictures about the series, and go reread my favorite scenes over and over again. I have become obsessed with all of it. It is now in my top five, though i’m not sure where it’s placed exactly yet. I just know that it’s there. It kicked a book out. This book was amazing on it’s own but, it’s characters is what made this book shine. I’ve been comparing it to Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Boys books but, I think this one is better, in my opinion. I just liked it more and literally can’t stop thinking about it. All I want right now is to get the physical copies and go back and reread and analyze the whole book based on what I know. That’s basically what I’ve been doing with the last book on and off all day. I can not get over the characters. WHY IS THIS SELF PUBLISHED!?!?!

“He’d come to the Foxhole Court every inch a lie, but his friends made him into someone real.”

― Nora Sakavic,

Pros

Her characters. I know nothing about this author. I googled her and saw literally two sentences about her, but based on her writing, it is like she goes out and people watches all day. She knows how to write a person, not just a character. She didn’t make her characters all the stereotypical characters and let them ride on that. She took them, changed them, and made them into real people. Kevin is probably the best character to use to explain what I mean. Kevin is what would be the typical star player. He is famous, has the perfect nice smile that people love, plays at one of the best schools, and seems like he has his whole life together, but of course he doesn’t because that’s the normal stereotype. Nora took the normal sports star stereotype and remodeled it. Sure, on the outside Kevin is perfect. He is strong and looks like he is always happy, but that’s not Kevin. Kevin is really someone who has spent his whole life owned, and compared to someone else to the point that he started to just become a number. He was player, a robot, and that was it. He has been beaten down his whole life, by a family that isn’t even his, so much that he cowers just when he hears their name. The thought of facing them makes him shake and go into a full on panic mode that he can only stop by knocking back a few drinks. Exy has become his whole entire life and nothing else can’t fit in there. Kevin is not the happy, strong person at all. He is someone who is scared of losing because of what has been ingrained in his head. Nora Sakavic took the star player who was seemed indestructible and put a reason why he seemed indestructible. Even though Kevin’s life before the foxes seems like something out of a drama, Kevin himself doesn’t. Kevin seems real. It’s like the book has tricked me into thinking I’ve always known who Kevin is. That’s how all her characters are written. Andrew would be the stereotypical ‘bad boy’ but nothing about him is stereotypical besides that he has a bad past. I’ve seen many authors create well written characters who stuck with you, but Nora Sakavic created people. I’ve never seen characters who have seemed so real before. There is a big part of me that feels like I have to go to the Exy game tomorrow or Coach Wymack is going to sign me up for a marathon.
Andrew and Neil. Every review I’ve written for this series so far has has Andrew as a reason to read it. Of course this one is going to have him. I love everything about his character. I love that his character doesn’t really change except in subtle ways. Andrew is still the same person who likes to treat life like a game, like during the games when he uses his perfect aim to nail people in the head with the ball, he is still aggressive and doesn’t like to deal with people. It’s the little changes in him from the first book that show a lot. The way he is willing to tell Neil little parts about his life if Neil is willing to answer honestly about his. The way he protects Neil from serious harm. The way he is willing to work with the other members a little more. He is getting closer to people, letting Aaron and Neil in. There is just so much about him that shows growth and that he is willing to grow with the help of others. Neil and Andrew are perfect together. They are one of my favorite couples I’ve read. It’s the way they interact. The way Neil will not touch Andrew because he knows Andrew doesn’t like it, and if Andrew does let Neil touch him, Neil won’t move his hand from the spot Andrew put it. Even to get his attention, Neil will not touch him. He will either grab his sleeve or put his hand out in front of Andrew to try to draw his attention to him. He doesn’t touch him. Then there’s what Andrew has given away for Neil. He let his secret about him being gay out because he wanted to make sure Neil was safe, he let people see his caring side(even though it is still aggressive somewhat), he starts to play Exy more seriously for him, and then there’s even more stuff that I can’t say because it’s all spoilers. They work so well together. My favorite chapter that shows them so well is Chapter Fourteen. It shows perfectly how Andrew is with Neil and what he would do for him. I loved that chapter. I loved the chapter after with the trash bags(You’ll understand if/when you read it) Neil and Andrew are a couple that if you didn’t already know from looking it up, you would of never known they would have gotten together. They have come a long way from the first chapter when Andrew hit Neil with a raquet.
The part where Neil broke down. I can’t go into a lot of it because it’s spoilers, but that whole scene I was fine into Neil said one line. I didn’t even realize exactly what he meant in that line until I went to the next page and saw what he was saying. I went back and read the phrase again and immediately my vision was blurry with tears. Within that one sentence was Neil breaking and giving up hope. Throughout the whole book it was him trying, hoping that he could life the life he wanted, and that line was him shattering all the hope. Throughout the rest of that whole part I was in tears until something good happened, and then it was tears of relief, and then it was once again tears for Neil’s broken state. I’ve always been able to handle reading more messed up things in books, because I know it’s not real(except for the second book in that series. It was terrifying how real that felt. Like I was in that room), but this one, because of Neil, affected me. I know I have compared this series to some sports anime for how the sport part of this book feels, but this one scene reminded me of Tokyo Ghoul. It reminded me of one of the times Kaneki breaks. One of those moments where he just couldn’t take it anymore and broke apart, laughing because he didn’t know what to feel anymore. I felt like I was watching a scene from Tokyo Ghoul. From me that is a huge compliment. Tokyo Ghoul is my favorite manga/anime. (If you want to know what sentence i’m talking about, Chapter Twelve, 24th paragraph from the end of the chapter, the last comma section of the second sentece, section starts with “and wished…”)
I could probably go on with pros forever, making each character they’re own pro, but that’s a lot. I’ll leave it off with the ending. I love how the ending was done. While there is a huge part of me that is screaming, MORE!!!, I think the way she ended it was very well done. (Though if she wants to write more I would definitely read it, without a doubt.) She left it with one chapter of Neil’s life ending and with him beginning another. It was a great way to end the book. Though there is still answers that I want, like, Aaron’s court case, Andrew seeing his foster mom at said court case, Kevin feelings on what happened with Riko. I wish we could of seen those, but even without seeing it I still thought it was a good ending. Endings can be hard, and I think Nora found a great way to close it off.

Cons

One of the things I noticed throughout all the books was the literal writing, like the grammar and use of words. There was a few things that were awkward sentences, and some things that should of had commas to help with the pacing, make it easier to read. There was a few times I had to go back and reread something. And if this was published by a major company this would be a bigger con then what it is, but the fact that she published this herself means there’s a chance she didn’t have an editor, which makes it barely a con. It’s a con if it bothers you too much. I understand how hard it can be to go back and try to edit your own work to the same extent an editor would. There is many times when I write something, it seems like it makes sense, but then someone else has a hard time reading it. For what she did, I don’t see it was much of a con, I just thought it should be mentioned that yes, there are times when the sentences are weird, or a comma is needed. And there was one sentence that I think was missing a word. I don’t know if my e-book app messed it up because it does mess some of my books up in some other ways. If I ever get a physical copy, which I hope to soon, then I will know if the author just forgot a word and never noticed.
There was only one inconsistent thing that I noticed. Neil with the media. In the beginning he didn’t want to be in front of camera, then he would make a huge show of it, but then he would go back to being scared of being in front of the cameras out of fear of being found. He would go back and forth with that a lot. I’ve also seen people say that Neil’s thoughts on Andrew were inconsistent, but I think it was more of Neil was in denial about everything. He didn’t want it to be real because in his mind it was impossible for many reasons. His mother’s warning, him supposed to be leaving, and that fact that it’s Andrew. That was just part of Neil’s character, not an inconsistency.
Aaron. This is a con for me. I hate Aaron. The only parts I like about Aaron is what he did for Andrew in the second book, and when he says that he is going to leave and pretend he doesn’t know them, because I think that is funny. Otherwise Aaron is a cowardly dick, and I don’t like him. Everyone acts like Andrew is the dick, but Andrew only reacts when someone bothers him or his people. Aaron is a dick to everyone for no reason. He also instigate fights and arguments. I couldn’t stand Aaron. He was a brat. What he said to Neil at the mountains pissed me off. Who thinks that’s ok to say to anyone. And then he acts like his brother being gay is bothering him. It’s like he would rather just bring Andrew down more than help to pick him back up. Andrew isn’t the best brother but at least he is trying in his own way. I hate Aaron, but I do feel like his character was important and was needed, but I still hate him.

“He hadn’t realized how lonely he was until he met the Foxes.”

-Nora Sakavic

If anyone couldn’t tell, i’m obsessed with these books. This will be a series I will read again. I will buy and annotate, with sticky notes, all over some physical copies.I want them at my doorstep right now so I can get to work on it. Reading these books also is a help to my writing. It shows how much studying and working on your characters can make a book a masterpiece. She did so many things that I love and I’m still wanting to know why she is self published!! Was it a choice? Or was it because no one would buy the rights? If it’s the latter than they missed out on a great opportunity. I also have no idea if Nora is planning on writing anything else, I hope she is working on more books. I think she’s talented, and whatever she comes out with I will read. I don’t feel ready to be done with these books, but there’s nothing left to read. I’m going to miss the five foot, blonde, monster, who isn’t really a monster, and my two boys with their Exy obessions.

“Neil had been doing one stupid thing after another all year long and this has turned into one of the best years of his life.”

― Nora Sakavic

Contemporary · LGBT · Sports

The Raven King (All for the Game #2)

September 17, 2018September 17, 2018 Simplistic ReaderLeave a comment

The Raven King

Nora Sakavic

18187013

Publisher: Self Published by Nora Sakavic

Year Released: 2013

Date Read: September 16, 2018

Genre: Sports, LGBT, Contemporary

Grade: A+/ 5 Stars

***This become contains sexual abuse and talk of sexual abuse, torture, murder, abuse, gangs, drugs, and general violence. If you are sensitive to this or if these trigger you please either be cautious of it or do not read it. These are mentioned though a lot of the book so if this bothers you do not take it lightly and read it thinking the will only mention it once. For those are not into darker type of books, this is not for you.***

“You have this way of making people want to kill you,”

-Nora Sakavic

The war between the Foxes and the Ravens have started. After the aftermath of Riko’s warning, the team is having to cope and find out how to fix what they have lost. They only have a short amount of time before they play against Riko, but the team is having a hard time getting it together. The only one who can bring both side of the teams together is Neil, but to do that he will have to work with Andrew, which isn’t easy. To get Andrew to work with him, Neil must give up pieces of his life he has never given anyone. Neil has to rely on and trust the man everyone calls a monster in order to stay alive and beat Riko, for Kevin, and himself.

Writing a review for this book is hard. Finishing the last half was hard. Not because it was terrible, or bad, it was nowhere near bad. It was so hard to digest what was going on. I had known before reading this book that it was going to get dark, but it got darker than I thought. It shocked me to the point where I couldn’t even cry because I was still trying to fully register what was going on. It wasn’t until the aftermath that I started crying. The author doesn’t write the book in first person, yet I have never felt more immersed in a book. I felt like I was in that room, watching what was going on. It’s terrifying because it’s so real, and it happens, and it hurt, bad. I’ve cried reading many books, mostly for character’s death, no main character died, yet I felt the most pain reading that part of the book than any other book I’ve ever read. The book won’t leave my mind. It’s burnt it’s image in it. It was dark, but what happened after the dark moment is what hit me the hardest. I love this series more than I ever thought I would. It represents everything I have ever believed in. I had seen this book all over, and when I saw it, I thought it would just be a cute sports book that I would like, that it would be like the sports anime I watch like Haikyuu or Kuroko no Basket. I was so wrong. It’s like Haikyuu in certain ways, but it’s not a happy book, it’s not cheerful. It’s heartbreaking. I’ve read many books were characters were abused and it’s never broken me this much. And that’s probably because in most books it’s like a redemption story where they start to immediately get better, but that’s not how this book works. They don’t get automatically better, the change in them is small. They’re scared to change and still don’t know how to. The characters in this are slowly helping each other and it makes everything hit harder because it makes it real. People who have been knocked down their whole life don’t usually just take medicine once, or get up one day and decide that everything is better. It’s usually is a growing process and that’s what happening. This book has made its way up to my top favorite books.

Pros

The character development. Everything in these books have subtle growth. The characters have gotten closer to each other then they have in the first book, but they’re not all friends still. Neil has gotten more brave. He isn’t wanting to run away even though he knows he is in danger. Andrew is opening up and trusting Neil more. Neil is starting to see them as friends, even if he doesn’t realize it. He went through two weeks of pain to help Andrew. The character’s growth isn’t something that sticks out, but you can definitely see the change in all the characters.
Andrew. Once again, I LOVE Andrew, and this book made me love him more. You find out a lot about Andrew through this book. A lot of people say that characters are complicated but I have never see a more complicated character to explain then Andrew. There is just so many elements to him, and while this book helps to make him a little less unpredictable, he still catches you off guard. I have no idea how to really explain his character without going into a hour long speech, with a whole presentation, with quotes and drawn up pictures. So, the easiest way to say it is, Andrew goes from being seen as a psychopath to someone who found a way of coping through his life by making everything into a game. I don’t think Andrew is a psychopath, he just has a weird way of helping people and dealing with how he feels about everything.
Neil. Neil really is a good character. He starts out in the series not caring about anyone, because it’s what he was taught to do. He doesn’t want to be friends with anyone and he doesn’t trust anyone. After losing his mom he is lost and knows that he just wants to survive. By the end of the second book though,Neil has started to change his thoughts on all of that. By the end of the first book, when Kevin was freaked out Neil took the attention off him and put it on himself even though he knew it would put him in danger. In the beginning all Neil cared about was surival and playing Exy one last time. Now he would give up Exy if it meant he could help one of them. He is starting to trust in people and find his own reasons to stop running and live a life he always wanted. He knows staying could mean dying, but he is risking it, to play Exy, but also because he doesn’t want to leave the people who are making them feel like family. There’s a part where Nicky tells Neil, “It’s about family. Not necessarily the one we were born with, but the one we chose…. The people we trust to be part of our lives. The people we care about.” Neil takes this to heart and it’s such a difference from how he felt in the first book. It shows that he is being able to heal and find a place he wants to belong in.
Once again, the writing. I really want to know why these are self published. I feel like i’m there with the characters. She is able to fully immerse you into the story. You feel a connection to all the characters.It’s really good. I love it. I want to read it over and over again. I will read it again eventually. I don’t doubt that.
The ending. That ending. It was dark and I loved it. I loved it’s translation into the next book. I loved it. It helps people to understand Kevin’s life before joining the team. It’s very dark, but within that one chapter it sums up what these books are. It sums up the before and the parts of Neil’s life that he is changing. It was a great ending and it makes you respect certain characters so much more than you already did.
I put this one last because it’s more on the spoiler side. So be warned. It’s a spoiler. I will make the cons way lower so you don’t have to even risk seeing this but I have to mention it in the pros. It’s the part of the book that hit me the most in the best way and I can’t stop thinking about. It needs to be praised……….. The immediate help for Andrew. As soon as they knew what has been happening to him, and why he acts how he does, they didn’t hesitate to drop everything and help him. They didn’t care that they could lose their games, or that he wouldn’t be calmer anymore. They just wanted him to be able to be helped. That’s the moment I started to cry a lot. That’s when the shock was gone and I was just sobbing. I’ve always loved these types of books, the ones with troubled characters, like the Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. They all show something that I believe in. They all show something that people forget. These are just kids, they’re barely adults. There is more to them they how they act out. That people who are troubled usually have a reason why and that they deserve just as much help as anyone. They deserve to have chances to redeem or fix themselves to be who they want. The psychologist did something in this, in this book, I hope all psychologist do. She cared that Andrew needed help, and that the medicine wasn’t going to help him. Keeping him on the medicine would of been the easiest route for everyone, but she knew that it was hurting him more then it was helping him, so put Andrew’s needs first. I loved this scene. I loved how everyone put aside their differences and did what they needed to get Andrew help. That whole part of the book was hard to read but that one part of them getting together to help him made it so much easier to get through it. I cried more at that part then I did at the part before it.

Cons

Seeing Cons in this book was hard once I got to the tough part of the book. I was so focused on what was going on that I didn’t really notice any flaws. I don’t think it’s right to sit here and try to come up with flaws either. The only thing I feel like people might think is a flaw is how extreme some of the characters are but I think that’s because they’re not taking the time to understand the characters and that people react differently to different events. In the first book, the characters did seem extreme, but after reading this book they don’t. I’m know there is a con in this book because all books have their imperfect parts, but I was so immersed in reading that I didn’t see one. Maybe it’s the honeymoon phase, or maybe it really is just that good to me that I’m blinded by all pros. I don’t know. I know that i could say that it being so dark is a con, but to me it isn’t. I think, while it was one of the darkest things I have ever read, it went well with the story and was written and done very well. To me it isn’t a con. If I can think of a con I will update it later, but at this point in time I can’t think of one I felt while reading, and I’m not going to be unfair and try to think of one just so I have one. I enjoyed the book so much that I didn’t want to put it down. The last time binged a book this hard was Red Rising, which is in my top five favorite series. At this point in time, I don’t have a con.

“As he listened to them, Neil realised he was happy. It was such an unexpected and unfamiliar feeling he lost track of the conversation for a minute.”

― Nora Sakavic

I am in love with this series. I’m glad that after going back and searching, I found that there are physical versions of this book and not just e-books. I want them all. I want to go back and annotate it all over. There is so much in this books, and they’re not even big books. They’re small, yet they have so much put into it. I haven’t redone my top books in a while, but after a few weeks to see if my love for it is just the honeymoon phase, it might move one of my top fives out. It’s definitely in the top ten though. High top ten. If it’s not the top five, it’s number six. After the series I actually kind of want to go through and break down all the characters, and put together why they do what they do, and how they are. This is a really character heavy story and I love it. I love it for the same reason i loved Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Boys. These are my favorite type of books and It’s books like this that I’m glad I’m in love with books, and became a book reader. I’m glad I found this book and read it. It was the book I didn’t know I needed.

“He was their family. They were his. They were worth every cut and bruise and scream.”

― Nora Sakavic

Contemporary · LGBT · Sports

The Foxhole Court

September 16, 2018 Simplistic ReaderLeave a comment

The Foxhole Court

Nora Sakavic

17259690

Publisher: Self Published by Nora Sakavic

Release Year: 2013

Date Read: September 15, 2018

Genre: Sports, LGBT, Contemporary, Young Adult

Rating: B/ 4 Stars

***This book series features talk of abuse, murder, torture, gangs, violence in general, and I believe later it may contain self mutilation, and rape, but I can be not. If this concerns you or triggers you I would advise looking more into it before reading. This book is on the darker side and talks of abuse a lot. If you are uncomfortable with it or it triggers you be cautious. This reviews talks about the abuse and the way I talk about it isn’t meant to offend or say that you have to feel this way. It’s all based on what I have learned self studying child psychology from a young age and other people I know personal experiences. ***

“It’s about second chances, Neil. Second, third, fourth, whatever, as long as you get at least one more than what anyone else wanted to give you.”

― Nora Sakavic

Neil has been on the run for eight years, not for a crime he did, but from a criminal he is avoiding, his father. Neil’s father is a murderer known as The Butcher, and Neil will do whatever he needs to do to not end up in his hands again, but when Neil gets the chance to play his favorite sport for the last time he can’t help himself. Neil is the new addition to the Palmetto State University Exy team, a team full of delinquents and people who most don’t want to give any more chances. Even though the team is full of trouble, especially one who is psycho in every way, the team members aren’t what puts Neil in danger. The team is well known, and it doesn’t help that a star player from another school is now on their team, and with him comes spotlight, something Neil has been avoiding. Now Neil must ask himself which is more important, Exy, or his life.

We’ve been told over and over not to judge a book on it’s cover, that is very literal with this one. I will admit, the cover put me off because it seemed like it was just something someone put on a fanfiction website, but when I found out why the cover looks like that I understood, and also was amazed. This book is self published, which makes it clear why the cover looks that way, but what I want to know is if the book is self published because no one wanted to publisher it for her, because if that’s the case, they messed up. While the description of this book seemed like it was a lot, when you read it, it doesn’t seem like it at all. It was to me, like I was watching Haikyuu(A sports anime for those who don’t know), mixed with a much darker version of the Raven Boys from Maggie Stiefvater, two things I love. This book mostly is set around before the start of the games to let you get to know the characters and how they interact with each other. It lets you get to know all the characters before you get to see them in action at the games. It mainly features Neil hanging around four other characters, Andrew, the psycho that everyone is too scared to mess with, Aaron, his twin brother and that’s all his character is, Kevin, the Exy star with a forever damaged left hand and family issues, and Nicky, Andrew and Aaron’s flirty gay cousin, which is why I described it as a darker version of the Raven Boys.

Pros

I hate watching sports. I cannot stand it. I don’t care about sports at all. The only sports I watch is anime sport shows and it’s more about the characters and feeling happy for them then for the sport. This book is a sports book, and I loved reading them play the sport. Not only to cheer for them, but because I actually thought the made up sport was interesting. It’s brutal. The characters start to physically fight during the game and then just go back to playing as if they weren’t just in a fight. To make it better… This is a co-ed sport. They have girls on their team who get just as violent and rough as they do. As someone who hates watching real sports, I loved reading them play it. Mostly because they are all aggressive and brutal.
Andrew. I love Andrew. And while I love Andrew just for being Andrew, my favorite part of Andrew is how he is written. The main character calls Andrew a Psychotic Midget, and he is not wrong. Andrew is terrifying. If I met a man like him in real life I would run. Andrew has two sides, his medicated side that is full of calm smiles that make him less aggressive, but still calculating and scary, and his sober side which is pure anger and aggression. But, It’s not just how Andrew acts that makes terrifying, it’s how people act around him. No one wants to have back facing Andrew. They all want him where they can see him, especially when he is angry. Even when he is angry he will smile calmly, as if nothing is wrong, but they know what will happen if they turn around while he is angry at them. Everyone in the book fears him. No one wants to be around him when he is not on his medicine. They all avoid him on whatever cost. Their looks of fear and the way they go out of their way to avoid him is to an extreme. He has also beaten people almost to their literal death. Neil doesn’t call Andrew Psychotic as an exaggeration. The way the author writes Andrew makes you fear him as if he is real. She writes him so well. He’s unpredictable and terrifying. It’s something that I will never be able to explain completely. The way the other character fear him makes him even worse. They fear him like someone would fear a killer.
The bonds between the characters. I keep comparing this book to The Raven Boys and there’s a reason. My favorite part of The Raven boys is the special bond between each characters. Each character has a different relationship and friendship for each character. That’s how this book is. The book focuses a lot on how each character interacts with another character and how they bond. It’s a very character driven story, which is something I personally love.
The accuracy or abused people. It’s not a mystery that Neil is abused, his dad is a crazed murderer that he is running from. A lot of authors write abused characters but make them mostly only fear the abuser, which is how it is for some people, but a lot of people who are abused fear anyone they can relate to their abuser. Neil’s reaction to adult males compared to women and people his age is very realistic. Neil isn’t an abused character just to make his character abused or to appeal to the audience, it’s apart of him. It control him in some situations. And yes, Neil being abused is a huge part of his character, but it makes sense for it to be, he has been dealing with it and running from it his whole life. He hasn’t had time to not think about him being abused or his abuser. Running from his abuser has been his life for years, so it makes sense for a major part of his story to be focused on his abused self, but it also doesn’t focus on it where that’s all Neil is. Neil has other characteristics and does in fact not let it control him fully. He says what he believes in and doesn’t let people push him around. He stands up for himself and others, but there are times when the fear does control him and he does cower or start to shut down. Neil is an abused character, but his character is not only abused.
The LGBT part. While it is labeled as LGBT, it barely comes across as that. Now let me explain why that’s a pro before it seems like i’m saying something else. As I have said before, there are a lot of authors who make their characters only talk about being gay, only think about how they are gay, and all of their actions can relate to them being gay. It makes it come across as the characters are gay to just be gay and nothing more. Like the characters are there to say you have a gay character so you look more diverse. While there is more LGBT things to come in the series, this book only brings it up when Nicky is talking about how he is gay or flirting, or when Nicky is asking Neil which gender he likes. Neil, in the first book, never says if he likes either, and always just either ignores the question or denies liking either. The story focuses on the characters bonding instead of the LGBT part of it. Like some of the characters just happen to be gay instead of their characters only being gay. While being gay is a big part of someone’s life, it’s not all they are. There is more to them they who they like and their character should only revolve around that unless it’s exactly the plot of the book like Simon vs. Homosapien Agenda. Since this books focuses more on Neil choosing between the life he wants vs the abused life he knows it should focus more on his feelings towards the two then on which gender he likes. So the subtle amount of it in the first book makes it perfect and gives it time to build like real relationships and feelings do.

Cons

If you are a sports lover and want to read this book for sports reason, in this book they only actually play once. That’s not to say they don’t play more in the rest of the series, but in this book they only play an actual game against someone once. It’s a sports book but it focus a lot more on the lives of the characters than the sports. But it is a interesting made up sport that has been explained like a cross between lacrosse and hockey and it is actually fun to read them play it, and they do practice a lot. But the book is more drama than them playing the sport.
It has these weird moments. There were times that something happened and I had no idea why or it isn’t explained why it happened. It mostly is with Andrew, who does a lot of unexplained things, but it was still weird. One part that I couldn’t understand was why Andrew doesn’t want Neil to wear his contacts. It’s not explained, just that Andrew doesn’t want him to wear them and might harass Neil if he wears them out. It was weird. Now some of the weird things do get explained, but not in the first book, so it just stays weird.
To someone who doesn’t like problematic characters this book will be a big problem. Literally every character is problematic with a past. It’s definitely a darker book.So if not into that, don’t read it.
This book is mainly only found as an e-book. The only way I have found to buy paperbacks of the books is on Amazon. The author is self published though so it’s easy to understand that e-books would be easier to make than a lot of books she would of had to pay for without being certain people would’ve liked it. I have looked on Amazon though and they are there for sale.

“I’m not scared of Kevin. I know him.”

“You’re going to eat those words,” Neil said. “You’re going to choke on them.”

― Nora Sakavic

I really loved this book. I read it in two days. The first day I thought it was ok, but then spent all day wanting to stop everything to read the book. I wanted to just sit there all day and read it. I went to write and instead found myself looking at pictures of The Foxhole Court. I loved the characters and the drama that went on. I’m already halfway through the second book and am in love with it. I stayed up till seven in the morning reading it….. Now I do binge a lot of books but I don’t feel the need to drop everything, including sleep, to finish reading it. Only a few books have done it. This was one.

“Hope was a dangerous, disquieting thing, but he thought perhaps he liked it.”

― Nora Sakavic

I recommend the book to those who liked the Raven Boys(Especially Ronan) and want a much darker version where they play sports instead of searching for the welsh king.

“Andrew was smiling, but Neil knew his cheer didn’t mean he was going to play nice. He’d been smiling when he smashed a racquet into Neil’s stomach, too.”

― Nora Sakavic