Empty Net covers difficult subjects such as eating disorders, self-loathing, emotional and physical abuse

Empty Net by Avon Gale
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

*5 stars*

Wow, this was extremely good! Gale nailed it again. NAILED IT.

I was taken aback by this book. I was expecting some enemies-to-lovers story were one of the MC was an asshole deeply hidden in the closet but NO, it wasn’t like that at all. It took a twisted way darker than I’d have imagined. I didn’t know that Gale was going to cover so difficult subjects as emotional and physical abuse, eating disorders or lots of self-loathing and suffering.

(I just noticed that the blurb says that stuff but I don’t usually read it, I like to start a book almost blind, so I wasn’t completely prepared for this but it wasn’t a bad thing because I can take it.)

I was completely prepared to hate Laurent even more because he was an asshole to Isaac in Power Play but my heart just broke into million pieces when I found out why he was like that. He’s a freaking hot mess and, when Isaac finds out why he’s the way he is, he becomes Laurent’s friend, whether he likes it or not. Isaac makes sure to integrate him in the team, he gives him a nickname he won’t hate and he helps him to not be so mean to others. (It’s a defense mechanism that Laurent has been using his entire life so it wasn’t so easy to just turn it off.)

This definitely was a slow burn and I absolutely adore it! It was hard to Laurent at first because he hates being touch but as their attraction grows, he just finds out that Isaac won’t hurt him and he lets everything flow. Isaac is such a sweet little thing. He’s exactly what Laurent needed, though I can tell that Gale loves pairing such different people. I don’t know how she makes it work but these two complement each other the same way Misha and Max do. And the chemistry and connection just feel… right.

I loved seeing Misha and Max again. They are such supportive coaches and Max still is as dummy as always and I giggled a lot with him.

I liked how Gale managed Laurent’s issues, she makes sure to show you there’s no magical cure and that he got lots of hard work to heal. The writing was perfect and even though it was darker than I expected, the banter was always present to light up the moment a bit.

I loved this book and I highly recommend it!

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