Publisher: Berkley Publisher
Published: March 29, 2022
Source: ARC E-copy via Netgalley / Hardcopy via Kathleen Carter Communications
Summary:
Two friends, one Olympic dream, and the choice that stood in the way.
Once Leigh and Susy were close friends and teammates bound for Olympic hockey gold, but when Leigh’s sure-fire plan to make the final roster backfired, she left everything behind to start over, including the one person who knew her secret.
Two decades later, Leigh’s a successful investment banker, happily married, and the mom of a hockey prodigy, so when a career opportunity lands the family back in Minnesota, Leigh takes the shot for her kid. Back in the ultra-competitive world she left behind, the move puts her in Susy’s orbit, a daily reminder of how Leigh watched from the sidelines as her former teammate went on to Olympic glory.
Despite the coldness between them, Susy can’t help but hope that Leigh might lace up her skates and join her in the coaches’ box–after all Leigh knows better than anyone how hard it is to be a woman in this world. Susy’s coaching decisions are undermined by the all-male board and she knows soon her daughter, Georgie, will be seen as a “girl athlete,” relegated to the B team, with less support and opportunity to advance.
But Leigh’s sure keeping Susy at arms’ length is the only way to hide her history with her coach Jeff Carlson. When he hints of new favors in exchange for her son’s ice time and allegations arise over his conduct, Leigh is caught in the ultimate bind: come clean about what happened when she was an Olympic hopeful and risk her marriage or play Jeff’s game. In a moment of desperation, Leigh turns to Susy and realizes the one person she thought was her biggest competitor might turn out to be her biggest ally.
Told with Kathleen West’s trademark wit and compassion, Home or Away is a story about overcoming our pasts, confronting our futures, and the sustaining bonds of female friendship.
My thoughts:
This is the first book I’ve read by Kathleen West and if all her books are as enjoyable as this one, it will most definitely not be the last. This was another early read that I got thanks to being a Patreon member of the Thoughts from a Page Podcast and even though I had to miss the book discussion and author chat due to personal reasons, I really am glad I had the opportunity to read the book.
Even though this is not the first story I’ve read about elite athletes, it still had a unique angle to it, so I didn’t feel that it was the same old story. Yes, it does tackle that taboo subject that we have all heard about time and time again, but what I loved here, and I felt is the strongest part of this story, is the complex character relationships that the author takes the time to create. That is really the driving force behind this story and what kept me flipping these pages.
I loved how the story moves back and forth in time, from the present to the past, slowly filling in the blanks as to what really happened to cause Leigh to walk away from hockey all those years ago. And yet, her son is now playing and even though she has moved back to her hometown, she is still keeping an arm’s length from the sport. Why?
I loved how this book really gave you pause here because the actions that characters took weren’t necessarily black or white. You could see how they came to their decisions and I really felt for Leigh as she struggled with the choices she made. While I might not have agreed with all her actions, I did feel this had an authentic feel to the story.
This book may be heavily concentrated on hockey, but I have to say even though I don’t know much about the sport, and I didn’t play competitive sports nor do I have kids, I still really enjoyed this book. I think it’s one that can be read by anyone and appreciated by a wide variety of readers.
