Read this review at your own risk. Note: The reviewer is a HUGE Chicago Blackhawks fan and she was reading Delayed Penalty while her beloved Blackhawks were playing for (and ultimately won!) the Stanley Cup. Given that Delayed Penalty tells the story of Evan Mason, a Chicago Blackhawk!!!, the reviewer’s love for this book has been magnified. Proceed reading this review with caution.
Okay, now that we have that disclaimer out of the way, we must talk Delayed Penalty. I cannot express in words how giddy I am at the moment. I am not only giddy because the Blackhawks just won the Stanley Cup in real life but I am giddy because Delayed Penalty is a great book! I love it!!! You don’t have to love hockey to love this book—you will fall in love with Evan Mason (or as his friends refer to him: Mase) irrespective of your feelings for the sport!
Evan Mason is an NHL hockey player for the Chicago Blackhawks. He is a tough guy who spends more time in the penalty box than on the ice. Evan lives and breathes hockey. Nothing means more to Mase than hockey. This all changed when he met Ami. Delayed Penalty tells the story of Evan Mason and Ami Sutton. When Evan finds Ami beaten, bleeding, unconscious, and close to death in a Chicago alley, he immediately scooped her up and took her to the hospital. What makes Evan so special is what he did after he took her to the hospital. He stayed. I know what you’re thinking…Are you thinking: Oh no, you are telling me he fell in love with some random girl he found half dead in an alley? Pass. That is what I was thinking when I first picked up the book. I am so glad I kept reading because this is such a GREAT book!
My eyes were only on her, in a non-creepy stalker way. She seemed different. Of course she seemed different. She was awake, dumb ass.
Evan didn’t know what made him stay at the hospital that first night and he couldn’t really explain why he kept coming back week after week to sit with this girl he had never met. I absolutely love when she finally opens her eyes and they ‘meet’ for the first time. While Ami is dealing with the physical after-effects of her trauma, luckily, she doesn’t remember the actual rape and beating she endured. What she does remember is a voice—Evan’s voice telling her to hold on when he found her laying in the snow. Evan and Ami’s love story is a beautiful story that I would happily read again and again. How can you not fall in love with a main character who says things like:
No bond is greater than the ones you’ll bleed for. I would bleed for this girl, and I would lay everything on the line and cross any line to protect her.
Did you just swoon a little? I did. I swooned hardcore. Evan is a very rough and tough hockey player while Ami is a dainty ballerina. Not only is Ami physically smaller that Evan, she is still emotionally traumatized and Evan is beyond delicate with her after the trauma she has endured. He doesn’t want to rush her or to hurt her. He simply wants to love her.
“Tell me to be a gentleman and not take this from you here. Please.”
I loved her, I wanted her not just to know it but to feel it consume her. I wanted my love beating in her heart.
In Delayed Penalty we get to watch this beautiful love story between Evan and Ami blossom in the wake of Ami’s attack. We get to watch her heal both physically and emotionally and we get to watch the two of them grow stronger together.
Eventually, I said what I needed to say. “Tell me you love me…” I kissed down her arm bringing her hand to mine, intertwining our fingers together. “I love you.” Her voice was small and unsteady, as if saying it would mean nothing. She wanted to show me. “Show me, Evan. Make it real. Don’t say it without making me feel it.”
I firmly believe that you don’t have to love hockey to love this book—you will fall in love with Evan Mason because he is Evan Mason. I love this story and I love this book! Buy it! Read it! LOVE it!!!
Shey Stahl is the USA Today and Amazon BestSelling author of Delayed Penalty; the Racing on the Edge Series: Happy Hour, Black Flag, Trading Paint, The Champion and The Legend; Waiting for You; and Everything Changes. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and daughter.
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