The only reason I finished Light Up the Lamp is because I'm currently in the middle of a gay hockey romance kick and I'm trying to find the best ones. This is not one of those best books. The only things I liked about this book were when Gil (finally) stood up to his dad and the sex scenes. Literally nothing else had merit for me.

Gil was a likeable main character, but he was also dumb as fuck. A real himbo, which I appreciate.

However, he was also emotionally abused by his father, a former NHL star turned coach that had his fingers all over Gil's hockey career, even in the pros. His father treated Gil like he wasn't worthy of affection if he wasn't good at hockey. Obviously he is obsessed with hockey and trying to please his dad.

The fact that no other character, especially Sebastian, seemed to understand that was incredibly frustrating.

But not as frustrating as Sebastian himself. I kept wondering what Gil actually saw in him, because I saw nothing.

Sebastian practically gaslights Gil about their previous relationship. He literally ghosted Gil without even communicating with him about how he was feeling or what was wrong, moved on with a mutual friend of theirs, adopted a child (!!!) with said mutual friend, hid that for ten whole years, and somehow blamed Gil for all of it. Excuse me, but what the fuck? Where do you get off, sir? They are supposedly childhood friends, so it's not like how Gil behaved would have been a surprise to him. And Sebastian refused to communicate with Gil about literally anything. He did it in the past, and he did it in the present too. Everything is on Gil to fix.

Sebastian takes no blame for what he did, which is crazy. Had me rooting against the relationship. I wanted Gil to stand up for himself against Sebastian so badly, but it never happened! I also feel like the book didn't really do anything with the "forbidden romance" aspect of a coach/player relationship. We barely see any of that because the book takes place over the course of one week, before the season even starts.

Also, the way the team was run is so unbelievable that I almost quit the book because of it. The Sea Lions are touted as the worst team in the NHL,

but even the worst team would have more than, like, five staff members. The NHL would never allow a team not to have trainers or equipment staff. The NHL would never allow a professional team to have a rink that's as run-down and unsafe as the one in the book. The rink would not be shared with the public for things like freeskates and pick-up games. The locker room would never be left unlocked, or have moldy showers, or be without a laundry basket. And, most ridiculous of all, the rookie players would never be doing the team's laundry.

The NHL would literally force the ownership to sell or dissolve the team. You cannot run a sports organization like that.

I honestly don't know if I can recommend this book to anyone. There are better hockey romances out there (coughHeatedRivalrycough). Trust me.