Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Coach's Challenge by Avon Gale Coachs Challenge PDF Book (Scoring Chances) (2017) Download or Read Online. Coachs Challenge PDF book (Scoring Chances) (Scoring Chances Series) Read Online or Free Download in ePUB, PDF or MOBI eBooks. Published in June 26th 2017 the book become immediate popular and critical acclaim in romance, m m romance books. The main characters of Coachs Challenge novel are John, Emma. The book has been awarded with Booker Prize, Edgar Awards and many others. One of the Best Works of Avon Gale. published in multiple languages including English, consists of 200 pages and is available in ebook format for offline reading. Coachs Challenge PDF Details. Author: Avon Gale Book Format: ebook Original Title: Coachs Challenge Number Of Pages: 200 pages First Published in: June 26th 2017 Latest Edition: June 26th 2017 Series: Scoring Chances #5 Language: English Generes: Romance, M M Romance, Sports, Sports, Romance, Contemporary, Sports, Hockey, Contemporary Romance, Sports Romance, Lgbt, M M Romance, M M Sports Romance, Romance, Contemporary Romance, Humor, Formats: audible mp3, ePUB(Android), kindle, and audiobook. Other Books From Scoring Chances Series. The book can be easily translated to readable Russian, English, Hindi, Spanish, Chinese, Bengali, Malaysian, French, Portuguese, Indonesian, German, Arabic, Japanese and many others. Please note that the characters, names or techniques listed in Coachs Challenge is a work of fiction and is meant for entertainment purposes only, except for biography and other cases. we do not intend to hurt the sentiments of any community, individual, sect or religion. DMCA and Copyright : Dear all, most of the website is community built, users are uploading hundred of books everyday, which makes really hard for us to identify copyrighted material, please contact us if you want any material removed. Coachs Challenge Read Online. Please refresh (CTRL + F5) the page if you are unable to click on View or Download buttons. Coach's Challenge by Avon Gale. Readers love the Scoring Chances series by Avon Gale. About the Author. Visit Dreamspinner Press. For Annie, Steph, and Jude. Thank you for loving these characters as much as I do and for your wonderful enthusiasm that makes writing this series such a source of constant joy. THANKS SO much to my first readers—Morgan, Piper, Steph, Annie, Jude, Erin, Molli and Eddie—for the awesome feedback when this book was fighting me. Thanks to Eileen for the wonderful east-coast writing-retreat weekend. I have such fond memories of your front porch and Pokémon. Also thanks to my agent, Courtney Miller-Callihan, for all the assistance and not minding that she shares a name (sorta) with an irascible hockey coach. And thank you to my editor, Lizze, and to everyone at Dreamspinner for giving this series a home. THE STRUCTURE of minor-league professional hockey in the States is a bit confusing and is constantly changing as teams open, fold, and relocate. I thought it might be a good idea to provide a quick-and-dirty rundown, at least as it pertains to the Scoring Chances series and the characters you’ll meet along the way. The National Hockey League (NHL) has thirty teams, and each team has an affiliate American Hockey League (AHL) team. The primary purpose of the AHL is to serve as a development league for the NHL, allowing promising players and recent acquisitions/draft picks to improve their hockey skills and physical conditioning. Teams can also “call up” players from their AHL affiliate when necessary, to replace injured players or to give valuable playing experience to potential prospects. Players on the NHL team can also be sent down to the AHL, if it is deemed a good idea for the player’s individual development. The ECHL, or East Coast Hockey League, which is the league in which the Scoring Chances series takes place, is a double-minor league, or the league directly below the AHL. There are currently twenty-eight teams in the ECHL, and most are affiliated with an AHL team—with an eventual goal of adding two more teams so it is even in number with the NHL/AHL. There have been cases when one ECHL team is a shared affiliate between two NHL teams. Confusing? All you really need to know is that the ECHL is a feeder league for the AHL, which is a feeder league for the NHL. In the Scoring Chances series, all the NHL/AHL affiliates are correct as of time of publication, but it should be noted that these can change quite often in between seasons. All ECHL teams, their locations and their affiliates in the Scoring Chances series are fictional (with the exception of the Cincinnati Cyclones). Like the AHL, players can be “called up” and “sent down” as necessary. It’s important to note two main differences between the ECHL and the other two leagues. The ECHL is not dependent on a draft, so coaches are free to choose their own roster. Anyone can try out for a spot. The other difference is money. And this is a big one—ECHL players generally make about $12,000 per year (plus housing expenses), compared to about $40,000 a year for your average player in the AHL. Of course, the amount is much higher for an NHL player—but not quite, say, the level of your average NFL player. In the first book in this series, Breakaway, Jared refers to the ECHL as Easy Come, Hard to Leave, which is a moniker I learned from reading Sean Pronger’s excellent book, Journeyman: The Many Triumphs (and Even More Defeats) Of A Guy Who’s Seen Just About Everything In the Game of Hockey. I cannot recommend this book enough, and reading the hilarious and informative anecdotes of Sean Pronger’s career—played primarily in the ECHL—is what made me want to write about minor-league hockey players in the first place. The book also provided a lot of insight and ideas for the character that would become Jared Shore. Like Sean Pronger, Shore is a veteran “journeyman” who’s spent his long career playing for a multitude of teams and wearing a lot of terrible jerseys along the way. If you’re interested in how minor professional hockey came to be a thing in the southern United States, I also highly recommend Hockey Night in Dixie: Minor Pro Hockey in the American South, by Jon C. Stott. This book proved to be an excellent resource and made me appreciate the tenacity of those determined to sell ice hockey to southerners obsessed with college football (or, in my family’s case, college basketball). I have tried to keep true to the rules of hockey, both in game play and administrative operations within the ECHL—without being a stickler. Any glaring errors—or convenient road-trip stopovers—I blame on artistic license. IF TROY Callahan had ever been in a quieter locker room, he didn’t know when. That included the year Troy played for the New York Rangers and they lost to the Washington Capitals in the division finals. The locker room might have been quiet, but there was at least the air of sweaty, tired athletes who’d left it all out on the ice… even if the result wasn’t the one they wanted. The Asheville Ravens’ locker room? It was like a goddamn funeral scene in a silent movie. Troy took a moment to study the faces that stared back at him and wondered if he’d made the biggest mistake of his entire coaching career by agreeing to take this job. The Rangers offered him an assistant coaching position, and Troy turned it down to move to Asheville, North Carolina and take over a team of bullies who no one liked. Who either didn’t like him or were so conditioned to hate their coach that they hadn’t learned how to turn it off. They would have to learn. Troy exchanged a brief look with the Ravens’ assistant coach, Brian Quinn, who stood quietly in the background. Quinn had been the assistant coach last season too, but seemed perfectly happy to have Troy here to take over his shipwreck of a team. Or maybe, in keeping with the theme, it was less a shipwreck and more a bird with a broken wing and a missing eye. That was probably dead. � �Look,” Troy started and decided on a whim to throw aside all the carefully constructed platitudes that his best friend and former teammate, Gabriel Bow—who also happened to be the Ravens’ new GM—“helped” him come up with at dinner the night before. The team didn’t need bullshit. It needed the truth. “I don’t know everything that happened in this locker room last season, but I know enough to make my stomach hurt.” That got a few startled looks out of his stone-faced players. “And sure, a lot of those assholes who like to injure other players for fun aren’t in this locker room anymore, but let’s be clear about one thing—all that bullying, homophobic bullshit? It stops now, because I do not put up with it. You run your mouth off about any of that shit on my team, the only ice you’ll be seeing will be in a fountain soda. If you’re having problems scoring goals, letting in too many goals, or can’t defend against a strong breeze… we can work on that. That gets you drills and conditioning exercises. And believe me, those aren’t fun either. But being a homophobic asshole gets you a one-way ticket out of here. Because trust me, boys, there’s a lot of guys who want to play, even for a team everyone hates in a state where the government can’t get its head out of its ass.” Excellent. Troy definitely had their attention. “And if you think I won’t replace you, think again. Every single goddamn one of you is replaceable, and I don’t care how many fucking goals you score or saves you make or what your goddamn plus-minus is. Got it?” They were still quiet, but at least they nodded. “Good. Just keep in mind that the Troy Callahan Sensitivity Training Seminar is a door hitting your ass on the way out and we’ll get along fine. Now that we got that clear, I’m gonna tell you kids a story about your former dickhead coach.” Troy crossed his arms over his chest. “I played with Denis St. Savoy”—he couldn’t quite keep the sneer out of his voice when he said that asshole’s name—“for a few years when I was in the majors. I stopped playing a year before the Rangers won the Stanley Cup, and you want to know why? Because your former coach found out I was gay, blackmailed me about it, and told me to retire. Why? Who the fuck knows, really, but he thought the Rangers missing the playoffs the year before was my fucking fault for some goddamn stupid reason, so he wanted me gone. This was the midnineties. There was no You Can Play Project and players didn’t get suspended for using gay slurs.” Troy tried meeting a few players’ eyes, but the only one who would even look up at him was the team captain, Xavier Matthews. And even Matthews looked away after a few seconds. “I was afraid, so I let that asshole bully me too. And that’s ancient history, but when I found out he was pulling the same shit here, it made me fucking ballistic. That’s a fancy word for mad. So yeah, I have a very personal reason for being here, and you can all bet your fucking collective asses I take this shit seriously. Got it?” They nodded, still silent. “Do any of you know how to fucking talk?” Matthews quietly cleared his throat. He also raised his hand tentatively, which made Troy want to bang his own head against some lockers until he blacked out. “Are you fucking kidding me, Matthews? It’s not school. Put your hand down. What is it?” “Coach—uh. We weren’t allowed to talk in here.” “Well, no. You shouldn’t talk when I’m talking, Matthews, but—wait. You weren’t supposed talk in here when?” Troy had a bad feeling he knew the answer. “Umm. Ever.” Xavier winced. “Coach St. Savoy liked it to be, uh… quiet.” “Okay, do me a favor and do not call that SOB ‘coach’ anywhere I might hear you.” Troy cast his eyes to the ceiling and prayed for patience. Then he looked at his team again. “You’re allowed to talk in the fucking locker room, Jesus Christ on a cracker. You can even speak up if you have questions or, hell, if you don’t agree with me or something is bothering you or your delicate ears can’t take my colorful language. I don’t even have a door on my office.” That hadn’t been Troy’s decision. Management had removed it, but his team didn’t need to know that. “This team isn’t about me. It’s about us. Ravens.” He paused and tried to remember what noises ravens made—something that might serve as a battle cry, something that wasn’t silence. “Caw?” The attempt at a battle cry got him nothing but a few awkwardly muttered “caws” in refrain, which sounded like a bunch of sick birds on their deathbeds. So fairly apt. “We’ll work on that.” Troy waved his hand. “Now get your skates on, get out there, and impress me and Coach Quinn.” They all stood up to make their way to the ice, and Troy sat down and laced up his own skates while he cast a rueful look at the Ravens’ assistant coach. “Sorry, Quinn. I should have asked if you had anything to add.” Brian Quinn gave him an easy smile. “Nah. I think you about covered it.” He hadn’t played professionally as far as Troy knew, and he was maybe five or six years younger than Troy himself. Or it was possible he was older and had a baby face. He was affable enough, and if he was bothered by coaching with a gay guy, he never said anything about it. So far he hadn’t said much of anything, though Troy’s personality was a bit overbearing. Especially when he first met someone. And then generally every moment after that. Troy couldn’t imagine Quinn had much input into Savoy’s coaching methods anyway. When they’d fired St. Savoy, Quinn was up front about the closed-door meetings Savoy held with players—which were one reason there was no longer a door to Troy’s office—but he’d been horrified to learn about the blackmail and the threats against them. Gabe didn’t seem to think Quinn was in on any of St. Savoy’s schemes, but his contract was only through the end of the current season. If Troy hated the guy, they could get rid of him and hire someone else. Troy wasn’t sure he liked Quinn, exactly, but so far Quinn was inoffensive, if a little mealymouthed. But Troy needed to make an effort to include Quinn in the day-to-day operations of coaching the team, since it was clear St. Savoy never had. That meant not hogging all the attention and letting Quinn address the team. “How about you say something at the end of practice?” Troy asked. “I know I have a strong personality. You can call me on it, you know. I won’t make you do a bag skate.” Quinn ran a hand through his hair and shrugged. “I haven’t done a skating drill since college. Don’t worry about it, Coach. I’m happy you’re here, believe me. You’re already about a thousand times easier to work with than St. Savoy, strong personality and all.” Quinn’s smile faltered a little. “I still can’t believe I didn’t know any of that was going on last season. It probably doesn’t give you much faith in my coaching abilities.” It didn’t, but Troy let that go. “New season, remember?” He stood up. On skates he was a lot taller than Quinn. Troy put his hand out. “All that matters is where we go from here. Okay?” “Gotcha.” Quinn gave him a firm handshake. “Hey, that reminds me, aren’t we missing a winger?” They were indeed down one winger. “I guess he’s not here yet.” Troy was convinced their newest Raven, Shane North, was a terrible addition to a team that already personified grim. That the guy wasn’t even there on time did nothing to change his mind. “He did have to drive all the way from San Diego,” said Quinn amicably as they headed toward the ice. “That’s a hell of a trip.” “He knew when practice started,” Troy groused. He almost said something to Quinn about what a stupid idea it was to sign Shane North in the first place, but he kept his mouth shut. It had been Gabe’s idea, and Gabe was Troy’s best friend. Troy was nothing if not loyal, even if that didn’t always work out in his favor. HE WAS late. Shit. Shane shouldered his bag and pushed his way into the arena, aware that being late was the tackiest thing ever to do on your first day with a new team. It was a long-ass drive to get here from San Diego, and sure, maybe he should have left a day earlier, but what the fuck? It was a thirty- three-hour drive, and it took him a few days to get through it all in his “not built fo r cross-country road trips” Volkswagen Rabbit. There was also his unscheduled interlude in Dallas that cost him a few hours, but it was totally worth it—the guy was super hot, and the sex was exactly what Shane needed to shake off all that time in the car. Maybe he’d do things differently when he was finished playing, but in the meantime, one-night stands suited him just fine. Relationships—and everything that went with them—were not in the cards for the immediate future. Especially not when he didn’t plan to stay in Asheville after his season with the Ravens. Shane was in Asheville because of the Ravens’ GM, Gabriel Bow. Bow was his coach when Shane played for the Anaheim Ducks, and he contacted Shane about an open roster spot when Shane’s AHL team, the Gulls, put him on waivers. No other AHL team seemed interested in picking up a thirty-six-year-old player, so if Shane wanted to end his career on his own terms—which he did—he’d have to do it in Asheville. “You’re going to hear a lot about the Ravens in the news,” Gabe told him in his smooth voice, which was perfectly suited to press conferences and whatever else you did as a general manager. “Just don’t believe everything you hear, all right?” As if anyone needed to tell Shane that. “Sure,” he’d said and shrugged. He was surprised when he found out that the coach would be Troy Callahan, a former AHL head coach who was technically stepping down a league by taking the job with the Ravens. You were supposed to move up in professional hockey, not down. Shane “Who Had So Much Potential That Never Materialized” North was the expert on having a professional sports career that went the direction it wasn’t supposed to. But he wasn’t going to dwell on that or he’d be in a bad mood and late, and Callahan wasn’t the kind of guy you wanted to piss off. Callahan’s team in the AHL was in the opposite conference—and all the way across the country—from Shane’s, but he still knew who Callahan was. He had a reputation, and it wasn’t the “forgiving new guys who were a little late” kind. Release Blitz: Coach’s Challenge by Avon Gale. Book Blurb: It’s been decades since blackmail forced Troy Callahan to retire from playing professional hockey, and he’s built a successful career behind the bench. When he’s offered the opportunity to coach the Asheville Ravens—the most hated team in the ECHL—he’s convinced that his no-nonsense attitude is just what the team needs to put their focus back on hockey. But Troy is disheartened when he finds that the Ravens have signed Shane North, a player known for his aggression—especially when Shane’s rough good looks give Troy inappropriate thoughts about a player, even if Shane’s set to retire at the end of the season. Shane’s career in the majors never quite took off. Wanting to quit on his own terms, Shane agrees to a one-year contract with the Ravens and finds himself playing for a coach who thinks he’s an aging goon and with a team that doesn’t trust him, the coach, or each other. Despite his determination to not get involved, Shane unwillingly becomes part of the team… and is just as unwillingly drawn to the gruff, out-and-proud coach. As the Ravens struggle to build a new identity, Shane and Troy succumb to the passion that might cost them everything. “I hope this series continues forever. I always have time for more of Avon Gale’s quirky, impeccably written hockey players. Shane is the perfect smartass, and watching him fall for Troy is terrific fun.” – Sarina Bowen, USA Today bestselling author of Him. Author Bio: Avon Gale wrote her first story at the age of seven, about a “Space Hat” hanging on a rack and waiting for that special person to come along and purchase it — even if it was a bit weirder than the other, more normal hats. Like all of Avon’s characters, the space hat did get its happily ever after — though she’s pretty sure it was with a unicorn. She likes to think her vocabulary has improved since then, but the theme of quirky people waiting for their perfect match is still one of her favorites. Avon grew up in the southern United States, and now lives with her very patient husband in a liberal midwestern college town. When she’s not writing, she’s either doing some kind of craft project that makes a huge mess, reading, watching horror movies, listening to music or yelling at her favorite hockey team to get it together, already. Avon is always up for a road trip, adores Kentucky bourbon, thinks nothing is as stress relieving as a good rock concert and will never say no to candy. At one point, Avon was the mayor of both Jazzercise and Lollicup on Foursquare. This tells you basically all you need to know about her as a person. Avon is represented by Courtney Miller-Callihan of Handspun Literary Agency . Coach's Challenge by Avon Gale. The Scoring Chances series has been the best hockey books I’ve read. I have no knowledge of how hockey works, I was never interested in hockey but ever since I found those books my whole view changed. For people that are like me and don’t know how hockey works, don’t worry, Avon Gale does a good work and explains the basics at the beginning of the books, which was easy and clear to understand. I fell in love with the series, the characters, each one of them unique in their own way. It was fun to read and I enjoyed it so much. Coach’s Challenge , the fifth instalment in the series, starts with the Ravens , a team that has been through so much because their previous coach had not been treating them at all good and we see that more as the book starts and the new coach, Troy Callahan sees how bad they were treated and how much they have been affected. The same person that hurt the team had in the past done the same to Troy so he takes up the job, wanting to help them. A new player is added to the team as well, Shane North , who he is the one to help the team more, pushing them to do normal tings and ineract with each other, something that the previous coach did not let them do. It was heartbreaking to watch the team being scared to do things, be scared to even talk. Troy and Shane has a little bit of an age gap but that was so fitting along with their hockey talk and dirty talk and just pushing each others buttons. I really loved their interactions, it was fun. But for some reason, the book was missing something and I cannot put my finger on what it was. It didn’t have much angst, I expect more from the bad thing that happened but it was quickly solved and it just left me with wanting something more. But overall, it was a light and good read. I really liked Troy, as a coach and who he was, not bullshitting, not caring what people thought and speaking his mind. And oh, the cursing. Hahaha. Low angst, hot sex scenes, dirty talking and a HEA. What else could someone ask? In A Word. this blog contains swearing and talks about sex and sexuality 18+ Tag Archives: Avon Gale. Coach’s Challenge (Scoring Chances #5) – Avon Gale. “Really? You can’t believe two contrary people who thought they were just gonna have sex every now and then decided to have feelings?” In a word: Read the thing. I’m always happy with a new addition to the Scoring Chances series, and this time is no exception. Coach’s Challenge is a book that has a completely new and separate plot from the other books, but still furthers the general series timeline in significant ways. Main characters and romantic leads Troy Callahan and Shane North are both newcomers to the series, though they aren’t completely unknown to the other characters (Troy got a mention at the end of the previous book), and their story fits in well in the established universe. The team getting the focus in this book is the Asheville Ravens, probably the most hated team in the ECHL, and rival to the Spartanburg Spitfires. Troy is hired on as their new coach, to replace the vile Denis St Savoy, who was banned from the league at the end of the previous book. Troy’s job is to whip the Ravens into shape and turn them into a more cohesive team that can play a clean game. Shane is a veteran hockey player, but new to the Ravens. He’s there playing out his last season, and is easily the oldest member on the team. He and Troy get off to a bit of a rocky start, what with them both being contrary assholes, but it isn’t long before they fall head over heels in lust with each other. As good as the sex is, though, it doesn’t stop it from being a bad idea since Troy is Shane’s coach, and the Ravens really can’t afford any more scandals or bad press. Too bad Troy and Shane have way too much fun fighting and fucking to even bother trying to keep away from each other, even if it does all threaten to blow up in their faces. For all the serious background and possible disaster in this situation, this book is hilarious. Troy and Shane’s banter nearly made me laugh out loud a few times, which is good because it’s what they do most of the time they’re together (seriously, if snark and banter and constant arguing isn’t something you enjoy reading, you’re probably better off skipping this one because it happens a lot ). Also we see the return of a lot of the characters I really liked in Empty Net , so that was definitely a bonus. This is another great addition to the series and I can’t wait for the next one. The Summary: (from Goodreads) It’s been decades since blackmail forced Troy Callahan to retire from playing professional hockey, and he’s built a successful career behind the bench. When he’s offered the opportunity to coach the Asheville Ravens—the most hated team in the ECHL—he’s convinced that his no-nonsense attitude is just what the team needs to put their focus back on hockey. But Troy is disheartened when he finds out the Ravens have signed Shane North, a player known for his aggression—especially when Shane’s rough good looks have Troy thinking inappropriate thoughts about a player, even if he’s set to retire at the end of the season. Shane’s career in the majors never quite took off. Wanting to quit on his own terms, Shane agrees to a one-year contract with the Ravens and finds himself playing for a coach who thinks he’s an aging goon, and with a team that doesn’t trust him, Troy, or each other. Despite his determination not to get involved, Shane unwillingly becomes part of the team… and is just as unwillingly drawn to the gruff, out-and-proud coach. As the Ravens struggle to build a new identity, Shane and Troy succumb to the passion that might cost them everything.