Rating: 5 stars
Buy Link:
Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel


Liam is back! The precocious young man is currently on summer break and about to enter first grade in the fall. Still bravely loyal to his transgender friend, Peter, who is also six, and Liam is still the favorite of his Uncle Mike and his husband, Ravens hockey great, Bryn. They are preparing to move house and are discussing having a little one of their own, but whether or not to adopt or use a surrogate is still up in the air. Bryn is recovered from last season’s groin injury and Mike and he are leaving for a multi-country vacation, which includes a charity LGBTQIA hockey event. They will end their month away spending a few weeks with Bryn’s parents and grandmother where Bryn will get back into training with a former mentor who will whip him into pre-game shape.

So much is happening in this wonderful trio’s life and Bryn is trying his best to carefully plan it all—something that is about to get thrown to the wind. In just a few short weeks, Bryn will face a huge uncertainty after a stunning discovery while getting ready to return to the ice and bullies will come into Liam and his friend Peter’s life, throwing the summer into turmoil. However, Mike will find that amidst all the changes one thing is for certain—his love for Bryn is stronger than ever.

V.L. Locey gives us the third installment in the According to Liam series with the release of The World According to Liam. Once again, we see life through the eyes of little Liam, Mike, and Bryn. This time, the trio will travel Europe together, face down some horrible older bullies who are after Liam’s friend Peter, and the two adults will each discover their own Achille’s heel. The theme here is two-fold, with the discovery that fear is never vanquished until it’s addressed, and that one can heal from their past, but not until they first fully forgive those who caused the pain.

This story, like the others before it, makes me laugh out loud over and over again; Liam provides the layer of humor that makes this novel so entertaining. Between Liam’s delight over the  “poop closet” on the plane and the declaration that he will be marrying the girlfriend of one of Bryn’s best hockey buddies, the little man leads us through a few rough moments in Mike and Bryn’s life and his own as well. He and his antics are quite precious and it never gets old for me. I love this series, these characters, and watching their journey through it all together.

Locey give us another sweet slice of life through Liam’s eyes without ever dedicating narration to the little boy; it is magical and humorous and just divine. Told in alternating narration by Mike and Bryn, the relationship between the two men could not be stronger, yet there is unfinished business in both their lives that will make them stop and think hard about the future. More change is coming for this marvelous couple and I will be front and center for the next novel in this great series.