Atlas by Sawyer Bennett | Audiobook Review • Ana's Attic Book Blog

Atlas: A Pittsburgh Titans Novel by Sawyer Bennett

Narrated by Kirsten Leigh and Jeremy York

Stands well alone, but it’s book 19 in the Pittsburgh Titans Series. Hockey romance.

I received this audiobook early from the author for review. I do some PA work for Sawyer, and while I believe I remain neutral, there may be some unconscious bias. This post contains affiliate links.

The more I read from Sawyer, the more I appreciate how versatile she is. You’d think that 19 books into her third hockey series they would start to run together, but I haven’t seen any sign of that yet. Granted, Atlas is only my fourth in the series, but each book has been so wildly different that I’m confident this holds true all the way back to the beginning.

Atlas is emotional. You wouldn’t expect a death to hit this hard when it involves a character you don’t really know (not a spoiler), but you can feel the devastation of the people who loved Gray. Namely his childhood best friend Atlas, and Maddie, his college best friend and caretaker in his last days. He leaves behind his baby daughter, Grayce, whose mother is gone as well.

Atlas and Maddie have always shared a mutual dislike for each other. Whether it’s jealousy over the other’s friendship with Gray or simply being too similar, as Gray always claimed. They both assume Maddie will be Grayce’s sole guardian, until a letter and legal paperwork Gray left behind asks for Atlas and Maddie to share parental duties. This upends Maddie’s life even further, especially since she’s the one who has to move to Pittsburgh to be near Atlas.

Atlas tries so hard to welcome Maddie into his large home, preparing space for her and doing everything he can to make the transition easier, but she’s incredibly prickly. After all, she’s the one taking on the bulk of the responsibility and enduring all the change. Having grown up in foster care, Maddie has deep trust and attachment issues, and I’ll admit that at times I found her a little too resistant to Atlas’s charms.

“Trust is… complicated for me and I learned to never expect anything from anyone. It’s hard never having anyone to depend on. You shield yourself from possibility.”

What I really loved in this story is how the WAGs and teammates step up and welcome Maddie into the Titans family. It made me want to go back and read some of the earlier books so I could experience all of their stories, but it never felt necessary. Atlas truly stands on its own.

Likes:

How each of the last four books I’ve read in this series are completely different.
The team camaraderie.
Seeing previous players and WAGs.
How the wives and girlfriends lighten the story when it’s needed most.
Gray was right. Maddie and Atlas are more alike than they realize.
The slow burn is timed just right.
Watching Atlas become such a great dad.
Maddie’s growth throughout the story.

Dislikes:

Maddie makes things difficult for just a little too long and takes a while to warm up.

The Narration:

Kirsten Leigh and Jeremy York are a great pairing for Atlas. There’s a lot of emotion in this story, and they both absolutely nail the delivery. They’re perfectly suited to their roles, and I highly recommend the audiobook.

The Down & Dirty:

Atlas, the 19th book in the Pittsburgh Titans series of standalones, delivers all the emotions. Two people who dislike each other being forced to raise their best friend’s baby together could have been a disaster, but Sawyer excels at building the story and letting the characters develop naturally. Atlas seems to be one of the most emotional Pittsburgh Titans stories yet, with a slow burn that completely earns its payoff. I couldn’t help but fall in love with this one.