57 pages • 1-hour read
Pucking Wild
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Tess Owens
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of antigay bias, ableism, physical abuse, illness, death, and emotional abuse.
Teresa “Tess” Owens is one of two protagonists and narrators of Pucking Wild. She was raised by a mother who was frequently absent, so she often had to stay with apathetic relatives throughout her childhood. Tess describes her early life as lonely, in part because she had trouble making friends due to her complicated living situation.
The novel implies that this isolation left her vulnerable to exploitation, as she was desperate for connection and love. She met Troy Owens in college and fell in love with him, and the two later married. Without any strong parental relationships, Tess also grew close to Troy’s mother, Bea, one of the founders of the firm that she and Troy worked for. However, Troy soon began to isolate Tess from her friends and manipulate her in ways that served him. He diminished her self-esteem and chipped away at her character until Tess felt like a shell of her former self. Tess caught Troy cheating multiple times with several women, including those who worked for him at the law firm.
Meeting and befriending Rachel Price gave Tess the courage she needed to ask for a separation from Troy, and as the novel opens, the couple has been separated for three years. However, while Tess recognizes Troy’s emotional and physical abuse for what they were, she struggles with Navigating Romantic Relationships After Trauma, not least because Troy continues to find ways to control and harass her. For instance, while Tess has dated women during her separation, the photos of her dancing with Ryan spark outrage in Troy—a response that simultaneously denigrates Tess’s orientation (Troy does not see her relationships with women as “real”) and underscores his violent jealousy. Knowing Troy will never consider her as a real person, Tess subsequently asks for the divorce that Bea previously dissuaded her from pursuing. This sets up the novel’s major external conflict—the ensuing battles between the couple.
Meanwhile, Tess starts her journey toward Overcoming Self-Doubt with the help of Rachel, Ryan, and her community in Jacksonville. Tess is a dynamic character who changes significantly throughout the novel. She begins the novel longing for her former self, whom she often refers to as “fun” or “wild” Tess. When she discovers she hasn’t been happy in a long time, she makes major changes to her life that point her back in the direction of happiness. Her relationship with Ryan especially helps her to heal from the trauma of her childhood and marriage to Troy, and by the end of the novel, Tess comes to realize that she is worthy of love and respect exactly as she is.
Ryan Langley
Ryan Langley is the other narrator of Pucking Wild and Tess’s love interest. Like Tess, Ryan was forced to grow up quickly, as his father was diagnosed with cancer that later killed him. Ryan felt the need to step up and take care of his family from a young age, especially once he recognized his talents in hockey. As Ryan observes, “You don’t feel young when you become the breadwinner at eighteen, negotiating multi-million-dollar contract deals while most kids your age are saving up to buy their first car” (188). On top of the stress of providing for his family, Ryan struggled with school and barely graduated, in large part due to his dyslexia and dysgraphia. Ryan is secretive about his disability, keeping it from his friends and teammates so as not to ruin his image or make them think less of him.
Due to both his past and his disability, Ryan defines his personal value largely in terms of hockey. Though Ryan is still at the beginning of his career in Pucking Wild, he already fears for his future, as he believes he will have nothing to do after retiring from the NHL. Ryan’s self-doubt causes him great anguish when he is injured during a game, as he fears he won’t be able to play hockey ever again—or to support his mother and his sister, who still depend on him.
At only 22 (11 years younger than Tess), Ryan knows he still has a lot to learn, and as such, he changes significantly throughout the novel. Several people around Ryan try to get him to see his worth, with even the manager of the Rays telling him to fight for what he deserves. It takes Ryan some time, but by the end of the novel, he sees what everyone else sees in him and is willing to fight for what he wants. He does so especially in his relationship with Tess, who continually tries to run from him. Unlike Tess, Ryan is certain that they can have a real relationship from the beginning of the novel and tries to convince her of the same. Ryan also begins to open up toward the end of the book, finally telling his friends about his dyslexia and his home life once he begins to settle into his relationship with Tess. In learning to trust others as well as himself, Ryan grows as a character and as a partner through his relationship with Tess.
The Prices
Rachel, Ilmari, Jake, and Caleb Price are the closest thing Tess has to a family, making them key to the novel’s exploration of Finding a Home and a Community. Tess and Rachel met at the lowest point in her marriage, when Rachel literally pulled her out of a gutter and helped her separate from her abusive husband. Tess describes Rachel as her “home,” making it particularly hard for Tess when Rachel got the chance to work for the Jacksonville Rays and moved out of Cincinnati, where she had lived with Tess.
Rachel is the protagonist of the first novel in the Jacksonville Rays series, Pucking Around, which explores the beginning of her polyamorous relationship with hockey players Jake and Ilmari and the team’s equipment manager, Caleb. By the beginning of Pucking Wild, these four characters have determined what works best for them and abruptly decide to get married (Rachel to Ilmari and Jake to Caleb, as they could not all be legally married to everyone within the polycule). It’s at the wedding that Tess dances with Ryan, which becomes the novel’s inciting incident when Troy sees pictures of the couple together.
Soon afterward, Tess flees to Florida to be with Rachel. However, she quickly grows close to her best friend’s husbands, and the other Prices become as much like family to Tess as Rachel is. Tess bonds with Jake, whose high energy often matches her own, and takes advice from his more reserved husband, Caleb. Yet Tess becomes closest with the silent and stoic Ilmari, who is the Price least like her. Though this is partly due to their joint work on the non-profit, Tess also learns a lot about knowing her worth through her discussions with Ilmari. By the end of the novel, all of the Prices are willing to protect Tess however they can, showing that they are truly family.
Troy and Bea Owens
Troy and Bea Owens are Tess’s husband and mother-in-law, respectively. Both mother and son come from wealthy and privileged backgrounds, and Tess describes them as the kind of people who do not value anything because of that privilege. Tess fell in love with Troy in college, where she had to work hard to get her law degree while he was practically guaranteed a spot in his mother’s law firm. During their marriage, Troy often engaged in affairs, gaslighting Tess whenever she caught him cheating.
While Tess largely recognizes Troy for who he is at the time the novel opens, she is slower to see Bea’s true character. Tess lacks other parental relationships, so she sees Bea as a mother figure, looking up to the older woman as the blueprint for everything she wants to be. It is Bea’s relationship with Tess that initially made Tess forgo her plans to divorce Troy, and Bea fights just as hard as Troy to keep the couple married. It is only when Bea tries to buy Tess’s silence about Troy and admits that she never thought the marriage would last that Tess’s view of Bea is shattered; she realizes that Bea always viewed Tess as beneath her because she did not come from the same class. While Troy is the novel’s clear antagonist, both of the Owenses are revealed to be truly villainous by the end of Pucking Wild.
Bea’s efforts to silence Tess also underscore that both she and Troy are highly concerned with their image and that of their law firm. This is something Tess uses to her advantage: When she confronts Troy with the truth about his legal malpractice at the end of the novel, she and Ryan are sure to do so in a public display that will affect his image. For the most part, however, Tess is content simply to separate herself from Troy and Bea; she does not need revenge because she is sure of who she is and what she deserves.
Unlock analysis of every major character
Get a detailed breakdown of each character’s role, motivations, and development.
- Explore in-depth profiles for every important character
- Trace character arcs, turning points, and relationships
- Connect characters to key themes and plot points