Heated Rivalry (the TV show) has become an absolute obsession for me. Between the fourth and fifth episode, I finished Game Changer and Heated Rivalry because I wanted to know what’s up. And then I realized The Long Game was book six in the series… and because I’m a completionist, I couldn’t just jump to that. I had to — had to! — read the entire series in order. If only I was that dedicated to other aspects of my life, perhaps I’d be able to take over the world…
Book Three is Tough Guy, and follows Ryan Price, a very large, intimidating hockey player whose main role on any team is to be a bruiser — to protect the main players by essentially getting into fights with the opposing team. But off the ice, Ryan is actually kind of an overthinking, anxious mess. He’s also gay, and one of the few characters in this hockey universe for whom being out isn’t an actual big deal. Like, he doesn’t want to announce it because he doesn’t want to be center of attention, but when push comes to shove — like when an obnoxious teammate uses homophobic language in the locker room, Ryan will stand up and say, “I’m gay. So don’t be talking shit.”
He was recently traded to Toronto, which is where he runs into Fabian, a musician who Ryan knew from his childhood when he lived in Fabian’s parents’ home (some sort of hockey exchange type thing is how I understood it). In terms of outward appearances, the two couldn’t be any more different. Fabian wears makeup and dresses in a way that challenges the stereotypical notions of masculinity. But turns out they have both had a crush on each other since they were teenagers, and their sweet story is a nice second-chance romance that will make anyone think back to whether if there were actually more to the furtive glances and charged tension one feels when they were standing next to (what they thought were) their unrequited crush. Overall, an easy read, and I liked both characters. I also really like that Ryan has no angst about being gay — it’s nice to have a trauma-free read after Game Changer and Heated Rivalry, where being in the closet is to be expected. How Ryan chooses to live his life shows that it doesn’t have to be like that.
Tough Guy: 2/5 stars
Next up is Common Goal, which follows Eric Bennett, the long-time goalie for the New York Admirals who is nearing retirement at 40. He’s watched Scott Hunter come out in the most public way imaginable, and as his own marriage comes to an end, he’s left to wonder — “Am I actually straight?” Actually, he knows he’s probably bi, but because he’s had no real experience with men, he doesn’t really want to commit to identifying that way. But there’s a certain bartender at The Kingfisher — the bar that Kip frequents in Game Changer, which later becomes a regular spot for the hockey players after Kip takes a job there — that catches Eric’s eye.
The bartender is Kyle, the bartender who had been making eyes at Kip in the first book. After a couple flirtatious interactions with Eric, Kyle essentially offers to give him lessons on how to be gay, so to speak. How to cruise dudes at a bar, how to have no-strings-attached sex — except Eric himself admits that he isn’t one for hook-ups and is actually hardcore crushing on Kyle, who he reckons is still in love with Kip.
In the background, Scott and Kip are sickeningly in love and prepping for their upcoming nuptials. And while it’s nice to see them in this book (I really do love Scott and Kip together), I think this was my least favorite in the series. The age gap between Eric and Kyle is a bit too wide (40 and 25?) for me to feel comfortable with. They also don’t delve into it too deeply, but there’s also a wealth gap — Eric is essentially a millionaire, and ends up co-owning the Kingfisher with Scott, which would make him Kyle’s employer? If Kyle was even a tiny bit older — like 30 — it’d feel a little less icky, but having been a 20-something-year-old dating much older people, from my now late-thirties eyes I can see so much wrong with that. Eric initially did have qualms about dating someone so much younger and I do think he should have stuck to it. Or Rachel Reid could have — honestly should have — just aged Kyle up a tiny bit.
One of the best part in this book is Ilya’s apperance at the Kingfisher and just immediately clocking everyone at the table.
“This table is a mess.”
“What do you mean?”
Ilya leaned forward, uncomfortably close to Eric. “You want to fuck Kyle. Kyle wants to fuck Hunter’s boyfriend, but maybe also you, since Hunter and his boyfriend do not see anyone but each other.”
We love a perceptive king.
Common Goal: 1/5 stars
By the time I got to Role Model, I was honestly just really impatient to get back to Ilya and Shane in The Long Game. I would say that at this point, the sex I was reading in these books were whatever to me (yes yes, blowjobs, stroke the cock, prostate massage blah blah). It was more about being within this hockey universe and seeing who I could recognize, the names that popped up and trying to remember what was said about them before. It all started feeling more and more familiar.
Which was why I was delighted when Troy Barrett was the main character of Role Model. We’d seen snippets of him in Tough Guy when he was the sidekick of Dallas Kent, the homophobic star player that Ryan Price was supposed to be the enforcer for. By the time we get to Role Model, Troy had publicly yelled at Kent for being a rapist — a couple women came out about their experience with him — which then got him in trouble as Dallas is popular within the league. Which then got Troy traded to the Ottawa Centaurs… which is where Ilya Rozanov had moved to three years ago (to be closer to Shane, though no one knew that).
Troy is also in the closet and privately nursing his own heartbreak after his movie star boyfriend dumped him for a director. And since he had for years aligned himself with Dallas Kent, Troy is regarded as a homophobic asshole so was not immediately welcomed by the Centaurs.
So yea, he has a bit of a rough landing in Ottawa, until the Centaurs social media manager, Harris, catches his eye. Harris is openly, loudly and proudly gay, wearing Pride pins — which fascinates Troy as he marvels at how accepting and open the other hockey players are with Harris. For his part, Harris has always thought Troy was the hottest player in the league, though he believes he has no shot with him given that he’s probably straight.
Role Model is when I realized quite how young some of these hockey players are. Troy is 25 here — and Harris is thankfully, age-appropriately 25 as well — and really hasn’t been around in many other male bonding environments other than with teammates in a locker room. The only other way he’s taught about how to be a man is through his asshole dad, and then later to emulate him, he aligned himself with Dallas Kent because that was the sort of bonding pattern he was familiar with.
Ilya is such a important guide for Troy, and amazingly Troy might be the first person Ilya comes out properly to (in the hockey world who is not Shane) as bi. It’s really nice to see how others regard Ilya, and even nicer to see Ilya in a captain role trying to navigate between getting teammates to bond and thus win, while also steering confused men to becoming more themselves.
Also, I just really liked Harris.
Role Model: 3/5 stars
Finally, we get to The Long Game. Ilya and Shane are finally together, in love, but still living a secret life. They run their camp together, where they are both foils to each other — Shane is a nervous wreck and honestly not that good a teacher, while Ilya is a calming presence, except when he gets jealous of Shane talking to a hot reporter. After the summer is over, their long distance relationship is tested as Shane can feel Ilya slipping further into a sort of depression, while they are both missing each other and wondering if the other thinks they are worth the pain of being in the closet.
There are so many good, poignant parts to The Long Game, it’s a bit hard for me to review it coherently. I liked the realization that Shane had — when he was on a rare double date with Ryan Price and Fabian and watching them be so openly adoring with each other — that perhaps, instead of the biggest nightmare being that they are found out, it is actually a far greater challenge to be in the closet.
There is a bit of overlap between The Long Game and Role Model — when The Long Game starts, Troy wasn’t with the Centaurs yet, and Coach Wiebe had just started. So we get to see a bit of the interactions and plot points from Role Model, but from Ilya and Shane’s perspective.
We also get a lot of nice domestic moments from the two, like when they babysat Hayden’s four children who insisted on marrying them in front of stuffed animals and made them exchange pink plastic rings. My heart seized later in the book when Ilya whispered to them, “Yours was the real wedding, this one is just for show.”
Because of course, we all knew they were going to end up together right? We know what these books are. Even so, I’m really glad I was along for the long, circuitous ride.
The Long Game: 4/5 stars.
For the entirety of the experience, 4/5, because it gave me a brief but much needed fix before Episode 6 dropped. I guess I’m going to have to go listen to the Empty Netters’ recaps now that the season finale is over, because that’s just the type of person I’ve become.
Also! I’ve surpassed my reading and reviewing goal for 2025 thanks for this series!! This is the first time I’ve ever done that in all my years of doing Cannonball Read! (Granted, I did set my goal deliberately low because I’ve fallen short so many times in previous years.)
