Look did I really mean to have this book be the first thing that I read in 2026 ? no.
Was it sort of what I expected, which is to say average and a little bit clunky? yes.
Did I however, end up reading this in one unbroken stretch from about 2:30 to 4:30 a.m.? yes, so check and mate Rachel Reid.
I went back and forth for a little bit as to whether I wanted to read this book. I watched the show before I read the first book, and I’m clearly team show for how well they adapted the source material. but then my good friend pointed out that in this weird winter time between Christmas and New Year’s, I was indeed craving comfort and unwilling to start any project books. Plus I’m still completely Heated Rivalry-pilled, and as everyone on Instagram and/or tiktok has discovered, it will be solidly early 2027 before season 2 is able to be released. and really what are spoilers when it comes to the romance genre? we know where things will end. we know the beats.
and I have to say I think the bones here are really strong, but there are just some tonal mismatches that will resolve themselves really nicely in the adaptation (🤞🏽). it’s not great when you’re reading a smutty book and find yourself skipping through smut in order to get to the plot bits because you are exasperated with the rate at which your two main characters are resolving (or not resolving) their issues.
but I do think–mildly spoilery– that Reid is doing something that the show creators very neatly sidestepped. she’s talked before about being a big hockey fan and, apparently, about her frustrations with the League’s lack of inclusivity. while the show seems to take place in this world where homophobia isn’t really an active thing (but fear of potential homophobia has taken its place), even last book made it clear that there are plenty of fans who aren’t fans etc. so in this book we’re again dealing with the real world where there are real consequences for coming out of the closet. and that’s hard! because Reid has to both remain true to the fictionalized version of the NHL in which her books take place but also get our characters to a more permanent happily ever after (given that this is their final book).
As a result, you do have a number of cartoonishly evil villains, some pretty black and white reactions, solutions to long-standing and intractable-feeling social ills that take a couple of paragraphs to explain and administer, etc. there’s also what I consider some very 2010s type of “good reaction to someone coming out” wherein the person who is come out to centers their own upsetness at not being trusted. but I guess that latter thing is less a complaintcritiquecomment and more verisimilitude?
I feel even more justified in reading this (as if one needs justification to read things that bring over joy) because it looks like the show has been picked up for two additional seasons, which means that the next book will definitively be chopped into two and the next season will definitely end as some sort of cliffhanger.
