Tough Guy

I wasn't even looking forward to Ryan's book. Until, that is, I started reading it. See, I'm having trouble pulling myself away from news (most of us) and other various things at the moment. Despite being socially distanced with no obligations other than my 9-5 wfh gig, my concentration is terrible. I started reading this after the kiddos were in bed, and I didn't have much hope it wouldn't end up another meh that I threw back on the stack, barely mustering up the will and effort to say more than a few sentences. My friends seem to have liked it but I have not seen that she nailed it. I wasn't really holding out hope.

I was wrong. I read this till I fell asleep, tried to keep reading while sleeping (we all do this, right?) woke up read show more some more, ended my work day and gobbled the rest up. Look, this is NOT Shane and Ilya. And thank fuck for that. I was so happy to see these characters presented in the way they were, and Ryan's anxiety so near the surface and well done, but they genuinely were just stupid honest with each other and I was refreshed.

So sweet, funny, and endearing. Toasty warm and engaging. (And also, at times really really hot-Even though the sex was not easy or even at times...sexy! Seriously! SERIOUSLY. Thank you Rachel Reid. )
3.9 from me. show less

Ryan Price is a fighter. He's been signed to the Toronto Guardians and he's one of the big guys who are always in the middle of the big brawls on the ice during the pro games. It's taken its toll on his body, and his mind. Off the ice, Ryan is a mild-mannered, gentle soul. He is struggling with an anxiety disorder and his medication is affecting his sexual desire.

One night in a drug store, he runs into Fabian. They met when they were both teenagers and Ryan was staying with Fabian's family when they were both teenagers. Fabian's family was one hundred percent into hockey... well, except for Fabian.

The main relationship in this book is quite interesting. There's a spark between Fabian and Ryan when they are young, but nothing comes of show more it. Now, all these years later there's still an attraction but the two men move in very different worlds.

I really liked the way Reid wrote Fabian and Ryan so differently! They're distinct and unique characters and I really enjoyed them. I really liked the way that their characters were revealed to me as they got to know each other. Ryan's anxiety was evident from the beginning of the novel, but Reid took the time to reveal it slowly and carefully. I enjoyed that a lot. There's a real demonstrated understanding of living with anxiety and the medication side-effects.

One of the things I liked most about Fabian was how comfortable he was in his own skin. He wore all kinds of clothing and jewelry, he enjoyed his body, he loved the attention of Ryan and was happy to reveal that. It was great to see a character breaking gender norms and being himself. I loved him!

This is a great romance... it's got a good pace and I loved the main relationship! show less

Definitely more of a 3.5.

Heated Rivalry was one of my favorite romances of 2019 and I loved it so much that I read it more than once :) So, when I found that there was going to be another book in the series, I was very very excited and so glad when I received the ARC.

The author’s writing style is very easy to read and once I start, I just don’t wanna put it down despite whatever I’m feeling. Because I thought Game Changer was an okay read but Heated Rivalry was excellent, I didn’t exactly know what to expect from this book, but this turned out to be a good one too. There were quite a few moments which were heartbreaking and touching and made me very emotional - there may have been tears involved. I also thought the author did a show more good job of representing the difficulty of being a professional sportsperson while also suffering from mental health issues - the stigma attached to it, undue pressure to conform to certain masculine stereotypes which don’t include talking about mental health, playing through pain and maybe even getting addicted to the pain medication - I truly didn’t expect so much commentary on such important issues from a romance novel and I think that’s great.

We only met Ryan very briefly in Heated Rivalry, so I wasn’t sure if I would like him as a main character, but I almost fell in love with him instantly. He is an enforcer on the ice, a big intimidating presence but in reality, he hates flying, has severe anxiety and panic attacks, is in therapy and is very very awkward and shy. He is such a sweetheart and even though I’m probably a foot and a half shorter than him, I wanted to give him a hug and protect him. It was heartbreaking to see him struggle with not finding anymore joy in his sport, and also unable to talk about his feelings and issues, but still try very hard to overcome them all. He deserves the world.

I can’t say I liked Fabian a lot. I initially loved that he was very considerate towards Ryan and his shy nature, slowly trying to get him out of his shell. But as the book gradually went on, I just couldn’t get past his hatred of hockey and not trying to understand Ryan’s perspective at all. I understand he had baggage of his own from his unsupportive parents, but I thought it was unfair to judge Ryan because of that. While there were so many beautiful moments between them, Fabian’s insensitive behavior really made me forget about them. Thankfully, the conflict between them was predictable and was resolved nicely, but it went on longer than I liked.

I really liked the friend group in this book. Fabian’s three best friends are a delight, always teasing and being over the top but also giving solid advice even when he wasn’t ready to listen to them. Ryan on the other hand has never had friends because of constantly being traded, so it was heartwarming to see him make a close friend on the team in Wyatt. He was such an understanding and caring friend and I absolutely loved their conversations, and the time they spent teaching hockey to kids. And last but not the least, I was so happy to see the extremely short cameos of Ilya and Shane. It’s such a nice feeling to see them be happy and do good with their foundation.

To conclude, this was a nice romantic read but also a bit darker in tone and definitely more angsty. But just keep in mind that it’s very different from the previous books in the series. It’s also great to see some good mental health rep and discourse in a sports romance. If you like reading love stories where the hero is a gentle giant, this one is perfect. While I didn’t always like the love interest, Ryan was an absolutely wonderful MC and I would totally recommend this book just to get to know him better. And I have no clue if the author has started writing the next book, but I know it’s rest of Ilya and Shane’s story and I’m already extremely excited for it. show less

3.5 stars.

I will excuse the fact that by the time this story happens enforcers basically no longer existed in hockey, at least in the role Ryan is outlined to be, because an enforcer with severe anxiety who hates being an enforcer is fun!

(But people still fight, Kate, you say, who does the fighting?! Regular guys, mostly. A guy who has only scored a few goals in his career and whose main job is to drop the gloves no longer exists in that form. Tough guys still exist, but they exist more in the form of a Tom Wilson, who I despise—a guy who is capable of playing and scoring at a high level as well as fighting. These guys are also often considered “headhunters” i.e. players who injure others a lot, often (allegedly) on purpose. show more Hockey as a game has evolved to the point where everyone, including your fourth line of forwards and third pair of defensemen, need to be able to score, assist, and defend, to some extent, at a ridiculously high level. Because no team really has enforcers, carrying one is ostensibly dead weight. If someone hurts your Superstar Guy, everyone on the ice is just going to punch you at once. Group effort.)

Yes, I read this in three and a half hours (took a break for Bridgerton Season 4 finale in the middle). In my defense, my ebook was about a crisp 265 pages of actual material. That’s baby numbers (also I read ridiculously fast).

In terms of content, I liked this more than Game Changer, but less than Heated Rivalry. Ryan Price was a really interesting character, and I wish, like Game Changer, we had about 50 more pages to explore his internal state. I really thought this one just straight up wasn’t going to have a third act conflict, so imagine my shock when fifty pages before the end there is one, and imagine my greater shock when it was resolved in under two chapters.

The sex in this felt really impactful and interesting because of the way it purposefully explored Ryan’s mental state. All of the other books scenes never felt out of character or uninterested in what it said about the characters (I disagree with the people who have argued the sex should be sacrificed for more character development, because I think the sex says a lot about them) but these scenes felt particularly interested in being an exploration of character, which I really liked!

Again, I don’t wish the book had less of anything, I just wish it had about 50 to 80 more pages to explore more.

I also really liked Fabian, I just felt much less connected to him than Ryan. Both are interesting characters! (I will partially push back on the idea presented that hockey players would be mostly dating other hockey player-looking men. I do think Ryan is right in thinking someone particularly gender non-conforming wouldn’t be widely accepted, but I also think hockey players have enough internalized homophobia and weirdness about gender roles to mainly go for a stereotypical twink, as much as I, a lesbian who’s somewhat gnc, at least for rural Texas, hate to say it.)

I think Fabian particularly suffers from the incredibly short page count. We see a lot of him with his friends, which is important to his character, but it means a lot of his short time on page is spent exploring his relationships. Because Ryan is portrayed as such a loner, his short time on page is mostly used as exploration of his internal world. I wish we’d have gotten more of that for Fabian.

All in all, good, quick read! It suffers for its short page length, but it was interesting enough that I would have plowed through in a sitting if my mom didn’t badger me into Bridgerton.

**Ok, I got the first three books in a compilation volume from Hoopla, and although I have never run into this before, at least the second volume (books 4 through 6) are SIGNIFICANTLY cut down. I don’t think the first volume does this, but some of my issues with the length might be because of this. Curse you, Hoopla, but I only get 5 books a month and I try to be crafty. The whole series is like a two month wait minimum at any and all of my libraries.

***The second volume isn't actually cut down, I discovered. My ebook is counting two pages as one page, for some godforsaken reason. show less

I'm really enjoying these series! The third book is about Ryan Price, the large ginger enforcer who gets traded a lot and whom we met on the plane in Heated Rivalry. The one who is reading Anne of Green Gables as a comfort read. He is now traded to Toronto and he chooses to live in the Village, which is an LGBTQ+ neighboorhood. Appearently he is out, just he is not a superstar and he doesn't talk about it. A kind of "don't ask, don't tell." When he moves to Toronto, he accidently runs into his crush from high school Fabian. If Ryan looks fierce and masculine (though he is soft inside), Fabian is the opposite - he is a musician, likes to wear make-up and lace. He is just the Ryan's type, but Ryan doesn't know that Fabian has also been show more harbouring a crush on Ryan since Ryan was living with his family when they were both 17. It appears that their reconnection was written in the stars.

What I mostly like about these series is that they are not all roses and steamy sex. They address real problems with not only the hockey world, but the world in general. My hated third-act breakups actually make sense - there are some tough decisions to be made. The sex is also quite realistic. I was recently asking for a book where they both don't come during their first time together and here it is! But overall these books are full of kindness and makes me optimistic that we can all be better and more kind to each other. show less

Ryan Price is a fighter. He's been signed to the Toronto Guardians and he's one of the big guys who are always in the middle of the big brawls on the ice during the pro games. It's taken its toll on his body, and his mind. Off the ice, Ryan is a mild-mannered, gentle soul. He is struggling with an anxiety disorder and his medication is affecting his sexual desire.

One night in a drug store, he runs into Fabian. They met when they were both teenagers and Ryan was staying with Fabian's family when they were both teenagers. Fabian's family was one hundred percent into hockey... well, except for Fabian.

The main relationship in this book is quite interesting. There's a spark between Fabian and Ryan when they are young, but nothing comes of show more it. Now, all these years later there's still an attraction but the two men move in very different worlds.

I really liked the way Reid wrote Fabian and Ryan so differently! They're distinct and unique characters and I really enjoyed them. I really liked the way that their characters were revealed to me as they got to know each other. Ryan's anxiety was evident from the beginning of the novel, but Reid took the time to reveal it slowly and carefully. I enjoyed that a lot. There's a real demonstrated understanding of living with anxiety and the medication side-effects.

One of the things I liked most about Fabian was how comfortable he was in his own skin. He wore all kinds of clothing and jewelry, he enjoyed his body, he loved the attention of Ryan and was happy to reveal that. It was great to see a character breaking gender norms and being himself. I loved him!

This is a great romance... it's got a good pace and I loved the main relationship! show less

I'm doing some housekeeping on my library thing account - I see I haven't made any comments about Ryan and Fabian!

Of course I loved their story - the contrast between the giant bearded hockey player and the elf-like musician Fabian is integral to the scene set by this novel. Including the irony of Fabian being the confident individualist, and Ryan being the anxiety ridden misfit.

It shows both men as way more complex than appearances allow. The best thing is, they both discover something wonderful, in fact, the best thing in their lives, and that thing makes them brave and true, and bigger than they were before. It's a beautiful story.

How does Rachel Reid do it?!!!

Thank you for everyone's comments below - they really are great. It show more floors me that everyone has Book 2 on a pedestal – SO DO I! It's in a league of its own but that doesn't detract from this one or any of the others. Game Changer, Common Goal and Role Model are also wonderful. I've just reread Common Goal ... and wow.

Feb 2026 - read this again ... just in case this is the next story in season 2 of Heated Rivalry on HBO Max. Absolutely looking forward to any of the stories next, but since this is next in line (book #3), why not do Ryan and Fabian's story. I confess I believed this was the weakest of the six (at the time I read it over two years ago), in the Game Changer series, but I was wrong! It's marvellous and would make great TV, especially blended in with Ilya and Shane's second book (book #6, The Long Game), since I LOVED when the four of them go out to dinner during one of the hockey camps (book #6).

Very few authors in this genre write such satisfying books as Rachel Reid's fairly small collection of M/M novels (I think it is 10 to date). Some of the novels written by NR Walker, Marley Valentine, Keira Andrews, Jay Hogan, Saxon James/Elle Kennedy, Eden Finley, Nyra K, CE Ricci - and I've only read the two best known novels by Renae Kaye and Kaje Harper - are up there. But EVERY Reid book is SPECIAL, a cut above. show less