This is a spoiler-free review! You can read my reviews of Game Changer and Heated Rivalry on my blog, now! Heated Rivalry is now streaming on Crave in Canada and HBO Max in select countries.
Ryan and Fabian's relationship was certainly... interesting. On one hand, you have hockey star Ryan who has been playing in the league for years and on the other hand, you have musician Fabian who hates hockey. I think their personalities definitely complimented one another, but they also brought out things in each other that were not being explored when they were not together. I really enjoyed how Reid explored Ryan's anxiety throughout the book and did not shy away from the struggles he faced and how it impacted his daily life and his hockey career. Ryan's chapters were definitely the most compelling to me as a reader - it felt as though his character had more care taken in developing his internal development. While Fabian did have development as well, I just could not find myself leaning towards his story. He was not as likable as Ryan in my eyes, and I found him constantly stating how much he hated hockey while literally dating a hockey player becoming increasingly annoying.
Ryan's journey with his anxiety was the most captivating plot of this book. Since Reid makes it clear from the beginning that Ryan is out, there were no undertones of him being in the closet or hiding his relationship from the public for the sake of his career. This meant that we were able to explore new avenues with his character and see how even though Ryan is a "tough guy," he still had a lot going on in his life that was outside the world of hockey. Fabian was sympathetic towards Ryan's anxiety, but it still seemed that Fabian wanted Ryan to quit playing hockey every single chapter, which I felt fed into his anxiety even more.
Fabian has reasoning for not liking hockey players, but I found it odd that he basically let it fester his whole life and then when he finally is dating a hockey player. he spends the majority of his time thinking about how he wants Ryan to quit or watching Ryan's games and wondering why he would play. There were a few times in the book where Fabian was watching a game on television and thinking "why would Ryan be this violent during the game?" which I found absurd because it is literally hockey... they fight every two seconds during a game. I found myself becoming more agitated with Fabian as the book went on because of this, and truly tried to like him more, but just could not find it within my to want to take his side.
I really enjoyed the little Shane and Ilya crumbs in the book - while they were only mentioned a few times and made a guest appearance briefly, it was nice to see how they were being perceived by other hockey players. Ilya's one-liners are still a hit in my eyes and he truly is a hilarious character, even when he is not trying to be.
I think I was expecting a lot more out of this book than what was given, and was hoping Fabian and Ryan's relationship would be as enticing as Scott and Kip's or Shane and Ilya's relationships. Instead, I honestly found myself wanting Ryan to stop dating Fabian multiple times during the book - I did not think in the beginning and middle of their relationship that Fabian was the right man for Ryan. I am glad they both were able to be more vulnerable with each other and have their own growth, but would have loved if Fabian's character was not always on a mission to have Ryan literally quit his career because of his hatred towards hockey players.
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