The Long Game (Game Changers, #6) by Rachel Reid Review

This review contains spoilers - read with discretion. You can read my reviews of Game Changer, Heated Rivalry, Tough Guy, Common Goal, and Role Model on my blog now! Heated Rivalry is now streaming on Crave in Canada and HBO Max in select countries.

Already into chapter two and I was a full on sobbing mess. I need to protect Ilya like my life depends on it, and just as much with Shane. Before diving into this book, I had seen rumblings online that readers were tough on Shane with the way he acted in this book and the way he responded to Ilya's thoughts and actions. Honestly, I was able to see both Shane and Ilya's sides throughout this entire book - on one hand, you have Shane, who is desperate to maintain his elite status in the league while trying to balance his secret relationship, while on the other hand, you have Ilya, who is full of feelings of being left behind and longing to be out in the open with the love of his life all while fighting an internal battle.

Both Shane and Ilya have their own issues that they needed to address in this book, and I think it was incredibly important that we got to see more of Ilya's perspective in this installment. While we got glimpses in Heated Rivalry, this follow-up truly was able to expand on him as more of an individual rather than him being the other half of a secret romance. Every single time he went to see his therapist, I was sobbing - you could literally feel the heartbreak and fear ooze off the page as Ilya tried to articulate how he was feeling and how he wanted to feel like his concerns were being reciprocated. He was just so sad all of the time, and when he would mention he was scared of becoming sad like his mother was sad, I could not stop the tears.

I know Rachel Reid has said on a number of occasions that she did not intend to write Shane's performance diet as an eating disorder, but my god I was literally sick to my stomach every time it was mentioned that he was limiting himself so much in the name of hockey. Rose, Hayden, Ilya, basically everyone would tell him that he did not need to put himself through such intense regimens to be a professional athlete, and I think he would not listen to them because it was one of the few things in his life that he could control. I drove me bonkers that this was not addressed more - I wish Shane had an arc like Ilya had with his therapist - when we see that he ate a Snickers bar after being outted, Ilya basically realized Shane was not doing well in that moment because he was not sticking to his diet.

I think we all should beat the commissioner with bats - that nasty, homophobic old man is a dinosaur and a parasite to the entire. I already could not stand him after the way he treated Troy in Role Model, but this really sealed the deal with me on how much I hate that man. To think that he is running around basically telling every queer hockey player that they have to stay in the closet or basically get fired is insane, and considering he does not believe sexual assault victims, this is just one of many horrible mindsets he has. J.J. was really testing me after Ilya and Shane were unintentionally outed in that video - Shane has known J.J. the entire time they have been playing professionally, and he has the audacity to ask Shane if he fell on purpose to let Ilya score?? I almost through my phone across the room after reading that nightmare of a scene.

Ilya gaining a support system outside of Shane, Shane's parents, and Hayden was so nice to see - he was basically only able to confide in three people outside of Shane, and I can only imagine how isolating that must have been. Once he was able to form friendships and bonds with other team members, especially Troy and Luca, you could see that Ilya was starting to come around to becoming more free - adopting a dog certainly helped as well.

Now that I am all caught up, I cannot wait to see what Rachel has in store for the final Game Changers book, Unrivaled, releasing later this year. I am simply glad that Shane and Ilya will not be going through The Horrors like they did in this book - as much fun as conflict makes for the plot, those two have bene through more than enough and deserve to be able to live in peace and beat Montreal's butt next season.

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Electric Idol (Dark Olympus, #2) by Katee Robert Review

This is a spoiler-free review! You can read my reviews of Stone Heart and Neon Gods on my blog, now!

I feel like I am purposefully putting myself in situations where I expect to have my expectations changed and yet I am constantly disappointed again and again. The concept of these books are great, but the execution just simply is not there and often feels as though they are marketed as dark romances, there really is no "dark" aspect to them - they would be better marketed as erotic romances. Eros and Psyche's unintentional relationship spurs from necessity over anything else, and while I am truly a sucker for a marriage of convenience trope, this felt lackluster in both romance and in general plot development. There were a few moments where I thought it was going to turn around and be an improvement to Neon Gods, but unfortunately it never made it that far.

Psyche as a character is definitely endearing and you want to root for her as the reader - she is kind and just wants to move through life without thinking too much about what other people think about her. She has an aura surrounding her that makes those around her not harness any ill-will, but that soon changes once her mother sets her eyes on making an arrangement for Psyche that she wants no business with. Desperate to dodge a potential suitor, Psyche finds herself in the warpath of one of the Thirteen who does not hold back.

The spicy scenes were just mediocre at best - there was not anything in there that I have not seen before, and to be perfectly honest, I have read young adult romances that have been raunchier than what this book contains. Once again, I was looking for an improvement to the previous installment, and was let down more than I anticipated. Considering this book has "Unspeakably hot" as the tagline on the cover, you would have thought it was have blown me away. Honestly, the scenes were few and far in between with the plot taking the main focus over spice - in some scenarios, I would have welcomed that, but in this case, I wanted to be left speechless. Instead, I was left speechless at the fact that I wasted time reading this book.

Eros' characterization would be the highlight of this book - he is a "bad boy player" that is now thrust into a marriage of convenience of his own doing. He suddenly cannot do the one thing he has always done - killing - and thinks that a marriage to Psyche will shield her from Aphrodite's wrath. I wish he was more of a mystery in the beginning of the book - it felt too obvious that he would fall for Psyche in a matter of weeks which ruined the illusion that he would become this reformed bad boy killer to a lover man.

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Sick Bargain (Vile House, #1) by Nordika Night Review

This review contains minor spoilers! Please read trigger warnings - reader discretion is advised.

WHY IS REMI WEARING CROCS AND SOCKS??? I would be able to look past this if it was a one time situation, but I kid you not this man was mentioned wearing crocs multiple times throughout the book. This was more shocking to me than some of the dark scenes Krypt was pulling on a regular basis and that says a lot. Maybe it is because I am a croc hater for life, but it was such an ick while reading and I could not help but think of Remi running around town in crocs. He is a grown adult and should not be within three hundred feet of a pair of crocs, especially after he is basically shackled to Krypt of all people.

Krypt reminds me of Killian Carson from God of Malice - this is an insult. It is like I am back at chapters one and two of that book all over again, and I wish I could scrub my brain of both of those instances. I did not like Krypt for approximately 85% of this book - I felt like his character was all over the place, and sure, that is definitely a component of why he is so uncontrollable, but I thought at some point it would be toned down a bit. I would argue that he gets more aggressive as the book goes on, and while he does eventually get a sliver of emotion in him, there were points where I truly thought he was going to hurt Remi.

This book does not beat around the bush when it comes to more darker themes like assault and graphic depictions of violence, but I was surprised to feel as though it could have been much darker. There are a number of scenes between Krypt and Remi that are straight up assault and while they both acknowledge it, they also are into it and yet still seem to fight how much they like it. It was definitely interesting seeing it impacted both of them in their own ways, since Remi was an outsider in the beginning and did not understand what he was getting into, while Krypt was discovering something new about himself and this seemed to be the only way his mind was able to make him express it. That being said, it certainly is not for everyone and I would definitely reiterate that readers show go into this with caution if it is not their typical genre.

Remi's brother, Soren, was so mysterious and protective and Remi - I found myself wanting him to show up more often because I was so intrigued by his characterization. He is stoic and controlled, yet his shell definitely cracks when it comes to his brother, even though he does not want anyone to know it. He is constantly hooting and hollering at Krypt during this whole book - whether it was truly in Remi's best interest or not, that man was up face to face with Krypt at every chance he got. All of the little Vile House boys were intriguing and added an interesting dynamic to the story - I have not come across a group of unhinged boys truly testing the limits - the closest I can think of is the group in the Legacy of Gods series by Rina Kent.

I high-key wish this book was crazier and I know that sounds insane but from everything that I heard about it, I thought I was going to reach Butcher & Blackbird meeting Haunting Adeline and The Ritual levels of insanity happening, but I was simply just left more surprised by the amount of non-con that anything else. I was really looking forward to a truly dark romance, one that approached pitch black levels, and while Sick Bargain was definitely going in that direction, it did fall a little short. The writing was not the best, and at times it was going on and on more like a quickly published Wattpad fanfic without any proofreading rather than an actual published book. I will be intrigued to see how the second installment pans out in regards to upping the craziness.

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Role Model (Game Changers, #5) by Rachel Reid Review

This is a spoiler-free review! You can read my reviews of Game Changer, Heated Rivalry, Tough Guy, and Common Goal on my blog, now! Heated Rivalry is now streaming on Crave in Canada and HBO Max in select countries.

I really enjoyed seeing Troy's internal thoughts and how he was able to slowly start coming out of his shell after being traded to the Centaurs. You could clearly tell that he felt out of place after being uprooted from a team that he played with for years, and considering his supposed best friend ended up being a complete scumbag, his weariness to socialize with other people was understandable. Especially taking into account that Troy is closeted and recently out of a long term relationship, he does not know how anyone else would react to this information, even after Scott Hunter's major moment in Game Changer.

Major bonus points for Ilya being so present in this book - he is literally my favorite character in this series, so it was so nice to see him with Troy as they played on the Centaurs together. I was in desperate need of an Ilya fix after season one of Heated Rivalry concluded, and this was the perfect read to get more of him as I make my way towards The Long Game and patiently await season two. You could tell when he was talking to Shane, even when Shane was never even mentioned - Troy was constantly observing Ilya throughout the book, and he was certainly noticing a pattern with Ilya and his bursts of disappearing the second they had an off day.

There is a moment in this book where I literally started sobbing - most of these books are not "high stakes" in the sense that something tragically bad could happen to any of the characters, but I was genuinely fearing for multiple characters' lives at one point. You can literally feel the fear come off the page, and I have to stay this aspect of the book made the reality of what the characters were living through very prominent for the rest of the story. I genuinely think this is one of the main turning points for Troy in his own self reflection in deciding how he wants to see himself as a person and how he wants to live his life without hiding in the shadows any longer.

Harris was a great partner for Troy - while their interactions were a little rocky at first only due to Harris being weary of Troy for his past actions, it definitely blossomed into a great relationship. Their personalities, while not 100% the same, were compatible and I felt as though they were both able to learn a lot from one another, and understand that while their lives are very different from each other, they still had a common goal - pun intended - in mind. Considering Harris comes from a family who is very supportive of his sexuality and Troy comes from a rocky home life with a homophobic father and homophobic team members, it was interesting to see how they both went about their outlooks on life.

I hope Dallas Kent gets everything that is coming to him - I could not stand his little appearances throughout the other books and I am glad that Troy was able to put him in his place and believe those women. I think the addition of this storyline really emphasizes the NHL's past and current compliance with assault culture and is a great commentary on how these players are often believed over their victims in order for the league to keep making money. Which is an interesting factor given now the NHL is trying to monetize off of the success of Heated Rivalry when one could argue that the NHL and the commissioner are the biggest villains of the series. I only hope that the culture starts changing and allegations are taken more seriously.

I cannot wait to revisit Shane and Ilya in The Long Game, but I have to say this entire series has been such a joy to read so far. While there are moments that I have my own opinions on, Reid is able to create a universe where these players are able to have their happy endings and get the love they deserve.

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Common Goal (Game Changers, #4) by Rachel Reid Review

This is a spoiler-free review! You can read my reviews of Game Changer, Heated Rivalry, and Tough Guy on my blog, now! Heated Rivalry is now streaming on Crave in Canada and HBO Max in select countries.

Thank the stars... an age gap romance that does not have me reaching for my phone to call the police!! Am I starting to shake in my boots now that reading books has main characters a year younger than me? Absolutely. I am simply going to pretend that Kyle is actually a year old and move on with my day. Eric and Kyle are definitely one of my new favorite couples in this series, second to Shane and Ilya. I loved how aware Eric was of his feelings and the way that he viewed Kyle - he was always respectful and honestly was so much more open about his feelings than I expected from him. Kyle was so much fun and honestly refreshing to see after Tough Guy - I just felt like the previous book was lacking a more playful feel to it.

Scott Hunter and Ilya Rozanov making their constant appearances is something that I will never complain about - you can always count on Ilya to make fun of everyone in a fifteen foot vicinity and to have Scott Hunter fighting for his life. Seeing Kip and Scott's relationship develop from where it was in Game Changers to them being at such a big moment in their lives was so full-circle realization. Reid does a decent job calling back to the other characters, but I will say she definitely has a fondness for Scott and Ilya. Shane and Kip certainly make their own appearances but they do not take as much page space as their counterparts. 

Eric exploring his sexuality with Kyle was such a fun read - you can tell that while he was nervous to "learn" with Kyle, he was very much comfortable with who he was and was happy and willing to try new things. Kyle was the perfect teacher for Eric, and it was honestly sweet to see how attentive they were to each other and how focused Kyle was on making sure Eric felt safe enough to explore things with him. Their communication throughout the book was pretty solid, but obviously there were moments where they struggled to convey their true feelings towards one another, which definitely lead them down a more rocky road towards the end.

Readers will appreciate the friendship aspect between Eric and Kyle in this book - while they are a more friends-with-benefits moment, you can clearly see how much they care for one another after meeting and getting to know each other. Watching them grow as individuals, open up to one another about their past relationships, and discover new things with each other made their relationship all the more authentic.

I cannot wait to see what is in store in Role Model, and considering we have concluded season one of Heated Rivalry, I will definitely be needing my hockey yaoi fix as we patiently await season two. This series as a whole has been so enjoyable, and if you are looking to find your way into some true hockey romance, there is no better time than now to dive into the Game Changers series.

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Neon Gods (Dark Olympus, #1) by Katee Robert Review

This is a spoiler-free review! You can read my review of Stone Heart on my blog, now!

In an attempt to continue on with series that I have not seen through, Neon Gods finally had me intrigued enough to crack it open. I honestly do not know what I was expecting, especially since I was well aware these are interconnected stand alones, but good lord why does it feel like this series literally makes no sense. The world-building should be much more concise, considering you do not need to read the prequel novella in order to read the series. I just cannot seem to be fine with hearing Greek gods talk about trust funds, jobs, and the mortal world. I still find it odd that people can "become" one of the Thirteen and that they are just not set in stone like the original mythology calls for.

Persephone, girl... I need you to LOCK IN and fight back against your mother. The woman set you up with a known wife killer and you do not seem to be nearly as angry as any rational person would be. Totally understandable response to high tail it out of that situation because your life definitely depended on it, but perhaps you should be more vocal about your displeasure towards her. I am glad that her sisters sided with her and did not try to make her see that marriage through. She spends nearly the entire book just going on and on regarding how she just needs to make it to her next birthday so she can get her trust fund and leave... like girl I think you have much bigger problems than just leaving home to deal with.

Hades is broody and moody and honestly a more refreshing take on him than what I have seen in other retellings. He is honestly the most rational of everyone in this book and actually thinks about his actions before doing anything, which is more than what I can say for the rest of the characters. However, it still feels as though the author was holding back on expanding on who he was as a character. Sure, we get his background in bits and pieces throughout the book, but there was never a point where I felt as though I knew his character in its entirety. I would have loved to see some more fleshed out chapters focusing on him rather than reading about Persephone begging him for a thousand sexual favors at every waking moment.

This is some of the worst dialogue I have ever read. I literally wish I could wash my eyes out after reading the nonsense that Persephone would say to Hades. You are an adult, please, for the love of god, speak like one!! The writing honestly feels juvenile, which is strange considering the subject matter is anything but so. Do not even get me started on the smut... it was below average and read like a bad nightmare. The author attempts to dive into a BDSM aspect but falls so incredibly flat it becomes unbearable at times. I totally understand that this series is just "dark romance with Greek mythology" but I fear it does not even resemble the structure of a dark romance novel.

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This Man (This Man, #1) by Jodi Ellen Malpas Review

This is a spoiler-free review!

I wish I could get every minute I spent reading this book back. The premise of this book reminded me subtly of Fifty Shades of Grey only in the slightest, but good grief Jesse Ward is hands down one of the most ridiculous male leads I have ever come across. He is a man child and a whiny little boy when he does not get exactly what he wants. And when what he wants is Ava to basically never leave his sight, you can only imagine how out of control he becomes. Jesse basically is terrorizing the town whenever Ava has to go to work, sees her friends, or literally just tries to go to the office to do her job. His hobbies are literally stalking and mild breaking and entering in order to have eyes on her at all times. Get a grip!!

That being said, Ava is basically no better than Jesse, but in a different regard. She is setting feminism back decades every minute she spends with Jesse. Yes, she does have her moments where she tries to hold her ground and give him a reality check, but it literally never works and always ends up with her crying, fleeing the scene, or having Jesse barge in like a caveman at her place of work or her apartment. I wanted so badly for her to actually grow a spine at some point, and just when you would think she was about to, all of her progress would go out the window. I found myself rolling my eyes at nearly everything she did - she became unbearable towards the end. What grown woman acts this way?

I literally cannot express it enough on how much this book gave me a migraine. Jesse keeps far too many secrets and Ava does not seem to have the motivation to even uncover them. For crying out loud, she does not even know how old Jesse is!! Like girl, if the man you are sleeping with will not even tell you his age, you need to be running across state lines, not running into his bed. I was literally losing brain cells while reading this book - there was not a redeemable quality of this story that I could find - even the side characters would not get involved in Ava and Jesse's drama. Jesse's friends low key are just as evil as he is because what do you mean you literally instigate so many situations where you know he will freak out on Ava? Ava's friend is relatively fine in the sense she kind of just hangs around - I will give her props for giving Ava a place to live though.

The smut scenes were... something. I have read better material written by a 13-year-old on Wattpad. We seriously need to be reevaluating the content of books that are being published because how in the world did anyone ever think that this was readable content? The writing is not nearly at the caliber it should be and the plot is mind-numbing. Now if you see me reading the rest of the series in the future... mind your business. I like to see series through to give a cohesive opinion.

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