Heated Rivalry: 2 (Game Changers)

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We’re supposed to believe their feelings are growing for each other as they do nothing but hook up throughout six years (and counting). I would have expected to see a heartbreaking vibe similar to the one in The Locker Room by Amy Lane and it felt more like your typical fluffy smut-romance. This is a reason why enemies to lovers is not something I read a lot because the trope feels so loosely marketed all the time. Opposites attract, forbidden sex, hard angry sex, sex turning into more, hot muscular men and ice hockey.

Shane's sexual discovery felt organic and I appreciated Rose's characterization and positivity so much.

Reid takes us through the 8 years of their relationship as they go from shame filled hate fucking to a loving partnership. Surrounded by love, Shane’s only problem was his lack of interest in women, so he ended up depending only on his encounters with Ilya for years. I was surprised how much I liked the way that story was structured and the angst was what I like nothing OTT. You also meet Ilya in Game Changer and get a sense that he is an abrasive asshole (therefore he is most likely guarding a heart of gold). not the best and off putting but I’ve listened to him before and he’s brilliant and he BRINGS it full force in this one.

This book you totally get the connection, the feelings, the history and I just want to keep relistening over and over. Not just because they're such promising young players but their hatred for each other becomes legendary.Shane forced himself to take a breath and pushed images of doctors trying to separate them while all of Rozanov’s teammates watched out of his mind. My asthmatic lungs started hurting from how much I started laughing when the two wondered why they didn’t talk before. It started me thinking about these two all over again, so I grabbed the audio to get a different perspective of these two. This was a much more intense closeted hockey player story than the first book, since there’s now TWO players trying to keep their relationship a secret, but this book doesn’t quite have the levity I was expecting after reading the other books in this series. While I have come to LOVE Shane and Ilya, I had problems with the story I didn’t have with the first book and I am sad about that, because I was really looking forward to this book.

I have already purchased the next book in this series, and I will be probably keep reading/listening as long as the characters are still engaging. Shane often abstained from alcohol because he didn’t want to do anything that might compromise his performance on the ice.Ilya is bisexual and Russian, and Shane is gay and Canadian (with Japanese roots, although him being part Japanese is pretty irrelevant).