Oliver Moss

I've finished Game Changers by Rachel Reid. No, not just the book called Game Changer, tho whole series which is called Game Changers. Getting through the whole series that fast is fine, probably. Anyway, tl:dr whole series review is that the books are of very uneven quality. Some people say to skip book 1, and I can see that. It's a bit more fluffy than some of the other books and some of her later writing is much better. But to me book 4 is just confusingly bad, and that can be skipped easily. The Ilya and Shane books (2 and 6) are fantastic and I also really, really liked 3 and 5.

One thing the writer really excels at is having a distinct feel to her characters. For example, most of them have reasons to be anxious with all the pressures they face, but that manifests in different ways in each character. How it feels to them, if they try to ignore it, how they handle it, etc.

The TV series will be based on book 2, Heated Rivalry, which is about Shane and Ilya. But book 6, Long Game, continues to story of Shane and Ilya and is excellent. It also wraps up the series very well, even though it wasn't the intended ending. The author has scrapped book 7 because it wasn't working, but honestly 6 feels like a great series finale. Maybe 1 or 2 scenes more would have been ideal, but the book pays off a lot of stuff and feels satisfying.

The quality of the writing varies a lot over the series, and also each book has a different dynamic. I am very glad I read it, but I think for anyone reading this series there are going to be books that don't click with as much.

Anyway, the individual books.

Book 1 - Game Changer: When I saw the blurb I was like 'oh, it's this book'. I remember this creating a splash when it came out. In spaces I was in, people were pushing this book hard. No matter what you asked for, people rushed in with this recc. There was a point where I really wanted people to shut up about this book. But, that probably says more about the spaces I was in than the book or the fandom.

It's the coffee shop AU trope, but as original fiction. ( Read more... )

Book 2 - I already talked about Heated Rivalry here

Book 3 - Tough Guy: This was very interesting as it dipped into the darker side of hockey as a business and also the impact of hockey injuries. ( major spoilers )

Book 4 - Common Goal: This is about a retiring goalie and a much younger character who is a friend of the couple from the first book. ( Spoilers )

Book 5 - Role Model: This book is about someone who was caught up in the toxic side of hockey culture. Again, bringing in some real stuff. The MC starts out spiraling because his best friend was accused of sexual assault and he has reason to believe the women. His life had just collapsed in a dozen ways. He gets traded and his new team has an openly gay social media manager who is lively, sweet and loves to bake. I really liked this one and how things developed between them.

Sidenote: I think it's fine to just read the Shane and Ilya books, but Role Model does leads into the last book in some interesting ways. A chunk of both books overlap timewise and the MC from this book is on Ilya's team. Like with the other Shane and Ilya book, your supposed to be aware that a certain event is going to happen.

Book 6 - Long Game - Time to see how Shane and Ilya are doing. Shane and Ilya are such great characters. They are really in a different and have been stuck watching other couples come out and able to love openly and get married and by truthful to their friends. Lots of amazing call backs to the first book and building on things that happened in it. ( Read more... )