Role Model

4.5/5 OMG I FUCKING LOVED IT, especially my little apple farmer Harris. ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

Troy Barrett has just arrived in Ottawa, having been traded after rightfully calling out someone on monstrous acts during team practice.

Now he feels lost, heartbroken and confused and, above all, a profound need to become a better person.

He soon gets to meet the team's social media manager, Harris Drover, who happens to be goofy, chatty and adorable, with Pride pins all over his denim jacket.

— Reading this was such a joyful experience.

I've been meaning to read this book for a while, and I was expecting it to be a good (I wouldn't have added it to my To-Read-List otherwise). However, I was not expecting it to completely blow me away! I was not expecting this to be to a without-a-doubt-five-stars-read! I was not expecting to be kicking my feet with immeasurable queer joy the whole time!

This book was a true page-turner! It was such an enjoyable story to read and, even with the serious topics it touches, it never felt to heavy - it was a perfect balance of everything.

The characters are wonderful, both the main ones and the supporting cast. While I don't usually gravitate toward closeted characters, the coming out element was so nicely done. Watching Troy's path towards self-acceptance was outstanding.

Harris was personified sunshine, and Troy was such a lovable grump with an earnest desire to become better.

This was truly amazing! It's about queer identity! It's about self-acceptance! It's about standing out for what's right!

I loved it so much!

<3

"talk too much" by coin
"fine apple" by nic d
"call it what you want" by taylor swift !!!!
"strong" by one direction

IM CRYING MY BABIES I LOVE THEM SO MUCH

pls ignore the cover i know it's horrendous but the story is so beautiful like about falling in love and finding the courage to be one's truest self

i'm so proud of troy and his journey to becoming a better person, to do better for others and himself! and harris is such a cutiepie ray of sunshine <3 troy and harris friends to lovers was so cute and wholesome like i couldn't stop smiling

even though ilya is a side character in this one, i think i love him more in this one! the way ilya is there for troy and his friendship with troy made me tear up esp chapter 11 hehe ilya is so perceptive

UGH ilya with the puppy!!! my heart melted every time

3.5/5 stars That was cute! I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it either. This is about as much as my brain can say on this right now 😂 I’ll try right more when I have the mental energy.

I absolutely love that Rachel Reid put the issue of famous (sports) persons sexually assaulting other people into one of her books. In my memory there is only one other book doing that as well and interestingly enough it’s also a hockey book. I’m talking about Frederik Backman’s Beartown series of course, that I still need to review. But let’s get back to Role Model. I’m always going on about how happy I am when Ilya and/or Shane are featured in a new book but in this case I’m even happier because Ilya has a semi often appearance (and there are also dogs). Overall it felt like this one incorporated the other four books quite a lot and I loved those little tidbits very much. I also love how Troy is written and how adorable his awkwardness is. The vibes between him and Harris were quite enjoyable and I was happy to be able to come along on their ride. Not everything is sunshine and joy with Role Model though because the realistic way of the portrayal meant that I more often than not felt like screaming at people. Which I mean in the best possible way but it really angered me and I can’t wait for society to finally develop away from victim blaming and all that other shit. But I enjoyed how Troy learned how to handle that because maybe it inspires some people with influence to do the same. Disclaimer I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.

CW: mentions of past rape/sexual assault, disbelieving of victim’s accusations, mentions of homophobic slurs I just waited one day after receiving this arc to finish it in a single sitting, because I couldn’t resist. And this was despite me not reading contemporaries at all during this pandemic - but how could I not pick up the next in my favorite hockey romance series when I knew it would make me smile. This series has given me a lot of joy in the past and it was nothing this time around. Once I started reading, I just couldn’t put it down. It was funny, sweet, entertaining, even if slightly anxious at the beginning. I breezed through the whole thing, laughed and cried, and felt delighted at being in this world again. I won’t say the book was perfect though, but I guess I understood the choices the author made in her writing - she mentions she wrote the complete thing during the pandemic and I think thats why the bad things in this book are mostly at the periphery and seem inconsequential despite being very important issues. However, I did like that the author touched on toxic masculinity in the sporting world and also how teams and fans often rally behind the players when they are accused of misconduct, particularly by women; and it’s the victims who get slandered instead. It’s such an awful issue, but the author only touched lightly on it, which may feel performative for some readers. However, the characters make up for any shortcomings because they are amazing. Troy is not easy to like immediately because we have seen him be an asshole before but also seen him be slightly conflicted, so I started off the book feeling contradictory about him. But I could quickly sympathize because he lost his love, his team, his fans, everything in a few days for finally standing up for the right thing after being wrong for a very long time. I was glad to see him realize his mistakes and be a better ally. He was well supported by Harris who is the sweetest ball of sunshine, and I loved the environment that he created for all the players of the team. They made for a great couple and I was so happy to see their level of understanding each other. The best part of this series has always been the side characters and it was lovely to see some very supportive family members here who were delighted to see their sons find their perfect partner. But my heart is with all the past characters showing, right from the first book. It may not have been my favorite, but Scott Hunter has now become a lynchpin around whom this series revolves because he is the ultimate inspiration for most of the players and I so admire him for it. It was nice to see all the couples and realize they are doing well. But ofcourse, my love for Ilya will always remain special, and it was awesome to see him be a great leader and supportive friend, though I did miss Shane a lot. To conclude, this was a super fun new installment in my favorite romance series and I’m glad the author was able to write such a sweet story during these hard times. You can’t give it a miss if you’ve read the previous books, and you should totally start from the beginning if you wanna try a highly entertaining and lovable sports romance series. Now I can just wait for The Long Game because Ilya and Shane will always be special and I can’t wait to read more of their story.

while heck if this didn't turn me into a huge pile of goo. SO utterly sweet and steamy at the same time. Reid writes banter that is *chef's kiss* exquisite for each of her characters, and seeing how quickly taciturn and moody Troy fell for Harris (despite all of his attempts not to) made for such a great listen. The romance was a perfect balance of sweet and comfy, which complemented the unpacking of Troy's old role in perpetuating harm by laughing at and not stopping homophobic jokes and bullying on his previous team, and his taking a stance against his former best friend's denial of sexual assault (which is why he's been transferred to the Centaurs). there's no quick and easy solutions offered, and I appreciated how the author focused on Troy, his actions, and what he could personally do to be better. I would be remiss if I didn't mention how much I loved seeing Ilya in this story! I listened to an ALC from LibroFm and Harper Audio, and I absolutely loved the narrator. He did a wonderful job making each character distinct, and for a book with a team of men, this was definitely not an easy feat!