Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE: The Long Game

SERIES:  Game Changers, Book 6

AUTHOR: Rachel Reid

PUBLISHER: Carina Press

LENGTH:  453 pages

RELEASE DATE:  April 26, 2022

BLURB: 

The sequel is finally here! Shane and Ilya’s story, first seen in Heated Rivalry, continues in this long-awaited hockey romance from Rachel Reid.

“Everything you could want from this magnetic couple! A passionate, sexy, emotional sequel that grips your heart! Shane and Ilya forever!” —#1 NYT Bestseller Lauren Blakely, author of Hopelessly Bromantic

To the world they are rivals, but to each other they are everything.

Ten years.

That’s how long Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov have been seeing each other. How long they’ve been keeping their relationship a secret. From friends, from family…from the league. If Shane wants to stay at the top of his game, what he and Ilya share has to remain secret. He loves Ilya, but what if going public ruins everything?

Ilya is sick of secrets. Shane has gotten so good at hiding his feelings, sometimes Ilya questions if they even exist. The closeness, the intimacy, even the risk that would come with being open about their relationship…Ilya wants it all.

It’s time for them to decide what’s most important—hockey or love.

It’s time to make a call.

REVIEW: 

Rachel Reid’s well-loved 2019 M/M sports romance Heated Rivalry finally gets its sequel in The Long Game.  It draws to a very satisfying close the fascinating, fiery relationship between NHL superstar rivals Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov.  M/M romance fans adore Heated Rivalry, and for good reason. It’s exceptionally crafted and executes with precision a gripping enemies-to-lovers story of two fascinating hockey prodigies. But, believe it or not, The Long Game is even better.

Heated Rivalry and The Long Game are books two and six, respectively, in Reid’s Game Changers series, which features different hockey couples in this same universe. You don’t need to read the other books in the series in order to read and enjoy The Long Game, with the obvious exception of Heated Rivalry.  

Heated Rivalry and The Long Game are an unputdownable duology that depicts Shane and Ilya’s successes, struggles, and surprises along with their sadness, sweetness, and sexiness. Reid shows us all of this while Shane and Ilya try to balance their hockey careers with their growing attraction and ultimately deep and abiding love for each other. Both books contain the dual POVs of Shane and Ilya. Yet, notwithstanding, the books approach Shane and Ilya’s romance from two distinctly different vantage points. 

Heated Rivalry leans more into Shane’s story and his bisexual awakening. He grapples with this new aspect of himself and tries to reconcile how he can be so attracted to and fall in love with someone he is supposed to hate. The story focuses on the constant intersection of Shane and Ilya’s hockey careers and the oft comparison between them due to their respective extreme talent and success on rival teams within the same division. The “rivalry” takes on epic proportions that shadow them on and off the ice.  Meanwhile, their mutual attraction morphs unexpectedly into feelings and then love – a love they keep secret to preserve their place in the NHL, at the top of their games, for years to come.

The Long Game picks up a few months after the end of Heated Rivalry, and looks at Shane and Ilya’s choice and the repercussions of a decade of secret-keeping about their relationship. The story predominantly focuses on Ilya’s battle with loneliness and depression. This book is a complex examination of the difficulties of a relationship in the real world, particularly in a sport where they are put under the microscope daily. 

Shane and Ilya put hockey first in their lives, albeit for different reasons. The Long Game challenges those priorities when taken in the context of love. We see Ilya in a way we were not privy to in Heated Rivalry. Reid provides an exquisitely heartbreaking portrayal of Ilya’s sacrifices – how he puts Shane and their relationship first – and the fallout from that choice. Reid also challenges our affection for devoted, well-intentioned, but oblivious Shane, who loves Ilya deeply but loses sight of the greater picture.  Reid forces us to take an often painful look at how love isn’t always enough, and how even well-meaning actions can have harmful consequences. We see Shane and Ilya struggling with communication and their different perspectives on their relationship status.  Neither is at fault, yet they are both at fault.  

What I loved most about The Long Game is Reid’s unflinching examination of the character flaws in these two men we have grown to adore. It’s not something seen often in books and is all the more stunning in Reid’s masterful execution. We are challenged to continue to like and support each character in turn, even as they do things that may frustrate us as the reader as much as it frustrates the other character. 

Prepare yourself for a serious book hangover because The Long Game is an immersive, riveting experience with a very solid HEA that left me quite conflicted at the end.  Thrilled with where Reid left Shane and Ilya. Devastated that the story is over. Heated Rivalry and The Long Game are two of the best MM romances I’ve read. Luckily, I can reread them anytime I want and will undoubtedly do so because Reid’s Shane and Ilya have indelibly imprinted themselves in my mind and heart. Grab these books so you can fall in love with them too.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

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