Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: The Long Game
SERIES: Game Changers
AUTHOR: Rachel Reid
NARRATOR: Cooper North
PUBLISHER: Harlequin Audio
LENGTH: 12 hours and 52 minutes
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:
Note: This is the sixth book in this series. Book 5, Role Model, take place in a parallel timeline, so there are major spoilers for that book. For maximum enjoyment, I highly recommend reading Book 2, Heated Rivalry before listening to this one as that story covers roughly the dozen years or so that precede this book.
Shane Hollander and Ilya Rosanov have been in some sort of “relationship” for years. When they first met, they were rivals/competitors. They both came up through Junior hockey and played for their respective countries as teenagers. Then they both were drafted very young into the NHL. Of course they were drafted to rival teams. Their fascination began early and their physical relationship not long after. When they were in the same city, they’d hookup. But their rivalry on the ice was legendary – both captains of their archrival teams. They have this push-pull relationship over many many years from hookup to realizing they are much more to each other. This book begins shortly after the end of the previous book.
Shane is captain of the Montreal team and they’ve just come off of a Stanley Cup win. During the summer, they spend their time at Shane’s cabin. Ilya’s dealing with some depression and loneliness. He doesn’t have a lot of friends on his team in Ottawa. He’s happy to be living in Shane’s hometown and has a good relationship with Shane’s parents. But his team is terrible and he’s tired of losing. He has given up a lot to be with Shane by moving to Canada so that they can be closer with Shane in Montreal. Shane has been with his team his entire career. He’s their beloved star and captain and the team has fantastic support and of course multiple Cup seasons. No one who knows Ilya on his team knows that a) he is bisexual and b) he’s in a relationship. Shane’s best friend and teammate does know about Shane and Ilya. Both mean have guilt about not being truthful with the other people in their lives.
Ilya is struggling with living this half life. He doesn’t go out with his team. He is experiencing nightmares of his mother in Russia. He has no family and really no support system that isn’t tied to Shane. Shane is terrified of being found out. Not just about being gay but being in a relationship with his longtime rival. He realizes something is off with Ilya but he doesn’t know how to fix it. He suggests that Ilya seek help and Ilya is very angry. Eventually though he realizes he needs some help as he’s terrified of ending up like his mother. He’s reluctant to share this though. He feels like he’s failing as a boyfriend, as a team captain, as a hockey player. There is a bit of a turnaround though when his team gets a new team member through a trade. Ilya does manage to be a friend to him and help him through some stuff.
Meanwhile Shane’s season is going well. He’s got his friends, his parents, his teammates and he’s winning. He does wish they didn’t have to hide and when they are with out players, it’s harder and harder for Shane and Ilya to manage a “just friends” appearance. Things are still off and it’s clear that Shane really takes Ilya for granted and doesn’t actually appreciate or maybe even recognize what he’s already sacrificed for them to be together. Ilya is angry that he’s still facing isolation in Ottawa and is living half a life.
Things change when there is a near accident and Shane realizes that he would be absolutely lost if anything happened to Ilya. But since nobody knows about them, it’d be that much worse because to the outside world, he wouldn’t even have the right to fall apart. Things are further complicated by the league making things difficult for Shane and for Ilya. The underlying toxic environment of homophobia and masculinity contribute to Shane’s fear of losing his place as Canada’s golden boy and everything else he’s worked so hard to achieve. When push comes to shove though, Shane and Ilya do know what it is they want and what they are willing to do and not do to get it.
Swoooooon! This is such a good story! Lovers of the first book that tells the genesis of this pair will not be disappointed in this long-awaited sequel. Shane and Ilya have so much history and so much love between them. They have always dealt with communication issues, but now it’s clear that the way that they are living is really taking a toll on Ilya. While the previous book included more of Shane’s POV, this book focuses a lot of Ilya’s POV and his history and triggers and the real and pressing difficulties he’s experiencing as a result of his move to Ottawa and the change in his career. Shane recognizes it to some degree, but his fear keeps him from seeing the big picture and he hasn’t been very good at putting himself in Ilya’s shoes. The love that they have for each other is intense and at times overwhelming. Each realizes that they’d be lost without the other and the longer this relationship goes on in the dark, the harder it is for them to see how they can move into the light. The external conflict in dealing with the larger homophobic sports world and the NHL in particular keeps Shane from feeling like he can be honest. Ilya realizes much sooner that this secrecy is killing him. He does takes steps to try to alleviate some of the pressure and loneliness and isolation he feels in Ottawa. He’s got some really great teammates, a wonderful accepting coach, and even a pet that help him cope. But they still don’t take away all the pain of having to stay in the closet. I just knew that things would not go the way they wanted to in owning their narrative. But the resolution was even sweeter than I could have hoped for. I absolutely loved the way Shane stepped up when he needed to and finally got out of his own way.
Ms. Reid does a fantastic job with all the characterizations here. I loved all the hockey players and believed the relationships of all of these teammates, rivals and long time friends. Both Shane and Ilya’s gal pals are great too 🙂 Finally Shane’s parents are just standouts. They love their son and they love Ilya as their bonus son as well. There are times when I was definitely tearing up in this one – both from sadness and because of the HEA. Every single thing about this book is just so good and perfect for these characters and this particular love story.
This is honestly one of the best audiobook performances I have ever listened to. The story is very intense. These two men have hidden their relationship for years. There is a lot between them and Cooper North’s performance of this story is really just perfect. Russian accent? Check. Golden Boy Canadian? Check. Hot and heavy sex between two men deeply in love? Check. Frustration over hiding their relationship for years? Check. Psychological toll, loneliness and depression? Check. Seriously every single aspect of this story was absolutely beautifully and honestly portrayed in this spectacular performance. This is only the fourth audio I’ve listened to by this narrator, but I will definitely be looking for more. I was literally blown away by the nuanced portrayal of Shane and Ilya in this book. These men have over a decade of history – meeting when they were teenagers in world competitions. Their relationship has been through so many phases before this story begins. Do yourself a favor and pick up Heated Rivalry, the previous book about these two guys. Fair warning though: if you’re looking for the audio, it’s a different narrator and no disrespect to that narrator, but this one was far superior for me. I believed every single word of this story – but more than that, I felt every single scene. I experienced the highs and the lows that Shane and Ilya went through – both personally and professionally. Their love for one another and their love of hockey are the things that keep them going and that is very evident in Mr. North’s performance. I feel confident this will be on my best of the year list – it’s just that good. If you are searching for a really well executed love story that will completely captivate from the first to the last word, this is your ticket. Absolutely superb and I can’t recommend it highly enough.
RATING: 
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