Game Changer by Rachel Reid (October 2022) Obviously, after inhaling Heated Rivals on audio, print and the first 2 episodes on HBOMax (can we talk about this adaptation? Can all books be adapted with this dedication to the source material?!?!?) I had to grab this one!
Kip Grady does not love his job making smoothies. He wants to work in a museum or go back to grad school. But he does make a good smoothie and when NHL superstar Scott Hunter swings by at the end of a run for a blueberry smoothie, he ends up breaking his hockey slump. Which means the smoothie (and Kip) must be good luck. That or he thinks kip so hot and keeps coming back to flirt with him. When Scott invites Kip over, Kip assumes it is a on the DL hookup but it quickly becomes something life-altering for both of them. But in order to live their relationship outside of Scott’s condo, Scott will need to be the first NHL player to come out.
I read these books out of order, starting with Heated Rivalry and then circling back to this one and I actually prefer that reading order as the major events of this book are a pivotal moment in HR, but the timeline of HR begins significantly before the events of this book. It is a nice way to zoom in to these events as part of the longer timeline in book 2. This book is charming, sweet, very spicy and tons of fun. That being said, “insta-love” is a trope I struggle with more than most tropes and we have a fair bit of that here. Still absolutely LOVE Scott and Kip, but maybe just a fraction less than Shane and Illya’s story.
🎧 Audiobook Thoughts: As with Heated Rivalry, Tor Thom narrates. However, where he shines in that book, I really struggled with his voicing of Kip in this one – to the point of distraction. I’d recommend eyeball reading this one!
Book: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
🎧 Audio performance: 🌟🌟🌟
🔥 Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Book Smart Kate 