Role Model

Game Changers, Book 5

By: Rachel Reid

Narrated by: Cooper North

Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

"Rachel Reid crafted a story of true heart, beauty, heat, and glorious, hard-won redemption! I loved both heroes and their journey to love was a gorgeous one to watch!" (Lauren Blakely, number one New York Times best-selling author of Scoring With Him)

The highly anticipated fifth novel in Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series sees a grumpy professional hockey player meet his match in an out-and-proud social media manager....

The hits just keep coming for Troy Barrett. Traded to the worst team in the league would be bad enough, but coming on the heels of a messy breakup and a recent scandal…Troy just wants to play hockey and be left alone. He doesn’t want to be in the news anymore, and he definitely doesn’t want to “work on his online presence” with the team’s peppy social media manager.

Harris Drover can tell standoffish Troy isn’t happy about the trade - anyone could tell, frankly, as he doesn’t exactly hide it well - but Harris doesn’t give up on people easily. Even when he’s developing a crush he’s sure is one-sided. And when he sees Troy’s smile finally crack through his grumpy exterior, well…that’s a man Harris couldn’t turn his back on if he wanted to.

Suddenly, Troy’s move to the new team feels like an opportunity - for Troy to embrace his true self, and for both men to surrender to their growing attraction. But indulging in each other behind closed doors is one thing, and for Troy, being in a public relationship with Harris will mean facing off with his fears, once and for all.

Game Changers
Book 1: Game Changer
Book 2: Heated Rivalry
Book 3: Tough Guy
Book 4: Common Goal
Book 5: Role Model
Book 6: The Long Game

©2021 Rachel Reid (P)2021 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

Cuddly hockey romance & apple pie

After being traded to a less toxic pro hockey team, Todd starts crushing on the social media manager. It takes a while for this to manifest and I didn’t pick up on as much tension from suppressed longing as I think I was supposed to. This is my first foray into the series so I don’t know if Todd’s toxic past had been seen on page, but he makes an honest effort to stop being a jerk & apologize here. Harris is a cheerful guy who should probably get a raise.

Aside from the slower than slow simmer (not quire a slow burn for me), the season & relationships progressed nicely, the toxicity was stomped sown to a large degree, and this coming out in pro sports had one of the kindest, well supported rollouts, so I’d recommend Role Model to people wanting a low trauma coming out. There’s even a nice bit on consent when visiting kids in the hospital. It’s a pleasant group of people to spend time with, even if it took me a while to connect emotionally with the main characters. Todd grows a lot. Harris just hits a jackpot, but kinda didn’t need moral growth as much.

Steam: Medium. late start, but M/M details make the grade and make it on page. Genuine caring during cuddling also included.

Narration: Pretty well done. Varied regional accents were attempted. I sometimes mixed up whose POV we were in when the MCs shared a scene, but it would up not being critical. (Harris’s coworker,Jen, is voices similarly to Luc’s mom in Boyfriend Material, I spent half the book trying to figure that out 😜)

Loved Troy and Harris!

I really liked this book??! This book is my second favorite of the series. We have hockey! Dogs! Spa day! Anxiety! An apple farm! And the relationship between Troy and Harris is SO RIDICULOUSLY CUTE. There’s also really not any big third act break up anything between them in this book and I love that for us.

This book is definitely still a bit dark in places. This book IS angsty. There’s also a few things that I want to point out that were kind of…let’s just say, weird, moments in the story for me, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that I love this book.

Content notes include mentions of rape and sexual assault, people not believing the victims, homomisia, misogyny, emotional abuse, and near death experience from a plane malfunction. I do not recommend reading this book right before a flight or during a flight if you experience any anxiety at all over flying.

We’ve met Troy Barrett before. He was an all-star forward on the Toronto Raptors team, but after calling out his (now former) best friend Dallas Kent a rapist during practice and a video of the incident going viral, Troy gets traded to one of the worst teams in the NHL - the Ottawa Centaurs. Troy believes the women sharing their stories online about Dallas, but seeing nobody else feel the same way and only defending Dallas instead of condemning the man has Troy angry. He doesn’t regret what he said, but he’s in a weird place of losing his friend and his team all in one week, among other things, and now he’s going to play for a team that almost never wins games. Even if all-star fan fave Ilya is the team captain.

Because of the nature of the job, and a little because Ottawa handles things a little bit differently than everyone else, the social media manager for Ottawa is really friendly with all the guys on the hockey team. Harris Drover is 25, the same age as Troy, and just a really friendly guy. Harris is out and proud, and the Ottawa hockey players don’t seem to mind. Troy doesn’t know how to handle that at all.

So! There’s a lot going on this book. I think this book starts off with a very anxious Troy. He feels even more anxious as a character than Ryan Price from book 3, Tough Guy. Troy’s entire world has turned upside down and he knows he’s made a lot of enemies on the ice over the years. He has a reputation and it’s not a nice one. Add to the fact that people would rather side with Dallas Kent? Even if Troy is one of the best players in the league, it’s not enough for the league to stand behind and he’s left feeling adrift.

I like Harris. I feel like there’s nothing to NOT like about Harris. He’s talkative and loud, and just really good for Troy? He’s so sweet and I love him!!! And Troy’s really good for Harris too because he doesn’t treat Harris like he’s fragile. Also, any time Harris manages to make Troy smile for real just makes my heart melt!!!

***SOME SPOILERS***

I think the one surprising thing about Harris that I wasn’t expecting coming into this book is that he was born with a heart condition and has had surgery for it. There’s a surgery scar on his chest that he sometimes feels self conscious about. That’s all well and fine. HOWEVER. I think the way this book goes about informing readers about Harris and his heart condition was really strange? It only lasts a couple of pages, but the way the book mentions his scars made me initially think that Harris was trans. But no, he’s not. It wasn’t until a few pages later that we learn that the scars came from heart surgery and not because he had top surgery. So, I don’t know. The whole way this was handled and how Harris’s scars continued to be handled in the book just seemed a bit strange.

The inclusion of a puppy named Chiron for the Ottawa team is fun. But initially, the puppy was said to be training and going to test to be a therapy dog. I think in a way it was a missed opportunity in the story that the puppy wasn’t trained into a therapy dog? For a lot of this book, I think Troy would’ve benefitted from having a therapy dog. It all turns out well in the end for Troy and Chiron, but seeing Troy being so anxious about so many things just makes me feel like he needed a hug. Or a therapy dog. But Chiron is cute and I hope we seen him again in the next book!

Which kind of leads me to speculate WHAT is going to be in book six! I want to say I read on the author’s Twitter that the next book is going to be about Ilya and Shane again, and the author said that the timeline will overlap with this book? I feel like I kind of know what’s going to happen? Because let’s talk about THE PLANE RIDE. Don’t worry, I’m going to circle back to Ilya and Shane because this is relevant.

So, what happens is that the hockey team is traveling to Florida for a game and gets a very, very scary experience where the plane almost plummets and everyone could’ve died??? It’s a near death experience for these guys. It’s very out of the blue and there was ZERO warning about this when I started the book, so I hate it. The tv show LOST has scarred me from planes forever and yes, I still do fly, but I get a lot of anxiety because of it and this book decides to derail the feel good feels that was happening so far by throwing this into the story! The players all start to feel anxious about flying back to Canada after their games in Florida and I’m surprised that nobody mentioned seeing a therapist or something after that? I know these guys are all hockey players, but it was a big event and they should all talk about it.

Which brings me back to Ilya and Shane. I really think they’re going to come out in the next book. It seems like the near fatal plane crash affected Ilya a LOT and he disappears after they get back to Ottawa and I think it’s to be with Shane. The hints Ilya gives makes it sound like he won’t be a secret with Shane forever. But I wonder if they’ll have a fight or breakup over this at first because if I remember correctly, Shane was very clearly not about that coming out life last we saw him. He was still terrified of someone finding out he’s gay. But I think that Troy’s story in this really inspires Ilya by the end and maybe that’ll inspire Shane too even more than Scott’s coming out did. And anyways, I think no one will be happier for everything to be out in the open than Shane’s teammate Hayden Pike.

Ilya doesn’t overwhelm with his presence in this book and feels like a proper secondary character that lets Troy take the spotlight whenever they have a scene together. I think there’s just the right amount of Ilya in this book (and he is actually in this a lot!!) and he still gets to stir up trouble with literally everyone so that’s fun.

We only got the start of a good run with Ottawa’s hockey team in this book and does this mean they’ll wind up winning the Stanley Cup???! FINGERS CROSSED BECAUSE I LOVE THIS TEAM! All the players seem really awesome. It’s been awhile since we’ve seen a team win a Stanley Cup in this series, so I’m ready.

The hockey was really fun in this book. The first half of the book has SO MUCH HOCKEY. I will say the back half of this book unfortunately doesn’t have as much, but considering one of the MCs is a top hockey player and the other manages the team’s social media accounts, I think there’s still a lot of hockey life embedded in the story and I still enjoyed it.

This book doesn’t really address the relationship dynamics between Troy and Harris. Everyone on the team seems really chill about it and I’m fine without workplace drama when this book has quite a bit of other things going on, but I can see if some of the jokey comments Troy and Harris have about the dynamics of their relationship might grind some gears.

The only really baffling thing I’ve noticed in this series where hockey is concerned is that almost nobody has agents for some reason. Like, WHY doesn’t everyone have an agent?? Scott was the only one who had a few actual conversations with his agent and I would imagine with all the changes with Troy’s life and public image (was he dropped from sponsors? did he gain sponsors?), his agent would have something to say.

Which leads me to DALLAS KENT. He’s awful. All he deserves is prison. He’s been the clear villain in the series and this book doesn’t really go into detail about anything the women are saying he did, but I think it’s enough. The book doesn’t present this as a grey area. We’ve seen this kind of stuff play out in real life, and I think this book does do a good job of not trying to go and list all details of his transgressions? We don’t need that. Troy’s reaction is enough for us to know what side is the right one.

The Dallas Kent storyline does take up a lot of the book and plays into the decisions the characters make, but I don’t feel like it necessarily overwhelms it. However, I do question whether anyone else feels like the reactions of the other characters praising Troy for calling out Dallas Kent was weird though? And also, just everything with what Troy was doing on his Instagram account and mentioning he was donating money to the appropriate charities, and even this book being called “Role Model”. Like, he calls out his best friend and is obviously trying to educate himself and be a better person, and that’s great! But it almost feels like they’re putting a different hockey player on a pedestal, even if it’s for doing the right thing is weird. I don’t know. I’m probably not explaining my feelings on that properly. It all just felt iffy. However, I will say that I liked the ending and how that storyline kind of wrapped up. I wonder if we’ll see more of what happens next to Dallas Kent in the next book, or at least some very permanent closure from all of it.

I think for a book about sexual assault and rape as major topics, there should be an inclusion by the author about charities and organizations to support. And maybe a bit longer author’s note addressing all this since the author’s acknowledgement section felt pretty inadequate.

On a happier note, I think it was fun seeing characters from past books again. I loved how they were all weaved into the story and it never felt forced. I do think it’s funny how I keep forgetting that Scott is the oldest of the 20-something players. Hearing that Troy’s hero is Scott??? I love that!

***END OF POSSIBLE SPOILERS***

I really liked this book and it’s definitely my second favorite in this series, only second to my faves Scott and Kip from book one. I know everyone says their fave book is Heated Rivalry, but I haven’t warmed up to their story yet so I’ll give Ilya and Shane another chance in the next book!

But it’s fun that we get Cooper North again for this audiobook because I love his performance as each of these characters! I loved this Troy and Harris. And I think the Russian accent he uses for Ilya is just right and doesn’t overwhelm the character or makes him into a caricature. I know some folks say they want the other narrator back for Shane and Ilya’s book but I want Cooper North back! So, here’s my vote to stick with this narrator to narrate the next book because I can’t imagine these characters with another narrator (I skipped the first 3 books in audiobooks and read them in text instead because that narrator is NOT a fave).

I definitely cried reading this book because the ending was great and emotions are HIGH. Troy and Harris are just so sickeningly sweet and I love them a lot!!! I’m happy that Harris has a loving family and Troy has at least one awesome parent, and that Troy has a chance at finding some REAL friends with the Ottawa team. I’m just really happy Troy and Harris found each other and I can’t wait to see more of them in future books!

Great Book with a Great Narrator

This was my first audible listen and I couldn’t stop listening. The character development is great and by the end I was overcome with emotions. Would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a great M + M romance novel.

So far the best of the series!

This book was charming, full of love, support and respect. How the world is changing. Thirty years ago - I never thought that we would get here. So happy for the young people of today. For the author: thank you for the gift of this book!

this book was amazing and I love this narrator

I love the nearest different voices for each character and it was beautiful and unique

Puppies, rainbows, Love and Joy!

So much fun and a wonderful installment to this series. I really enjoyed Troy and Harris’ story. I can’t wait to catch up with Shane and Illya next.

Sweet Harris

I love this series, but this book was a good surprise. After reading the other books, Troy was not what I had expected. I absolutely love Harris though! Cooper North amazing as always!

Amazing

I absolutely loved it!

It was so great, I loved Troy so much. It was amazing to see how he grew as a person, how his relationship with Harris developed.

It was so sweet and beautiful, I’m just sad that we didn’t get more. I would love to read more about these two.

Absolutely my fave

I love Ilya and Shane, and Ryan and Fabian had me absolutely dying. But Troy and Harris are my favorite. They are too precious. And Jesus, when Troy opens up, I just can’t even handle it. He’s the sweetest. This book has become a comfort read, I have read it 5 times in the past year. LOVE them! And Cooper is great, I think he does better in this one than in Long Game. His Troy is *chef’s kiss*.

Great Series of Stories!

I love hockey and this series of books does not disappoint! I can’t get enough!!

Good riddance Tor Thom!!

Thank God Tor Thom was sacked/dropped as the narrator...just think what a great job Cooper could've done with Shane and Ilya in Heated Rivalry, big sigh 😏. I can only hope Cooper narrates the last book in the series The Long Game 🤞🤞🤞. 4.25 stars.

***Book Review***

Liked Harris, and happy that Troy finally got to come out on his terms. Can only hope that the series finale, book 6, has Ilya and Shane coming out together, getting married and everybody is chuffed to bits for them.

And as for you Dallas Kent...well, what goes around comes around you douchebag, and we can only hope you and Commissioner Crowell get what you deserve.

Nice

Nice story- not as exciting as some of the others in the series. Loved the premise but didn’t feel wholly authentic to the degree that warranted a 6 star review.
With regards the narration I liked it but not a huge fan of how the voice of Harris was depicted- sounded marginally effeminate for someone described as having a booming voice in the story.

Entertaining

Run off the mill MM romance. Performance was ok, only some tiny technical issues and sometimes you hear the narrator swallow.

Enjoyable

I enjoyed listening to this book. I enjoyed Heated Rivalry, which was an earlier book in the series, so I might get the other books in the series, too - but the reviews seem to be lower for those.