Tough Guy

Rachel Reid
Completed 3/18/2026, Reviewed 3/18/2026
4 stars

This is the third book in the Game Changer series, aka Heated Rivalry.  This is also spicy M/M hockey romance.  I was initially worried I would find more of the same, but the plot is very different.  I was pleasantly surprised that I devoured this book in a matter of hours (a few last night, the rest this morning).  It’s a very sweet romance between a big, burly, anxiety-ridden ginger enforcer and his slender, makeup-wearing crush from when they were seventeen in a small town in Nova Scotia.  An enforcer is a defense player whose main job is to get into fights on the ice to protect his teammates.  It’s a toxic job and both characters struggle with its implications.

Ryan is the enforcer.  He’s a 6’7” bearded ginger who is kind of out, but really just doesn’t talk about it.  He is on heavy anti-anxiety and anti-depression meds which severely affect his sexual performance.  At the age of thirty-one, he has been traded almost annually between hockey teams.  The last trade was after a meltdown on the ice.  In his new team hometown of Toronto, he runs into the guy whose family he stayed with for a year during his junior career.  Fabian is the same age.  He’s almost the complete opposite, an indie musician and femboy who likes makeup and lacy things, trying to make ends meet working in a pharmacy.  Despite hating most of the junior hockey players who boarded with his family, Fabian had a huge crush on Ryan, who was quiet, polite, and friendly towards him.  When they run into each other all these years later, they can’t believe their eyes.  They exchange phone numbers, despite Ryan’s painful shyness.  After a few tentative texts and meetings, they let their old passions take over.  They are falling for each other, but both believe they are not right for each other.  Fabian hates hockey because of the toxic environment he grew up in, and because of the innate violence.  Ryan believes a man as beautiful as Fabian would never fall for a pathetically introverted oaf whose job is to beat up people.  Thus is the conflict that threatens their bourgeoning relationship.

The best aspect of this book is how the characters deal with mental illness.  This theme eventually ties into the mental health foundation that Shane and Ilya created in Heated Rivalry.  I was surprised and pleased to see it appear so prominently in this book.  Ryan is lovable and damaged.  There’s a beautiful scene on a plane to another game where his only friend among his teammates, Wyatt, talks him through his severe anxiety during takeoff and landing.  At the pharmacy, Fabian cues into Ryan’s anxiety and takes the lead in the mostly one-sided conversation.  It’s awkward, but also very sweet.  The scene makes you fall for both of them.  

I really liked how Reid came up with different plots for each book so far.  They’re similar in that there is some kind of conflict that may keep the two men apart.  Toxic masculinity in male team sports runs through all the books as well.  But the circumstances in each book are different enough to keep you turning the pages.  You can pooh-pooh this as romantic fluff, but the issues that the main characters deal with are very real and unique to the circumstances.  I give this book four stars out of five.  I could barely put it down and my heart was so warmed by the end.  Definitely a strong addition to the series.