Book 853: Game Changer (Game Changers #1) – Rachel Reid

Now THIS is a hockey novel. Everything the last one I read (Keeping Hope) did wrong, this one did right (especially the epilogues!). And to make it even better, this was kind of like the adult version of Ukazu’s Check, Please! series, with quite a few parallels that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Just like It Takes Two to Tumble, I found this one because Annabeth Albert (always, yes) highly recommended the newest release from Reid’s Game Changers series, Role Model, so of COURSE I was going to read it, because if Albert loves it, it is 100% worth checking out.

Game Changer is the story of Scott, closeted professional hockey player who’s reached the limit of his ability and desire to stay closeted, who meets Kip, out and proud local juice store server who’s just trying to figure out what to do next with his life. Of course, there’s an adorable meet-cute in that Scott comes to the shop gets a smoothie made by Kip and has an awesome game, so he comes back day-after-day and continues to rock on the ice. They end up getting together because Kip goes for the dreamboat guy and Scott takes a chance with a hookup in his home city.

The discussion had escalated to the point that Zullo had informed Scott that his roommate, Brisebois, was ‘a fucking queer anyway,’ and that he ‘could have stayed and learned something.’ That had made Scott mad enough to shove Zullo, and well . . . (Loc. 1,214)

The bulk of the story revolved around Kip’s coming to realize that as much as he was falling for Scott he wasn’t going to be able to cope with basically isolating from his friends and family and being a kept man. It just wasn’t who he was and it put a huge strain on their relationship. And this was the big crises of the novel when Kip finally said that they had to make a plan for Scott coming out or they were done. And they had a big fight and of course Scott did shitty the next few games.

They finally got over themselves and talked and Scott fast tracked his coming out, unexpectedly for both of them at how quickly it happened. Scott knew he couldn’t ask Kip to wait and that meant he had to come out. And the penultimate major scene of the novel must’ve had some sort of influence on Ukazu because they are so similar. Scott’s team wins the Stanley Cup (yes, I had to go look up to make sure I spelled it correctly) and next thing we know he’s kissing Kip and coming out to the entire world.

The sex scenes were great, but what really carried the novel for me was the humor throughout and the way Reid wrote Scott and Kip’s love for each other even early on. This scene before anyone but Kip’s best friend Elena knew was perfectly written:

Elena gently hit his arm, which caused him to turn back to her. ‘Stop staring!’ she hissed.
‘Okay! Can—can he see me? Has he spotted me yet?’
‘Not yet. You guys need to be a lot stealthier if you’re going to fool anyone.’
‘What are you talking about? I’m fine. Has he looked yet?’
‘No. But if he does come over here—Okay, he sees you.’
‘How can you tell?’
‘Because he just lit up like the goddamn sun. Jesus. You guys are doomed.’ (Loc. 2,002)

I mean the rest of the scene was great, but this passage was hilarious and just nailed it perfectly. The close second was after Scott came out to his three best friends on the team and Carter, after being stunned for a few minutes, just runs with it:

‘Hey,’ Bennett said, after they separated, ‘what’s his name?’
Scott grinned. ‘Kip.’
Carter looked suddenly delighted. ‘Kip!” he said. ‘That is the cutest fucking thing I’ve ever heard! Are you kidding me with that shit?’
‘Thank god,’ Huff said. ‘I thought you were gonna say you were secretly dating Rozanov.’
‘Rozanov wishes,’ Scott said. (Loc. 3,936)

By this point, I assumed Rozanov would be one of the protagonists of the next book in the series (Heated Rivalry), and he is.

I also made a point, after I found out there was one, to read the author’s short story follow-up to the book. Titled Merry Christmas Scott and Kip it takes place a couple of months after the main storyline and works as a wonderful epilogue to the story. I nearly died laughing at the main scene because of Kip’s family and Scott’s total obliviousness to how he came across was just perfect.

Recommendation: YES, PLEASE! I will most definitely read this entire series. I was a little hesitant after seeing some of the reviews, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Add in that it was recommended by my favorite MM Romance author (Annabeth Albert), that’s a definite yes from me. I can’t wait to see how Reid handles different tropes, but you can’t go wrong with this one 😀

Opening Line: “Tuesday, January 14, was the day Kip Grady learned that loud blenders and hangovers didn’t mix.”

Closing Line: “‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘Let’s do that.’ (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)

Additional Quotes from Game Changer
“Like how we’re sitting in his personal seats because he personally gave you his personal tickets when he visited you at work for the third time this week?” (Loc. 279)

“Scott stroked the backs of his fingers over Kip’s face. ‘It’s completely selfish, actually. I want to see you in a tux that was tailored to your gorgeous body. I might not be able to dance with you that night, but you’ll know I’ll be wishing I was.'” (Loc 1,067)

“‘I’m talking about how you have exactly three minutes to eat that dessert because I am getting you back to my place as soon as fucking possible.’
‘What, no coffee?’
‘I’ll make you coffee in the goddamn morning.'” (Loc. 4,253)

“He needed to get out of here, or make peace with the fact that he was going to fuck Kip against a wall in front of god and Ilya Rozanov.” (Loc. 4,585)