Red-Haired Ash Reads

Pro hockey player Ryan Price may be an enforcer, but off the ice he struggles with anxiety and the reality that he doesn’t want to fight. He was recently traded to the Toronto Guardians and is determined to try and make some real connections this time, and living in the city’s LGBTQ village will help. What he doesn’t expect is to run into his childhood crush in the neighborhood or to quickly fall for him as they renew their friendship. 

I was instantly sucked into Ryan’s story. His struggles with anxiety, the side effects of his mediation, and his struggle to find happiness in his career were all very relatable.  Ryan was adorable! I loved him so much. I love that we have such a giant burly man who is really a sweetheart who doesn’t have an aggressive mentality. Ryan’s struggles with his anxiety were very relatable and I loved seeing how he coped with it and how Fabian ended up helping him deal with it better at times. 

Fabian was a sassy, sweet, and accepting man who really did everything he could to take care of Ryan and I loved it. From the beginning Fabian doesn’t hide that he hates hockey, and I liked that he was upfront about it. I really loved how Fabian worked to make Ryan comfortable with his body and with sex. He repeatedly showed Ryan how wonderful or a person he was and made him realize he deserved better from his coaches and teammates, and from himself too. 

Ryan and Fabian had an adorably sweet relationship that was filled with a lot of beautiful moments. I adored how Fabian showed Ryan that it was ok that he had issues around sex and that they could still have fun. He really showed Ryan that sex doesn’t always need to revolve around a release and that they can still fill fulfilled by doing other things, which I absolutely love to see in a romance. 

Overall, this was another fantastically emotional queer romance filled with great mental health representation. I really enjoyed Ryan and Fabian’s relationship and how it fights assumptions about looks and people. I look forward to reading the next book now.

TW: anxiety and panic attacks; homomisia; self esteem issues; drug addiction and overdose; death from overdose; violence;

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Previous books and reviews for the series:

1. Game Changer
2. Heated Rivalry