This book was perfect. I didn’t think it was possible to exceed my expectations after Heated Rivalry, but it did. 

Wow.  It took me eleven days to finish this book, and while I could say part of it is because I had other things to do, part of it is because I didn't want the series to end and I knew it would with this book.  I loved it, even if I wanted to smack Shane in the head with a 2-by-4 for parts of it.  I grumbled a little bit in my review of the previous book about how Ilya was popping up a little too often for my liking as some all-knowing oracle, but seeing him here, understanding better what he was going through...he needed the connection because he felt he didn't have anyone, and that broke my heart.  His reluctance to seek help and tell Shane the truth struck home because even though he'd started a charity to help people with mental health issues, he still felt the stigma himself. 

When he had to accept that even finding success on the ice, coming out as bisexual and having his relationship with Shane acknowledged publicly wasn't enough to lift his depression was absolutely perfect.  I think people who don't live with depression don't understand that it isn't as simple as "do better" or "pick yourself back up again."  There's so much more to it than that, and kudos to Rachel Reid for making that clear with Ilya's experience in this book.

To be honest, the only thing that frustrated me, and it did knock the score of this book down slightly, was the obvious manipulation of Shane's ending. 

Shane had been with Montreal for ten years, and had been with Ilya the entire time.  Not once could his integrity as a competitor be called into question, but all of the sudden, because they'd gone public, people thought he'd intentionally tripped up at a crucial moment in the playoffs so Ilya would win.  To be honest, I wasn't sure I entirely bought it, although the reaction made it awfully convenient for Shane to walk in his free agent year and end up with Ilya in Ottawa.  And this was following the whole overreaction in the locker room to his relationship with Ilya in the first place.  I can understand it from his best friend (J.J.) who, by the way, is a complete asshole for not backing him up on the playoff thing.  After all, Shane didn't tell him when he told their other friend, and that hurts.  But the others?  Especially compared to how calmly everyone in the Ottawa locker room took the news?  Again, it was beyond obvious why it was happening.

The problem is that because this is Ilya's book more than Shane's, we don't get a real sense of the atmosphere in Montreal that led to these moments.  We're told but not shown what it's like for Shane there, and we hardly know any of his teammates.  Perhaps the reaction of Ilya's teammates is no more realistic than that of Shane's, but at least there's more of a set-up for the former.  We've gotten to know the team, the players, and we've seen their reaction to Troy and Harris (in the previous book) so we know it's more likely that they'll accept Ilya dating a rival.

Aside from that, this was a fantastic book and, from what I've read on the author's website, the ending of the series.  I look forward to reading whatever comes next from her.