Review by mirandyli - The Long Game

mirandyli 's review for:

The Long Game by Rachel Reid

4.0

emotional lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I give zero fucks about sports but for some reason this hockey story has me hooked!

Shane and Ilya are still painfully closeted throughout most of this book. If anything, this book was too fucking real with regards to how homophobic the NHL is. Getting outed was just the shitty icing on the rotten homophobic cake.

I did love the juxtaposition of Ilya having almost no support until he’s outed, then his whole team supports him, vs Shane having lots of support until he’s outed, then his whole team shuns him. That was an interesting dynamic. The bitches on Shane’s team had me lining up with Yuna to beat everyone’s ass!!!

Ilya can be stereotypically toxically masculine at times, like when he insists he doesn’t need help with his mental health. Simultaneously he flips the toxic masculinity trope, like when he tells Hayden’s son that it’s ok to paint his nails, and paints his own nails to prove it. His mental health journey was interesting to follow.

Anyway… this was a great sappy read that has me caring about sports all of a sudden.