ARC Review: Role Model by Rachel Reid

“If you’re looking for a cute story but at the same time with some angst, then this is the book for you.”
~ Under the Covers

I’ve been a little inconsistent reading the books in this series, even though I’ve been enjoying them. So I’m coming into this one having read 2 of the previous 4 books. The good thing about that is the characters that make appearances in this story and are relevant, were the ones I had read about. That being said, ROLE MODEL can work well enough as a standalone.

We immediately meet Troy who is not having the best of times. He was just traded to the Ottawa team and he’s not feeling like that was an improvement in his career. But it was retaliation for him standing up for victims of abuse by a previous teammate and friend. Coming into the new team he’s pretty isolated and feels everyone has a negative image of him. His only “friend” is the team’s social media manager, Harris. An unlikely friendship that slowly turns into more and makes Troy reconsider staying in the closet.

Like I said, I’ve only read 2 books in the series. Heated Rivalry still remains my absolute favorite in the series. This may come in second place for now. ROLE MODEL is a great sunshine and grump pairing. It’s a solid sports romance. I think Rachel Reid does a pretty good job at including the sport while developing the characters and the romance as well as external factors in their lives.

Another important thing to mention is that this book does come with quite a few trigger warnings especially for mentions of rape and sexual assault and even near death experience. For a short and sexy hockey romance, this book tackles some pretty heavy and emotional subjects and does it well.

If you’re looking for a cute story but at the same time with some angst, then this is the book for you. If it’s your first time diving into this series, you’ll definitely want to go and read the rest.