The Game Changer

🏒 Hockey Player & Baker / TV Personality 🧁 Friends to Lovers 🏒 Brother’s Best Friend 🧁 Fake Dating 🏒 Dual POV 🧁 Slow Burn 🏒 Mutual Pining REVIEW: There is just something about the circumstances created in a fake dating romance — the so-called pretend intimacy, forced proximity and slow burn realization that the relationship isn’t so fake after all. This book has so many tropes that I love — hockey, fake dating, brother’s best friend, mutual pining?! Don’t mind if I do! This book is a true childhood friends to lovers story that has a nice mixture of mild angst, banter, drama and a few spicy scenes. I did feel that the FMC’s brother kind of stole the show in the chapters that he appeared and deserves his own book. Overall, I had a good time reading this book.

It was refreshing being able to read a childhood friend’s to lovers story with no third act break up. Always good for a little change in angst. I liked the pre-established connection that Ian and Delilah had, and to watch it flourish more. The 🌶️ were blush worthy (especially the shower stall 🙂‍↕️), and their willingness to support each other made for a well balanced development. The only reason it’s not 5⭐️ is because something about the pacing felt off, and I can’t figure out if it’s perhaps just the nature of the conflict and how it came about. Overall, I really enjoyed it though.

Cute story, nothing too remarkable about it but I enjoyed it greatly.

Oh how I absolutely adore Lana Ferguson's books. She has become an auto buy author for me. She gives me everything I want in a book, the chemistry is always there, with some humour and drama. And this time she's given me a hockey player and well this girl loves her hockey romances! Ian Chase is no stranger to the limelight but when a very public breakup becomes a PR nightmare he just wants to escape and focus on his game. When a solution is presented to him in the form of Delilah Baker he finds that his best friends sister is not so little anymore and he is noticing her in a very different way. Delilah is known as 'the darling of baking' on her local cable show so she is used to being in the public eye. But her ratings are low and she's under pressure to turn it around. Panicking Delilah decides to offer up her brother's hockey team to try and increase the ratings. But when they send Ian her way she can't quite believe her eyes. He has been her crush forever and she's never quite gotten over him. Cooking up a storm in the kitchen to increase ratings they soon become a hit and start to turn Ian's reputation around. What starts as a PR stunt soon quickly becomes a reality. I absolutely adored the two characters. They are fun and have a real connection. Their chemistry is hot and there are some great steamy scenes in this book as well as some real vulnerable moments. I love how the author played about and ignored stereotypes and so it was often Delilah comforting the big hockey player as he dealt with some tough situations. I also love how Delilah calls him cupcake. It's a real fun read. And I hope Delilah's brother gets a book as he is funny and feel he deserves a story. Also, I adore this cover! It sums up the characters perfectly.

I enjoyed every bit of this story and hoped and hoped that I would not be annoyed at the end. Yay, I really wasn't. LOL banter, and definitely NSFW scenes (that BTW, I can now read in front of the family without a twitch!), and a premis that was not overdone. I'd love to see a Jack story, & would it be too much to ask for it to be JAbby? He might be ten years older than her, but it could work. I want Abby to be in the family even more. Nice work Lana and thank you for the enjoyment 🥰