"Every book in the series follows the exact same narrative structure." and "certain body parts are described, maybe not how people who have those body parts might describe them." You hit the nail on the head, Jack

"I already chose you, Hollander" makes me cry every single time I reread The Long Game. Truly the best of the series. 😭 ❤

now i really need you to interview Hudson and Connor

Jack, we have ALLLLLLL tried to listen to game Changer on audio and ALLLLLL unanimous agreed the accent is horrible 😂😂😂😂

your qualifications exceed the requirement for this task 🙏🙏

it’s not surprising that jacob chose heated rivalry in particular to adapt. shane and ilya definitely make the most interesting couple in this universe

edit: when i say interesting i meant the whole two rivaling top athletes in an intense sport and culture like hockey who are dealing with their own personal and shared stakes while being in love and being in the public eye has a lot of interesting elements to adapt into visual media. not about which book is most well written

It's not just Rachel Reid's formula. It's the formula of the entire romance genre. The formula is actually the appeal for most romance readers.

i wonder how jacob tierney read this and saw the opportunity he did… he really added depth, in my opinion

can we have a "I read every book Hudson Williams has recommended" pretty pretty please 🥺🥺🥺💕

100% agree with your ranking. Also, while these are not great literature (by any means), they're fun palate cleansers (from heavier narrratives) and really satisfying once you've watched "Heated Rivalry" and need more of that world. I generally steer away from romance books, but I read all 6 gamechangers on a 2-wk vacation in March. Fun for what they are. Glad I'd seen the TV series first. Also glad to get into Ilya's head a bit. That was a nice bonus. Still find some of these men overly "talky" in instances where they likely wouldn't be. I think showrunner Jacob Tierney does an excellent job in streamlining dialogue and "showing not telling" with facial expressions, etc. Finally, mirror scene for the win!

have i read these books? no. have i watched the show? no. am i still here watching this whole video? yes.

I think for me the best bit in both Heated Rivalry and Role Model is their explorations of the main characters internalised homophobia, particularly in Role Model that was done really really well imo

I actually 100% agree with you about Game Changer. That is the book where I found myself thinking multiple times "they did this story more justice and with more nuance in one full episode + a scene of a tv show than she did in this whole book."

TLG: In addition to Ilya being in a place where the main language isn’t his first language, Ottawa also has a ton of French speakers and when he’s visiting Shane in Montreal, French is the main language. Compared to Boston, language would be even more of a barrier for Ilya in this part of Canada.

I'm pretty sure Rachel Reid knows that she followed the same narrative structure almost every time because these books very much follow the romance genre conventions :D

I never tought I’d witness this

id love to see tough guy as an episode cause i love how they cover Ryan and his mental health and the death of that other player, also seeing Ilya at the funeral basically no one went to

I've never clicked on a video so fast

I think Tough Guy is actually my favorite, because I felt that the dynamic between Ryan and Fabian had the most layers. And (spoiler) he quits hockey! Like, he actually quits and is fundamentally changed and emboldened by his relationship with Fabian. I think a lot of other writers would have swept Fabian's real concerns under the rug and had everything be "fixed" by Ryan moving teams again or finally being respected for his hockey skills and not just fighting, but Reid stuck with it.

I'm definetely stealing the ,It's not just cheesy, but an entire charcuterie board' line