Stop Letting the Spice Get In the Way of a Good Story

A little while back, I read and reviewed Game Changer the first novel in Rachel Reid's massively popular and bestselling Heated Rivalry series. Recently developed into a television series for HBO Max, the novels in the series tells the stories of male ice hockey players who experience same sex attraction and their romantic lives. While the majority of the novels and bulk of the television series focuses on a secret relationship between two players from rival teams, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, Game Changer is the story of hockey player Scott Hunter who encounters university graduate Kip Grady who is underemployed and working at a smoothie bar. What starts as a pregame ritual of drinking smoothies for Scott soon develops into secret romance between the pair, eventually culminating in Scott being the first hockey player in his league to be an openly gay man. And thus setting up the rest of the series as other romances in the hockey world begin to blossom. It's a great premise. It is just let down by one thing. And I think it is worth talking about.

The author does not have a great ability to develop tension either in the romantic lives of her characters or during the ice hockey games, both things which can and should be of the greatest importance of a sports themed romance novel. Instead of allowing the romance between Shane and Kip to build and reach maximum potential, the author takes things to the bedroom by page 51 in a book that is roughly 300 pages. From there, the sex scenes become increasingly repetitive, all with the same level of detail and without adding anything terribly much to the plot. Meanwhile, the descriptions of the ice hockey matches are relatively short. The novel ends on a pleasing note though, and sets the premise up for the rest of the series.

And, obviously, there are plenty of people enjoying the books for what they are. Game Changer is hardly groundbreaking, especially in this day and age, for its heavy erotic content. 

However, I feel that sometimes books like this sell the reader short. What we're getting is a depiction of two people and their sex lives with a decent premise and a happily ever after thrown in to make it look and feel like a novel. There's no research, world building or building of romantic tension or character development within the story. I am also far from the first book blogger to point this out. Take for example:

Gay Love Through the Female Gaze by Ted Ryan 

 The Novel Approach Reviews: Game Changer by Rachel Reid

https://www.pleasereadittome.com/home/why-the-game-changers-series-works-even-when-it-shouldnt 

Of course, it is worth remembering that these books are written for entertainment and were initially published by a small, ebook imprint of Harlequin and were republished and the film rights sold due to their popularity. And there is nothing wrong with reading books purely for entertainment. But there is, a problem, however, when it allows standards to drop. Consider what makes for a great book. Entertainment is important. But so too are books that tell a story and allow readers to develop empathy for the characters and their situations. If you've read and enjoyed Game Changer or Heated Rivalry, why not try something a bit more complex for your next read such as Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman or The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M Danforth.