Role Model

Reid keeps on scoring in her fifth hockey-themed Game Changers romance (after Common Goal), which kicks off as closeted Troy Barrett is traded to the Ottawa Centaurs. Troy is still reeling after confronting Dallas Kent, his former teammate and ex-best friend, over accusations that Dallas is a sexual predator. He’s also reevaluating the homophobic persona and bad behavior their friendship brought out in him. Troy is initially ill-at-ease in Ottawa, but he has an ally in the team’s captain, series regular (and Reid’s charming secret weapon) Ilya Rozanov. He also soon develops a crush on the team’s out and proud social media manager, Harris Drover. As Troy spends time with Harris, driving around looking at Christmas lights, the men silently acknowledge their attraction. But it takes a near-death experience for them give in to their passions. Obstacles to their happy ending come in subplots about Harris’s heart condition and Troy’s homophobic father, though these threads go slightly underdeveloped. Instead, it’s Troy’s need to figure out how to live authentically as an openly gay athlete that drives this gratifying coming-out story. Series fans will feel right at home. [em]Agent: Deidre Knight, the Knight Agency. (Aug.) [/em]