Role Model, by Rachel Reid

Another month, another Game Changers review; with this, we’re almost done, and what a ride has it been! Beware: rape culture in ice hockey and sports generally; widespread misogyny in sports, and homophobia in professional hockey; protagonist with a congenital heart defect; mention of severe childhood illnesses in a hospital setting; explicit sex between consenting adults. Role Model, by Rachel Reid In this, the fifth novel in the Game Changers book series, we go to Ottawa, where a certain Ilya Rozanov has spent the last couple of years as captain of the Centaurs. This, however, is not his story: it’s November 2019 and, with the season well under way, we follow the adventures of one Troy Barrett, formerly a starting forward for the Toronto Guardians, who readers of the series first met as a minor character in Tough Guy. Disgraced in the eyes of the powers that be, and undergoing a very private misery, Troy just wants to play hockey, and perhaps dig his way up and off this team,…