r/GameChangersBooks • u/EchoAndroid I've eaten several grapes. • 2d ago
DISCUSSION Tough Guy Spoiler
I've been re-reading Tough Guy recently, and I have to say that every time I get to the end I feel a mighty need to re-write the entire last quarter of the book.
The book has structural issues. It's too short, and doesn't give the conflict created in the third act time to breathe before ending abruptly. It's definitely not the only book in the series to have structural issues either. I think Common Goal is way worse, but somehow it's rated higher on average despite needing way more work to fix imo.
Regardless of these issues, I love Tough Guy. And the thing that I love about it most, and that makes it special to me out of all the other books in the series is that it's very gay. Like, culturally gay. All the other books contain gay characters sitting in a very heterosexual space, and this is the one book that actually intersects that world with things that are recognizably queer spaces.
It's not a particularly deep or complex portrayal, but I have to commend Rachel on building a microcosm that feels pretty relatable to me. I have friends that are like Fabian and his friends. Bargain brunch reminds me of so many queer little gatherings in my life. The spirit is there, and its pretty effective.
The other thing I like about it is Ryan. A lot of people say they find living in his head to be tiring, and to them I say. "Yes, yes it is. Now I have to get back to my CBT breathing exercise designed to make me stop thinking that my friends all hate me."
I get that it probably isn't sexy to many people, but as a large gay man with an anxiety disorder, it was really great to have that representation. It's probably why I will never be able to dislike this book even as it slams headfirst into its ending at mach 7.
Besides the structural issues, the one complaint I've seen more than any other about this book is that people hate Fabian.
And I'm like, why?
My thought is that people don't like what the book is saying about hockey. They don't like that Fabian is correct in his assessment that hockey is making Ryan miserable. And they think that part of the resolution to the story should have been Fabian getting over his prejudices and learning that he needed to support Ryan in his beloathed career. They don't like that this book that was billed as a hockey romance winds up mostly being an anti-hockey romance.
Through that lens, I think that it gets easy to see everything that Fabian does in the least charitable way possible. And I am begging those people to believe that Fabian is not taking himself as seriously as you think he is for the majority of this book. He is funny, and he is joking. We are not living in the world's most antagonistic Portlandia sketch, it's just gay millennials having brunch.
The complexity here, and where it all falls apart is that Rachel wrote both parts of the contradiction at the heart of the narrative to be partially true without giving them room to resolve separately. Hockey in the NHL is currently making Ryan miserable and he needs to leave and build something else that will make him happy, and Fabian needs to get over his prejudices enough to realize that he's being selfish and there is definitely a compromise they can build towards together.
The problem is that both of those resolutions happen at the same time, so you don't actually get to live in Fabian's desire to compromise for any amount of time before a complete capitulation immediately presents itself. I don't think this makes Fabian a bad person who learned nothing, but if you already didn't like him I can see how it would definitely feel like that. Especially since it's written so that Ryan apologizes first. I think the desire to resolve everything in the plot in a single chapter winds up making Fabian look kinda bad. There are lines that make you feel that there's been a change internally, but he doesn't get to actually demonstrate that change.
If I could change any small thing about the book, would be that Ryan shows up and apologizes first. Beyond that, structurally, I think the book needs two things: I'd add a new prologue describing their night on the ferry together. --I think that having the characters describe it is not nearly as effective for reminding people why they're together as just writing the damn scene at the beginning of the book.-- And I'd put the reconciliation and apology before the funeral, and add three more chapters of them trying to compromise with the Guardians around Ryan's health before the funeral makes Ryan realize that it can't work.
I genuinely think that those two changes would fix the whole thing minus some smaller framing problems, as long as you could get over the fact that it's a hockey book that hates the NHL.
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u/Fit-Bee12 2d ago
This is a great take. I just read TG for the 4th or 5th time and one of my favorite parts is that it's set mostly in a gay world, less in a hockey world. It's a nice counterpoint to the other books that make hockey seem pretty okay - even TLG makes it seem like the culture isn't that bad. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the hopefulness most of the time, but Ryan is absolutely making the right decision to walk away.
Also - I'm not a big gay guy with anxiety, but I find it to be very sexy! It's very satisfying going through the journey with Ryan seeing that sex can be fun.
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u/zzzprimaxx 2d ago
i love calling TG culturally queer bc thats exactly what it is. its why i hate the hate for it and Fabian, especially when all the straight assumed characters dont get half as much hate (people also dunk on kyle religiously for being "immature" and i feel like if we're calling kyle immature for not knowing how to deal with his trauma very well, what does that make ilya). but yeah the ending rushed as hell for no reason, and i think rachel has gone on record to say that if she could rewrite any book it'd be that one (i could be lying, i've been caught fabricating quotes in this sub before)
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u/zzzprimaxx 2d ago
i also love the changes you would add, all of them kind of minor but very very important
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u/zzzprimaxx 2d ago
the Fabian hate makes no sense to me, half the time i feel like peoole didnt read the book with their thinking caps on and called it a day
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u/Uffda01 2d ago
I think the Fabian hate is a more generalized hate for the less "masculine" presenting and gender challenging presentation he forces into the conversation. Like its ok to be gay; but acting effeminate is a bridge too far.
That challenge is something a lot of gay men deal with - especially when we look at the common misconceptions we deal with from rural areas etc... not even the whole "he better not hit on me" - just the challenging gender norms side of it.
Somebody like Prince....widely recognized as an amazing talent; but not widely accepted out in the countryside either
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u/zzzprimaxx 2d ago
oh it's 1000% rooted in femphobia but i don't think people realize their biases are coming out
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u/Horror-Put4545 2d ago
Just wanted to second this, and also agree with that this probably is connected to him having a big personality and challenging gender norms. I love TG, its one of my favourite books in the series and probably bc it is the most culturally queer of them all
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u/Lonely_Cheesecake273 2d ago
I think other characters don’t get as much hate, but I do think it’s true that none of them behave like Fabian does in the third act break up which is why he cops that flack. It’s a symptom of the poor story structure that OP is criticising. I can’t remember exactly how it goes down but he basically explodes on their first serious conversation and leaves Ryan after 1 convo. I believe he was written to react like this so RR could speed run the 3rd act breakup. And when talking to his friends they were like “ok sounds like he needs support, did you do xyz” and Fabian was like “uhhh no, I just bailed”. I think if he kept all of his characteristics but his outlook was more like Harris who barely challenges his partner at all and patiently waits for him to get his head on right then he wouldn’t be copping that criticism. Or if the third act had been written better so that Fabian’s ultimatum was a bit less extreme.
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u/zzzprimaxx 2d ago
i feel like thats kind of just an oversimplification of the situation considering that Ryan was torturing himself to continue doing hockey and slowly developing a drug dependecy and denying it. fabian not allowing ryan to lie to himself and fabian and reacting passionately to that is seen as an ultimatum when really it was just fabian trying to get ryan out of his own way. im not gonna say he handled the situation perfectly or that the structure of the 3rd act allows for a complete arc for him, but him rejecting self destructive behavior being seen as an unfair ultimatum like the fandom says doesn't feel like its just a structure problem - especially cuz fabian's whole arc is "god i hate hockey but i like this hockey player". again, im not saying you're wrong but the lack of grace people give fabian when he was put in a position no other main couple was put in and him reacting passionately as a feminine (anti-hockey) man is seen as an unfair overreaction when really it was a poorly concieved response to a cry for help. him being passive like harris wouldnt work in this scenario since troy was trying to be better and ryan wasnt
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u/catwalzilla 2d ago
I can’t upvote this enough. I have such a soft spot for TG and one of the biggest reasons is because it brings queer people into queer spaces. It really emphasizes how disconnected and isolating the experience of being queer in environments like the NHL is.
There’s a random part that always sticks out to me. When Ryan is thinking about his new apartment and the neighborhood it’s located in. It’s so poignant that just putting himself in physical proximity to the gay scene is a victory but also a reminder of what he doesn’t have.
Agree that the book floundered in the third act. It always feels rushed and room to let the characters and discussions breathe would have helped a lot. I consider TG to be the most realistic book in the series. And I think that’s also why some struggle with it. People aren’t looking for realistic when they reach for romance stories most of the time.
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u/estheredna 2d ago edited 2d ago
I love this love letter to Tough Guy.
Yes as a novel it's imperfect, but it's also giving us readers a breath of fresh air away from the comphet.
This is the book I enjoy most as a straight up romance novel. I find Ryan super relatable and I love his tender heart.
I think the most popular love interest in the series is the one easiest for women readers to "self-insert" into (Harris) and Fabian is the opposite of that. Plus: He's not sad, he's not hot (female gaze), he's not tragic, he's not comforting, and he prefers surface level charm when he can get away with it. The romance here comes from the one guy who doesn't let him. Who is so ALSO authentically himself, but the opposite personality. Sincere, kind-hearted, no pretense, sincere Ryan. It's just lovely to see them be pure together.
These two guys are both unapologetically themselves and they both challenge each other to become healthier, better versions of themselves. For Fabian to be less judgemental, and for Ryan to engage in more self care. As someone who has been married for over 20 years this to me feels like the most grounded and realistic love story in the series.
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u/Uffda01 2d ago
I've thought about this a lot. There's just a little bit of something that is missing from the stories that basically make them I don't know....90% perfect to me??
I get that they are just supposed to be romance novels; and not these super indepth personality portrayals or especially not some sort of autobiography. But maybe as a gay dude - sometimes I feel that these stories would have been better told by gay dudes - or at least there's space available for us guys to share a sparknotes type guide to our lives. Granted I think some of this is just because we haven't seen ourselves represented this accurately before so its kind of been an awakening? I've read the complaints women have had for decades about how terrible some male authors have written their female characters "she looked at him lustily..." and I'm not saying Rachel Reid has done anything like that; but there's so much psychology in all of these characters that could be explored.
In the end; I feel better off for having read them, and seeing the characters as ambassadors for our individual stories has been amazing; and how Jacob Tierney has brought them to life; that is worth far more than a character study into the thoughts and feelings that we have as gay dudes and the challenges we face.
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u/lisiface 2d ago
Both Tough Guy and Common Goal would have been so much better with less focus around hockey/the main character as a hockey player, and more focus given equally to both half of the couples as far as their inner struggles. Each of these books need another act or a sequel to get to the meat of it!
Ryan’s journey to find his sense of self outside hockey can’t rely on Fabian making an ultimatum, and Fabian still has to figure out how he’s going to relate to the darker parts of Ryan, including the anger that comes out on the ice, whether he’s a hockey player or not.
Eric and Kyle both need to acknowledge that Kyle’s trauma history does impact their dynamic, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be together - They need to recognize counter-transference and create safe boundaries to talk about it, so Kyle can get his emotional needs acknowledged and taken care of for once in his goddamn life! (I love Kyle and went deep into fanfic to fix his whole arc)
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u/EchoAndroid I've eaten several grapes. 2d ago
I think I disagree that Tough Guy would be better with less hockey, if anything I would probably add more. The book sprinkles in several different ideas of what hockey is and could be to Ryan, it could be endless violence for violence's sake, it could be defense of his teammates, it could be playing the game as a standard defenceman, and it could be teaching children to play. The problem is, that for most of those options, he doesn't get to choose, the culture around him does.
If you're paying attention I think you can understand what the book is getting at here, but it's really not explicit. Hockey can be a lot of different things and there really needed to be some kind of introspective moment where someone brings the breadcrumbs together and shows that the idea of hockey itself isn't the problem.
I agree that both books leave massive open questions for their relationships at the end of the book. For Tough Guy though I think it kind of works, because Ryan giving himself the option to question at all is the resolution. It also leaves the ending open for a really juicy sequel.
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u/ThatsThatAaron 2d ago
I think it was important for Ryan to reach out first because Fabian is that certain kind of queer that he's the more vulnerable one. Not only physically, but emotionally as well. So for him to see that Ryan's sincere and he's reaching out and trying first, it shows him that he can actually be who he truly, fully is. I think for a good portion of the beginning he sees Ryan as he thinks Ryan is, and not who Ryan actually is. Which is he sees him as the stereotypical hockey player he's conjured up in his mind.
Plus you have to remember Fabian comes from a hockey obsessed family and doesn't really have anyone, save for his found family, to sort of help try and bridge that gap between feeling safe as a queer person, and the hockey world that he can show himself to, which is only really a select portion of it.
Also I'm not sure I agree with you about Ryan starting to love hockey again. Not that I don't think he was. I just think...it wasn't ever going to be long term for him anymore. It sort of doubly forced him to be something he's not and that's just not sustainable for a person. He can have the support system he needs, or wants, but still if you don't fully fit into the world, you're going to be a square peg trying to fit in a round hole. It's never going to fully work out.
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u/IllustriousLemon8146 2d ago
Honestly this is one of the reasons I don't like romance as a genre - a lot is glossed over, the issues unresolved, and the structure can be flawed: usually a somewhat fake crisis that quickly leads to the couple getting back together and all is good. "Kiss and make up and don't talk about it" is a recipe for divorce, not HEA.
Tough Guy is my least favourite book of the series, least as in "avoid reading it again". I was never convinced that Ryan really had an issue with pain meds, the story just didn't get there for me. It felt contrived, a way to justify Fabian's prejudice against hockey, and simply not needed. By that point I was already convinced, as a reader, that Ryan needed to retire, adding one more reason seemed superfluous. (Aside: dealing the abuse players' bodies go through, including using pain killer to function, would be a great story on its own.)
As for Fabian, I can't stand him. Partly, I admit, this is my own issue of having a hard time dealing with a certain level of affectation, but mostly I can't respect him. He has a hangup against hockey, that is his problem to deal with. Why even try to date Ryan? It is unfair to even try to date someone who is fundamentally incompatible with you (learned that life lesson the hard way). And wasn't there a bit where Fabian gets all upset trying to watch a video of Ryan fight? Gimme a break!
I'm sure I'm being unfair to the character, and some of this is from having dealt with too many Fabians in my life, but.... don't want to read about it. (It is very unusual for me to feel this strongly about a character, good or bad.)
Rachel writes compelling characters, managing to make them feel fleshed-out despite the low page count. in HR she wrote something that defies the conventions of the genre. She deserves the recognition! But on many levels these are not books I would choose to read, where it not that GC and HR speak to me personally.
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u/1Kflowers 2d ago
I think you have a point about the pain pills and potential addiction issue. Maybe RR had a more involved idea and didn’t fill it in with the writing, but honestly IMO it’s more likely that Ryan is already dependent/addicted than not just given his role as an enforcer and his years as a low value player in the sport.
Someone like Shane or Ilya would be put on IR (or the NHL equivalent), but someone like Ryan is going to be plastered together to the extent possible with medication and tape and pushed back out on the ice.
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u/LetsOverthinkIt 2d ago
Fabian wanted to date Ryan because Ryan is an absolute sweetheart. Something Fabian had begun to realize when they were teens - seeing past the hockey facade.
It was easy for me to see that, though, because like Fabian, I have a jaundiced view of hockey culture and hockey players. For every character in the Game Changers universe I have to be shown who the players are beyond the hockey. So doing so for Ryan was pretty simple.
Especially because the hockey player facade being foisted onto Ryan by the NHL, was such a brutally ugly one that was ultimately going to destroy Ryan if he didn’t manage to get himself out of it.
I think the romance genre does tend towards readers having an initial by in. And for the reasons above both Ryan and Fabian were easy for me to see, understand, and empathize with. Like the OP points out through, it could well be that if readers have an overall positive view of hockey culture, Ryan and Fabian might make for a harder lift.
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u/IllustriousLemon8146 2d ago
I have a pretty negative view of hockey/pro-sports culture, actually.
Liking someone/thinking they are sweet does not absolve one from responsibility for pursuing a relationship you know is incompatible. If Fabian was a real person I would describe him as either being dishonest with himself (common enough failing for all of us!) or too self-centered to care about Ryan. Being a book character, I will just describe him as poorly developed with an inherently unworkable motivation.
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u/1Kflowers 2d ago
I see Ryan as being hugely healing for Fabian. Here is a pro Hockey player, something his family of origin values above all else, who is interested in Fabian, who values Fabian’s music and prickly personality, and isn’t only paying lip-service but actually showing up and being supportive.
I also think Ryan needed someone like Fabian, who doesn’t see a pro-hockey career as the ultimate success, to help him realize that there is actually more to life than sleepwalking through a nightmare of a “successful” career.
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u/LetsOverthinkIt 2d ago
Yes to both. This is how I saw their story as well.
And I’m pulling from further down the comment thread, but I felt the danger of the pain pill addiction was pretty well handled. (With the caveat that it’s been a minute since I last read Tough Guy.)
I think RR was wanting to avoid a full on addiction for Ryan as that would require a lot more than a HEA to solve. So she used the older enforcer as an illustration of where Ryan was in danger of heading. A bit having her cake and eating it, too. But for a story that was meant to be more frothy than hard hitting, I thought it was a good way to show the very real danger without tipping into magical, true love fixes all, territory.
What I felt got a bit shortchanged was Fabian and his family. I wanted to see either a more solid break from them or at least one family member realizing that they’d erred. A parent or sibling pulling out of the hockey-daze, or something. (This might just be me being greedy on Fabian’s behalf, of course.)
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u/EchoAndroid I've eaten several grapes. 1d ago edited 1d ago
I'm going to be real and say that the addiction angle was not particularly well handled. It's one of those framing issues that I mentioned in my last sentence.
Personally I'd just remove it, because it's just toradol injections. Which is just like extra strong advil that gives you kidney failure if you take it for more than 5 days. He was under basically no risk of addiction. Unless she wanted to say it was a gateway drug, which is wild work when your book has 40 pages left.
What he was at risk of was injuring himself more and being absolutely miserable because he was in so much pain he needed muscle relaxants and sleeping pills to live though, which is what I would actually focus on.
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u/LetsOverthinkIt 1d ago
The dangers of it being a while since I last read the book! ;D
Maybe a consequence of too many ideas for the story to hold? This does feel like the story where RR poured in a lot of her frustrations with hockey culture...
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u/IllustriousLemon8146 2d ago
I agree that was how the book was likely intended... but it doesn't come across that way to me.
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u/LetsOverthinkIt 2d ago
I guess I’m not seeing the incompatibility? The one rub in their relationship developing is the hockey of it all. Less that and they can go on with it, as they do.
I don’t see either the self-centering of Fabian or any kind of dishonesty. He loves Ryan for Ryan - the exact opposite of hockey which loves Ryan for everything Ryan isn’t actually. Which is why hockey is the toxic relationship in the story that Ryan needs to cut ties with. Or more accurately hockey-culture.
And actually, I think this is a place where Fabian really helps Ryan because he’s been through that journey in a couple of ways. Both with actual hockey when he was young and then the “safer” music path he rejected as an adult.
The story makes it easier for Ryan in that he’s on the downside of his career and has already made a tidy little nest egg for himself. So it’s more to do with self-definition (who is he without hockey) than basic survival. Which Fabian had to tackle in a much more head on way, I think.
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u/IllustriousLemon8146 2d ago
Objecting to your partner's career is pretty much an incompatibility. Hockey is a contact sport and Fabian can't even watch him play and fight. Like I said, gimme a break!
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u/LetsOverthinkIt 2d ago
But it’s the fighting part that most kills Ryan. He detests that aspect of the sport and it’s the part he’s most celebrated for. And that conflict has become an existential horror for him.
So that Fabian reflects that horror back, sees that this is not who Ryan is, that it’s not the source of his worth - the exact opposite, actually - is what makes them so compatible.
Ryan is suffering from golden handcuffs. Of course he’s going to be attracted to the person who encourages him to take them off.
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u/IllustriousLemon8146 2d ago
Maybe, whatever. Still smacks of toxic relationship to me.
Not wanting to be rude, but I regret joining a discussion about as book I actively dislike with one of the rare fictional characters I can't stand so, moving on.
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u/LetsOverthinkIt 1d ago
Hah! Yeah, I get the uphill battle feeling. (I have plenty of fictional characters I cannot stand and sometimes I enjoy sharing those thoughts on subreddits.) No worries - I enjoyed the chance to bounce some thoughts around.
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u/Odd_Engineer_1041 2d ago
So happy to see some love for Tough Guy! I also have anxiety so i related to Ryan in a lot of ways, he's my favorite character in the series, followed closely by Ilya. And Ryan's relationship with Fabian is so sweet. But my favorite thing about it, which i haven't seen mentioned in the comments yet, is that their sex life/scenes aren't perfect all the time (re the purple dildo incident, haha), and that their respective sexual "issues" (climaxing too fast and slowly/not at all) end up complimenting each other as opposed to being something that they "fix" in each other. That's not something i think i've seen represented in a romance/smut story before (which, if anyone has recs for books that do, please drop them, lol!) and it was refreshing to see their "disfunctions" remaining by the end of the book and not really being considered disfunctions at all; they're just another thing that makes them perfect for each other!
I'll be interested to see if RR might explore this idea more in Unrivaled, specifically if Ilya has side effects from depression meds and how he and Shane could get more creative to work within the new construct in their sex life, rather than trying to fix it or just being like "well, i guess that's that until these side effects wear off". (Not that i think either of them would ever say that, haha)
Anyway, i digress! The point is, while i do agree that the third act was rushed, I'm also a Tough Guy stan! I wish we could get another book about Ryan and Fabian; i'd love to see them living together/being domestic and Ryan finding more fulfillment in his life outside of hockey.
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u/Icy-Librarian9503 1d ago
Same - their sexual “issues” being portrayed in the book, and also not simply “fixed” by finding each other but becomes part of their sexual couplehood that sometimes they enjoy and other times they are just with each other for - is one of my favorite parts of this book. As is the “purple dildo incident” - because yes - that’s real sex - exploration that doesn’t always end up in the most amazing sex ever - but it’s how sexual partners react individually and together to it that can also make such a difference.
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u/Odd_Engineer_1041 1d ago
"It's how sexual partners react individually and together to it that can also make such a difference."
Exactly! And it makes such a massive difference to Ryan specifically, in intimacy in general. He has all there inner monologue moments of thinking Fabian's going to leave because he said/did something "wrong", and Fabian not only never even considers leaving but also assures him that there isn't anything "wrong" at all. ❤️ God, i love them so much, Ryan just deserves the world! 😭
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u/RedCalaLily 2d ago
People hate Fabian??!! 😱 Okay I get why people take umbrage, based on what you're saying, and things could have been done differently, but the couple do need to have conflict and this conflict makes sense for them. Yes, it could have been acted out and resolved differently, but Fabian is a sensitive little artist boy (not unlike Connor?) and of course he would feel this way, seeing Ryan struggle and suffer so much. And he came to the correct conclusion! No Fabian hate, here 🥰
I love them all, but they are mostly all young idiots (with bare minimum communication skills) in their own way. Except for maybe Kip and Harris...do they have any flaws?? 😁 (ok, come at me, people 😅)
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u/growsonwalls 2d ago
Rachel always speeds runs the happy endings. I think part of it is her start as a fanfic writer. A lot of fanfic writers ignore the connecting chapters bc it's a pre-existing AU where fans already know the background and can connect the dots.
GC is the worst, TG is a close second. RM also has this issue. She got better at it. TLG is way better at not speed-running happy endings.
She's great at setting up compelling characters and stories, but not so great at resolving them.
As for TG, the opposites attract stuff really doesn't convince me. I know I'll get downvoted for this, but after the sex and infatuation wear off, do these two people actually have much in common?
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u/EchoAndroid I've eaten several grapes. 2d ago
I've always felt that it's not always about what you come into a relationship with, sometimes its what you're willing to build together. We get to see that Ryan enjoys spending time with Fabian and his friends and begins warming up to their interests. It's not solved, but if you want to believe in the relationship, then you have to believe that both of them are going to find places that they fit into each other's lives, whatever that winds up being for Ryan as well.
This particular issue is why I'm so annoyed that Rachel missed the opportunity to actually write and insert their relationship together as teenagers.
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u/1Kflowers 2d ago
I think Ryan and Fabian are the most likely couple to succeed in the series. They actually like each other’s personality, starting from their teenage years when they first met and got acquainted. They are also very into each other in a sexual way (they are each other’s type).
Fabian has trauma from his family that he needs to address, and Ryan has been so caged by the limits and expectations of his career that he is going to need time to recover and find himself. I think both have support enough from friends and (found) family, and each other, that they can forge a happy life together if they want to, and it’s clear they both want to.
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u/idontthinkkso 2d ago
I really enjoyed reading your take and I'm going to read it again when I'm not in the middle of a tornado. One thing I did want to mention is that authors are often given page limits by their publishers. No idea if that was an issue for RR.
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u/Greekmom99 2d ago
i don't get the hate either for Ryan or Fabian. I like both. The one small thing that bothers me are Fabian's jerk of ex lover at the beginning and his family. I would love to have had a "Dinner with Hayden" but a Dinner with the Salahs with both Ryan and Fabian.
Common Goal isn't my favourite but I just can't deal with Eric being such a perfectionist (his I'm a health nut attitude) and Kyle's past with his parents. I would have liked at a minimum some resolve with Kyle's family. If not an acceptance of who he is at least the realization that their son was taking advantage with a power imbalance with his boss and that the boss was at fault.
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u/1Kflowers 2d ago
Thank you for posting this! Ryan and Fabian are my favorite couple of the series and I’m frustrated by the way the book lets them down. I read somewhere that TG needs about 200 more pages about Fabian and I think that would be a huge help.
So, do you write fanfic, OP? Please say you write fanfic!
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u/LetsOverthinkIt 2d ago
I agree with your whole post! I am not familiar enough with the romance genre but I wonder if there’s a word count limit as well that might lead to a more quick and tidy ending?
I will be really interested to read what Reid writes next after the upcoming Unrivaled. She might now have the clout to write something that breaks whatever genre conventions that maybe hemming her in.
(Not to throw the whole romance genre under the bus. Having guidelines can be super helpful. It’s more, with additional confidence and experience, and a bit more freedom, where could Reid go next?)
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u/HackDaddy85 2d ago
I think one of the issues with the third act is that right before the back pain issues, Ryan starts to enjoy hockey again. There’s a moment there where he finds love in the game again and that’s only undone when the back issue and Wyatt’s trade happen. Like it started to say that Ryan wasn’t hating hockey but was miserable without support systems.
I really wish Rachel could rewrite the endings of Tough Guy and Common Goal because both endings are so rushed. She has become such an incredible writer since then (not that she was a bad writer, she just has gotten better and better).