Playing His Game

by Ashlyn Kane, Morgan James

He’s a scandal. He’s a role model. Together, they’re a headline.

When a candid photo of professional problem Mo - son of the Arizona Canyons' owner - and Adam, the league’s first openly drafted golden gay, hits the internet, it doesn’t spark rumors. It confirms them. According to everyone, they’ve been secretly together for years.

Mo is one scandal away from losing everything, including his family’s support. Captain Adam, Phoenix’s most eligible gay bachelor, has spent his entire career being careful, respectable, unmessy. Publicly denying Mo could have a negative impact on him and his team.

So they make a deal: fake it.

What starts as damage control turns into a full-time performance, public appearances, staged dates, late nights that feel a little too real. The more convincing they are, the safer they’ll be. But the closer they get, the harder it is to tell what’s real and what’s strategy. Because somewhere between the arguments, the chemistry, and the us-against-the-world pressure… they stop pretending. Too bad the rules of the game don’t leave room for catching feelings…

Genres: Hockey, M M Romance, Romance, Sports, LGBT, Fake Dating, Audiobook

314 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 10, 2026

About the author

Ashlyn Kane is a thirtysomething writer, editor, procrastinator, and dog mom. She likes cheese, puns, and hockey.

Reviews

[ancientreader · Rating 4 out of 5]

If, when you read that Adam Murphy, MC1 here, “[can] mostly tell when other people [are] joking,” drives a not-brand-new Land Rover, isn’t a fan of “surprise touches … or most touches from most people,” and struggles to maintain eye contact — if, when you read these things, a vision of Hudson Williams as Shane Hollander appears before your eyes, then you are not alone.

Nevertheless, and despite the comp in the ad copy, “Playing His Game” isn’t “Heated Rivalry” fanfic. (This is not shade on HR fanfic, which like any sensible person I have been consuming reams of for lo these many months now.) The Adam/Shane parallels are far from exact: for starters, Adam’s famously out and has been since the draft, and there is no secret situationship, long-term or otherwise. Also, apart from having a gift for talking smack, his love interest bears no resemblance to Ilya Rozanov: Moritz (but you’d better call him Mo!) Du Pont (seriously, authors …) is the trust-fund-baby son of the couple who own Adam’s team. Mo played hockey as a kid but wasn’t up for dealing with the homophobia, was emphatically not interested in working for his parents’ business, and is now living off that trust fund in anticipation of the upcoming birthday when he gets control. For fun he works on cars, which is to say that he’s an amateur mechanic who is also the best in town.

Mo and Adam have been striking hostile sparks off each other since Mo was 15 and Adam 18 and just drafted. (I wish we had seen more of these encounters, because the prehistory of their relationship was underdeveloped.) One night when they happen to be outside the same nightclub, Mo trips, Adam catches him, and the inevitable pap shot gives an impression of violence. Blah blah damage control blah blah reasons blah blah fake dating. I’m very fond of this trope, especially when it involves MCs who start out 1000% sure that they dislike each other, and by all means give me a lipstick-and-nail-polish-wearing little bitch of a car mechanic with hidden depths and appalling parents in response to whom he has developed a Tough Carapace (Mo). I liked Adam, too, but Mo is my jam.

Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James’s books are generally formulaic, but reliably good formulaic — that is to say, the tropes are familiar and well executed. I will even give them a pass on the 80% critical misunderstanding/breakup, what the H E double hockey sticks, I said what I said, it’s fine. Nothing here is going to rock your m/m romance world, but you’ll have fun, and I would like to thank Kane and James particularly for “Socialism Is Good, Actually” and the PSA about the unenviable lives of barn cats.

Thanks to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

[ivanareadsalot · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like to thank NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

🏒🎄🚘

I LOVED THIS💓I LOVED THIS💓I LOVED THIS💓
SOOO SOOOOO MUCH!❤️‍🔥

I CAN'T STOP SQUEALING IN GLEEEE ABOUT THIS
🐈‍⬛Stray, spicy, sad-but-determined-to-survive black cat X St. Bernard in blizzard +/- mountainside avalanche rescue-mode🐶
HOCKEY ROMANCE I ALREADY CANNOT WAIT TO REREAD BECAUSE I WANT MO AND ADAM IN MY LIFE FOREVERRRRR!!💓😭

I don't even know where to start with all the fabulousness happening in this book that stole my sleep! Like just take it, honey, because I did NOT want to everrrrrr quit on their LOVE omg!

Mo and Adam's tension caught my attention right from the opening chapter! I LOVED Mo's snark and sass, his flair, his electric sizzle, and OFC every single time he said "GIRL" I WAS ACTIVATED!!

And thennnnn, when his tender longing for real love and acceptance was revealed, I was on the floor crying fat tears for this babe stg! I loved his energy, and his character arc was so real to me and I felt alllll of it!

And the very stoic Adam was Mo's endearing, solid foil, with his quiet patience, his insightful care, and his ability to gentle Mo's spirals whenever he got overwhelmed by what a healthy family's love is supposed to feel like. I loved him so much!😭🌪️

I loved that this romance had enough teeth to be more than just a rich brat being handled by his top.

I thought this story was a compassionate exploration of the trauma all kids have from years of enduring horrible parents whose every breath reeked of denigration, who intentionally press heartspace wounds for funsies, and who leverage emotional manipulation like typical narcissists in toxic family paradigms.😔

I very much loved the emotional layers this story invited me to sit with and contemplate, respectfully.😮‍💨

I LOVED how this romance started off with shiny, false-front energy,
THEN ATE DOWN WITH THEIR SUPERRRRR SEXXXXXY TIMES OMG THEY WERE SOOOO HOT❤️‍🔥HOT❤️‍🔥HOT❤️‍🔥 TOGETHER,
and then peaked at PERFECT Christmas-Cute poignance,
100% emotionally fraught enough to launch me into the 3rd act achiness that was appropriately sob-worthy!

I HAVE NEVER PRAISED A 3RD ACT BREAKUP IN MY LIFE
SO WHEN I SAY I WAS GONE FOR THESE TWO
AND THEIR FAKE-TO-FOREVER LOVE JOURNEY
I'M ACTUALLY SHOUTING IT WITH MY WHOLE CHEST!!

***AS A SIDE NOTE: I've been so MAD at the NHL and their rapey sh!t, but I found myself googling who the Leafs hired as their new head coach, because this book reminded me of the sport I love, and the feel-good, effervescent joy rooted in outdoor rinks across small-town Canada that'd defined my love of the game since childhood! THIS BOOK HIT THAT SWEET SPOT HARD, AND SO MY NOSTALGIA & THE TWO SENTENCES OF CANADIANA TOOK ME TF OUT, MAN😭 BUT IT'S MY HAPPY PLACE SOOOO***

Beyond happy that this beauty of a romance was an absolute winner for me! Morgan James & Ashlyn Kane have been setting my heart on fire from time, and I cannot wait for whatever comes next because their romances always leave me smushy, and sighing, and in love with love, and it doesn't get any better than that!

[Caz · Rating 3 out of 5]

C+ / 3.5 stars

Having enjoyed this duo’s Hockey Ever After series in audio, I thought I’d give their latest hockey romance a try. Playing His Game is an opposites-attract/fake-dating/antagonists-to-lovers story featuring the first ever openly gay NHL player and the out-and-proud and fabulous son of the owners of the team he plays for. There’s nothing new here really; like most fake-dating romances the reason for the fakery is flimsy, but the dialogue is good, the characters are likeable and there’s a fun, lighthearted quality to it all. The trouble is that the antagonism between the leads isn’t very well-established – there’s no real reason for it other than maybe Mo thinks Adam is too strait-laced? – their chemistry is pretty luke-warm, and the move from fake-dating someone-I-don’t-like-all-that-much to we-might-as-well-have-have-some-sexy-fun happened so fast it gave me whiplash.

The book opens with a prologue wherein eighteen-year-old Adam Murphy, the first ever openly gay player to sign an NHL contract, meets fifteen year old Moritz (Mo) Du Pont – the wayward son of the owners of the Arizona Canyons. Mo is sassy and flamboyant, every word a pointed barb; Adam is quiet and considered, already conscious of the fact that everything he does is going to be scrutinised, that he’ll be hailed as a role model by some and likely hated by others.

Skip ahead three years and Adam is captain of the team and Mo is… basically a socialite. His incredibly snobbish, wealthy parents have forbidden him to do the one thing he actually wants to do – fix cars – because it’s beneath him, and without any other way of supporting himself, he’s stuck doing as he’s told until he’s twenty-five, when he’ll be able to get hold of his trust fund and tell them to go fuck themselves. The pair don’t cross paths often, but when they do, Mo just can’t resist needling Adam, while Adam is annoyed that Mo is able to so easily throw him off balance and works hard not to show it.

When Adam and Mo are photographed outside a club late one night, it sparks rumours Mo’s parents desperately want quashed. It’s not exactly a compromising photo, but it certainly does look like they’re about to either fight or fuck – and given the number of allegations of domestic violence that have been made against players recently, they don’t want any of their players embroiled in another one. Mo’s parents are ready to blame him for causing a scandal, and Mo knows this could be the straw that will break the camel’s back and have them finally throwing him out on his ear. He has less than a year to go until he gets his trust fund and has been trying (in his own way) to keep his head down and not attract their notice; panicked at the possibility of being thrown out, Mo blurts out that he and Adam are together. And Adam, for reasons Mo can’t fathom (and because he’s a decent person) goes along with it.

For the next few weeks, Mo and Adam are seen together – on dates, at events, and just hanging out together. Getting together privately in order to hash out the details of their fake-romance means talking, getting to know each other a little, and slowly realising that their preconceptions of each other might have been wrong. I enjoyed this part of the story, but then, bam! they’re jumping into bed, basically because they’re both hot and horny, and they figure they might as well bang because everyone thinks they’re doing it anyway. There’s no real build-up, no pining while pretending, no slow realisation of affection or of falling for each other, and after that first sex scene, we’re told they go on more dates, get to know each other better and have more sex, but we don’t see any of it.

I liked the characters for the most part. Mo is camp and brash, with a smart mouth on him that can wound at twenty paces, although he sometimes veers close to cariacure in the way he’s written. Most of his attitude is the mask he wears to hide the fact that he’s hurt by his parents’ utterly vile behaviour towards him, which does add some depth to his character. I liked Adam’s quiet steadiness, liked watching him loosen up around Mo and that he becomes one of the few people to see beneath Mo’s façade and understand why Mo acts as he does. (The part where Adam takes Mo home for Christmas and Mo gets to see what a real family looks like is heartbreaking.)

Playing His Game isn’t a bad book by any means, it just isn’t particularly memorable (and it is certainly nothing like Heated Rivalry; I’m so sick of every bloody hockey romance being labelled “for fans of Heated Rivalry!”) and doesn’t have anything new to offer. The antagonism between Adam and Mo has no real basis, the emotional beats I’d expect to find in a fake-dating romance are largely absent (or told rather than shown), the third-act-break-up and miscommunication is disappointingly predictable, and the lack of convincing chemistry between the leads means the whole thing feels rather flat.

The final section is probably the most interesting part – post break-up, Mo has to stand on his own two feet and figure stuff out – but that isn’t enough to make up for the lack of chemistry and romance in the rest of the book.  I’m afraid I can’t recommend it.

[There are also some inconsistencies in the timeline – we’re told that Adam and Mo are eighteen and fifteen (respectively) in the prologue, but in chapter one ‘three years later’, Mo is twenty-four (I assume this will be fixed before publication.)]

[Sandy Kay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fairly early DNF but I'm rating anyway, because I feel it's legit. One hero, Mo, is prejudiced about who is a "proper" gay, to the point that I can't read his POV anymore. His way of expressing himself as a gay man is, apparently, the only way, and the other hero, Adam, is a sell-out loser conformist, despite Adam being brave enough to be out publicly as the first drafted gay NHL pro player. Yeah, Mo, shit all OVER that guy, what a jerk. #sarcasm.

I Can't with Mo so I'm out.

[Kelly Kenyon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and author for an advanced copy of Playing the Game by Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James.
This was a fun read. It follows MMCs, Moritz “Mo”and Adam. Adam plays for the NHL team that Mo’s parents own. They have butted heads for years. When tabloids mistake them as a couple they fake date to save the reputation of the team.
Mo is absolutely hilarious! I laughed out loud repeatedly. Adam is sweet and level headed. The miscommunications went on for longer than I liked but was happy with the ending.

This book definitely needs some editing. There are multiple errors but especially in the beginning. In the first chapter Mo is 15 years old, which is stated multiple times. He is also called an adult in that same chapter, which he is years away from. The following chapter says “3 years later” and Mo is now 24 years old. The next chapter its mentioned that Adam has played for the NHL for 8 years not 3.
3.75⭐️

[Mir (fighting for her life to not read AI) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fine. It was medium enjoyable until the breakup which was just so dumb. I’m also ready for some feminism in hockey books. Maybe a hockey player’s wife keeps her own last name? Doesn’t have kids? Is a highly educated profession?

[IG | TorturedHeroesDept · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book follows Mo & Adam. Adam is a hockey player and Mo’s family owns the team. You don’t know much else about them except they’re gay!

During the prologue it states that Mo is 15, which was on brand because he acted like an entitled dick. Chapter 1 is literally titled 3 years later then chapter 2 has no such title and is supposed to be a continuation of chapter 1, with no time jump. Yet somehow Mo is now 24! Adam is also only 3 years into his career and apparently already the captain except no, wait now he’s 8 years into his career! So somehow 3 years, 8 years and 9 years later are all the same time in the same chapters.

I want to be clear that I know this is an ARC, which is why I held my review til post publication date. I downloaded the book on my kindle and checked the things I had noted down while reading. Guess what? They weren’t fixed. The book was published with these glaringly messed up timelines.

Now the writing? Not great. It seemed like the two authors both just wrote what they wanted and didn’t actually blend them. The fake dating was weird, forced and too early. We know almost nothing about the characters past that Mo is shorter & a twink. Oh and he’s a judgmental, spoiled baby who thinks he’s superior for being super gay instead of a person who is gay.

This is the second book I’ve read that was marketed as “if you’re a fan of heated rivalry” and both fell incredibly short.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, these thoughts are my own.

[Lily · Rating 1 out of 5]

ARC provided by publisher:

DNF at 10%.

Sometimes a book gives you the ick before the story even starts, and unfortunately that was the case here.

The dedications immediately rubbed me the wrong way. Both authors, right off the bat, gave off ick vibes about the romance they were writing: one joking about a partner preferring a “man book” over a romance, and the other expressing shame about writing romance at all. Maybe they were intended as jokes, but they landed as dismissive of the very craft the book is asking me to value, and honestly, pretty misogynistic.

The cover also felt very clearly designed to mimic the new mass market game changers illustrated covers. Smells like cashing in on a trend…

So I’m already starting from a first impression from hell, and unfortunately the early story choices didn’t pull me back in. a MC is introduced at 15, yet the narration refers to him as an adult, and then after a three year time skip he’s 24. Are you even paying attention?

There were also details that made him feel more like a mood board than a person. He goes to an “Antifa rally” and is from a wealthy family called the Du Ponts. Holy shorthand batman.

The fake dating premise was probably executed in the worst way i’ve ever seen ever. The setup relies on leaning into a domestic violence situation rather than simply a bar fight between two men. Neither option is great, but you choose to fake date so that it’s DV?!?!??

At only 10%, I’m already spending more time questioning the choices being made than getting invested in the characters or story, so I’m calling it here.

[Rhiannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the Hockey Ever After series, so I was excited to see another hockey romance from these two authors, but I thought this one fell a bit short of my expectations.

Right away, I was confused by some timeline discrepancies. The characters' ages before and after the time jump didn't line up with the amount of time we were told had passed, which initially left me wondering if I had somehow managed to misunderstand the prologue and/or first chapter before I realized it was most likely an error that hadn't (yet) been caught. Because I read an ARC, I obviously can't say if this issue was fixed in the final version, but it definitely threw me a bit and was a weird start to my reading experience.

Aside from that, I found most of this book underwhelming and, unfortunately, a bit predictable. Neither Mo nor Adam were bad characters, necessarily, but I didn't really feel like I actually knew much about them or connected to them in any meaningful way. I didn't fully understand why their relationship had initially been somewhat antagonistic, or even how they so quickly just dropped that in the name of their fake dating scheme, which I struggled to make sense of on its own. I failed to see how it was better for Mo's parents to think Mo and Adam were dating rather than having been caught arguing when they still admitted that they had, in fact, been arguing. It made the necessity of the fake dating seem nonexistent, which is the exact issue I almost always have with that trope. There needs to be a legitimate, believable reason for both parties to agree to the situation, and I didn't feel that was present here.

When I read Ashlyn Kane's book The Inside Edge, one of my biggest issues with it was that a good portion of the emotional development between the two main characters happened off the page and was then relayed to the reader rather than explicitly shown, and I fear Playing His Game fell victim to the same problem. Even after Mo and Adam starting sleeping together, I didn't really feel their chemistry up until Mo accompanied Adam to his family Christmas, and even then it was still fairly lackluster. For all I was being told Adam had fallen in love with Mo, I wasn't seeing it in action, and therefore I wasn't particularly moved by the third-act breakup (or their later reconciliation). I do think the final 20% or so of this book is the strongest, with Mo standing up for himself against his parents and having to quickly learn how to care for himself without their assistance, but by that point there wasn't much that could be done to sell me on the romance.

With some editing, I certainly think the final version of this book could be stronger than the version I read, and I wouldn't discourage people from reading it, especially if they're bigger fake dating fans than I am. For me, it fell somewhat flat, but I can see how and why others might enjoy it more than I did.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Chelsea · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

I just love me a hockey romance, but then you make it a QUEER hockey romance? I’m all over that like ketchup on a hot dog. Or mustard, whatever your preference. Because my preference is that this is an MM romance. YES, PLEASE.

In Playing His Game, we have Adam, a hockey player who is openly and publicly gay, and Mo, the trust fund baby of the team owner. Mo played hockey growing up but never really took to it as an adult. And let’s be real, homophobia is still very much alive and well in hockey culture.

These two have known each other for a while, considering Adam was drafted to the team at a young age. However, we don’t get much insight into their earlier interactions, and I think having a little more of that history could have helped me feel more connected to them as a couple.

A little accident lands them right in the middle of one of my FAVORITE tropes: FAKE DATING. I’m a sucker for it, folks! In an attempt at damage control, the two find themselves being pushed into a relationship, which is a little tricky when they both seem to hate each other. 😂

Unfortunately, there just wasn’t much here for me. The story felt pretty formulaic. And listen, I LOVE a formula romance, but this one didn’t send me into a heart-fluttering spiral or leave me with a new obsession.

The characters weren’t bad, but they weren’t exactly knocking my socks off either. I’d have to say I liked Mo more than Adam. I did enjoy seeing two very different people falling for one another. Adam is quiet and reserved, while Mo is flamboyant, boisterous, and brings a completely different energy to the relationship.

My biggest issue was that I wanted MORE. More buildup, more tension, more pining during the fake dating, MORE of them actually falling in love! I didn’t feel like we got enough of the dating or relationship development. It almost felt like we went from fake dating to sleeping together, and that was that.

Overall, this wasn’t a terrible read, and I’ll never turn down a queer romance, especially one involving hockey. I just wish I had felt a little more of that magic between these two.

A case of wanting to love it more than I actually did!

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to @librofm and Boldwood Books for my advanced copy of this audiobook.

Though I liked the premise and most of the characters, but I feel this really fell flat for me. I have jumped onto the MM Hockey Romance train along with everyone else, and the cover being the same style as the newer covers for the "Game Changers" books really drew me in.

Mo is the son of the owners of Adams Hockey team, and so they have had many run ins throughout the years. Most of which Mo was snarky and Adam seemed embarrassed to be in Mo's presence. Mo seems to think Adam is ashamed of how he is as an openly gay hockey player (which he isn't, he is just sick of it being made into the only thing interviewers want to see him as) and Adam sees Mo as a spoiled rich kid (which he essentially is, but his parents suck.)
***Spoilers Ahead***





My First problem with this book is with our the "fake dating" plot begins. Adam is out with his team, and he runs into Mo, who was out celebrating his birthday. When Adams teammates leave, all of Mo's friends go with the hockey players abandoning him because Mo is banned from the bar they are going to. Mo sees Adam and blames him for this. They get a bit heated, but nothing crazy, when Mo falls into Adam. This spreads like wildfire with people thinking Mo was trying to attack Adam, or that they were embracing. Yeah... okay. So to do damage control with Mo's parents he tells them on a whim they are dating, he doesn't want them to know that he was arguing with Adam because it would be his "last strike" and he would lose his inheritance. But right after he says they are dating... they admit they were fighting... So, they admitted to it, and it blew over extremely well. It just showed the whole "pretend we are dating thing" was unnecessary.

My other problem was the lack of chemistry. I didn't feel anything until the Christmas part, and even that was a bit of a stretch with how Mo reacted to everything. Calling the decorations ugly etc. The physical intimacy was alright for the most part but i was a bit uncomfortable with one of them. Mo thought Adam was being more dominating, but with the thoughts Adam was having before he showed up it came across as something else to me in the moment, more dehumanizing than anything else and it just didn't sit well with me, and seemed to go against Adams character.

I agree with other peoples criticism that his book could have used more editing. There were time line inconsistencies early on and a few places seemed a bit choppy. It really felt like two people wrote this book. Sometimes it was nice, but other times it felt like things were missed. The audiobook version had a few repeated takes in it. I know things can be missed, but it was a bit distracting each time it happened. I will say though, Jamie did a good job of narrating. It was easy for the most part to tell when he was switching between Mo and Adam, and I look forward to the next audiobook I listen to with him as the narrator.

Overall I didn't enjoy this book, but I can see why others might. I just felt it was a bit preachy, especially in the beginning. Mostly because of what Mo thought being a gay man was supposed to be, and how comfortable they are supposed to be with being gay. I get that this lesson gets resolved, but it was a slog to get through. I felt the strongest part of this book was the last few chapters, and I wish there was more of that. Maybe if the hole break up happened a bit earlier, I may have enjoyed it more.

[ReadingRed125 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 - I will always enjoy the fake dating trope and I enjoyed the characters in this one but it needed a bit more editing. The beginning had a few time jumps that weren’t marked very clearly and it could have used more detail to fully grasp what was happening between the characters. The resolution also felt a little rushed. Overall, I thought it was a quick and fun read that had me laughing multiple times though.

[Bronwyn Blakley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one's difficult for me to review, tbh! I generally enjoy myself reading an Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James hockey romance, but this one didn't fully land for a few reasons.

The book starts off with a prologue that contains a time jump which is not well marked. We move from a 15 year old Mo's POV during 18 year old Adam's draft night, and then we move to a separate event in Adam's POV at a later date where he comments on Mo being an adult of undisclosed age. Chapter one then starts off "Three Years Later" on Mo's 24th birthday. Several reviews mention this as a timeline continuity error, but it's not, it's just very unclear that the time jumps in the prologue.

Right from the prologue it is clear that Mo and Adam don't like each other, or rather that Mo doesn't like Adam and Adam is very aware, but the reason is pretty confusing and vague until much later.

Unfortunately, this lends to Mo's bratty behaviour towards Adam to feel really disproportionate and honestly just mean for pretty much half the book. I found him extremely hard to like. He's incredibly spoiled and judgemental, and even though he is the reason he and Adam end up fake dating, the boundaries he sets up for Adam are unreasonable and imbalanced. It's really odd, and very contrary to who he is later on.

Luckily for Mo, he does redeem himself eventually, but it's slow going. He does have some really funny lines, though!

I do really like Adam's character, and I did feel they have good chemistry together! Ultimately I just disliked the buildup even if I enjoyed the resolution, so the end result feels a bit disjointed. I think this book really could have used another good edit, and maybe the final product that is now available will have gone through one! But the ARC copy felt rough and maybe a bit rushed.

As always, I enjoy how Ashlyn and Morgan write together, this one just fell a bit flat for me. I look forward to what they write next, though!

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the eARC.

[Molly Pascoe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was so excited for this, I love these authors but this book was really bad and sloppily edited. I almost feel like they were in a rush to get it out while the world is still obsessed w gay hockey. My obsession will never die, take your time in the future, queens.

[CrabbyPatty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Playing His Game gives us Adam Murphy, drafted at 18 by the Arizona Canyons as the first out gay hockey player. He's a good polite Canadian boy, the product of 2 school teachers, so he's very conscious of his responsibility to be a role model. Enter Moritz du Pont (Mo), the 15 year-old very prickly, very obnoxious son of the Canyons owners, who deeply resents his parent's efforts to package him as their poster gay child, and otherwise control his every move.

Over the next 8+ years, they spar off-page occasionally at team functions until the night team captain Adam runs into a very wasted 24 year-old Mo outside a bar and Mo's drunken fall into Adam results in a video that makes it appear their entanglement may be more of a passionate secret romance.

Called to the team offices to head off a PR situation, Mo blurts out to his parents they are dating, and a fake relationship begins Yes, it's sudden and unrealistic (and 10% into the book), but here we are.

What ensues is a series of awkward situations and eventually sex on numerous surfaces, which should be hot but somehow reads as just something to advance the plot. Neither MC is big into self-reflection and we are given little by the authors to flesh out their characters more fully. For example, Adam has red hair, and Mo? We don't know anything other than he's a pretty twink and he's not tall. And oddly enough for a trust fund baby, he's a talented auto mechanic.

A very Murphy Family Christmas, all sorts of estrangement and a HFN ending pulls together the final act, but personally left me disengaged. Also Mo remains way too obnoxious for far too long.

Finally, the book centers around hockey but with the lack of any serious hockey in the book, Adam could as well be a baseball, soccer or football player. And if other readers are like me, don't bring up hockey unless you speak the language fluently! 3 stars for Playing His Game.

I received an ARC from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Cross-,posted on GayRomance.org
https://gayromance.org/2026/08/10/pla...

[Monikat · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
I enjoyed this book despite its few flaws. Two things irked me the most. One was that neither mc showed any vulnerability about catching feelings, they were both dislikable and almost cold. So we never got to see any real warmth between them, or moments of falling for the other.
The second was timing. The book was a 'slow burn' that resolves hastily, literally in the last chapters. That's a lot of waiting for the reader ....and then we get a rushed ending. Yes, The story kept me there but it wasn't really a good finish.

[Kez Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute mm hockey romance, with a fake dating plan, enemy to lover tension, lots of yearning and angst, and opposites attract vibes. I like Mo and Adam's relationship development, and how the fake dating shifts to actual connection and feelings. It's got just enough drama, emotional conflict, and family tension.

[gracie · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a third act break-up and I found it to be overwhelmingly dramatic and honestly out of place given the characters we'd been introduced to up till that point. Still enjoyable up until then though!

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up

This was... fine? I was generally enjoying it until the end when the third act breakup made it seem like one of them was "the bad guy" when I thought they were equally culpable in the misunderstanding. Not a bad read, but not memorable.

[Continuity · Rating 2 out of 5]

{2.5}

Unfortunately, this book just wasn’t for me. I am a huge sucker for the fake dating trope, but this one fell a bit flat. There wasn’t much of the typical fake dating. We didn’t get the pining while pretending, the feelings that begin to slowly blossom.

In general, this book just didn’t feel very romantic at all. The two characters only start to physically get together because they find each other attractive, but after their first time, we get a big jump cut in their relationship. Suddenly they both catch feelings and things are getting complicated? Why not show that instead of just telling?

The two characters also (in my opinion) don’t have any chemistry. It’s established that they don’t like each other, but there’s never a good reason, and for the most part it just seems like Mo attacking Adam constantly. It also seems as though they’re too different. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good opposites attract, but these two felt like water and oil; their differences seemed to constantly clash instead of bringing them together. Mo was materialistic where Adam wasn’t; Mo was touchy where Adam was touch-averse, etc. In general, I didn’t like the characters much; their personalities often seemed to change on a whim. While I could tolerate Adam, I thought Mo was pretty annoying to read from. I just didn’t gel with his personality, which is definitely a me thing, as many reviews talk about how much they love him.

Overall, my dislike definitely comes down to personal taste. Thank you, NetGalley, Boldword Press, and the authors for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Tags/Warnings
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Tropes: Fake dating, size difference, hate to love
Triggers: Bad parents
Third act break-up: Yes
OM/OW: No. They both are big into hookup culture and never dated around much, but don’t get with anyone else while they’re together.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the best hockey romance I've read since the Game Changers series. It combines two of my favorite tropes, enemies to lovers and fake dating, into a super fun, heartfelt hockey romance.

Mo Du Pont and Adam Murphy have spent the last decade disliking each other. Mo is the unapologetically himself son of the team's owners, while Adam is the focused, reserved team captain. When a misunderstood tabloid photo threatens the team's reputation, Mo's publicity-obsessed parents push him and Adam into a fake relationship to avoid bad press.

The tension and yearning were absolutely top tier for me. The deeper Adam and Mo got into their fake relationship, and the more obvious it became that they were genuinely falling in love, the more invested I became. There was a lot of emotional depth in this book. It explored much more than the romance/spice, which isn’t super common in hockey romances (or at least compared to other series I've read). And the spice...the spice! The intimate scenes between Adam and Mo were perfection- equal parts emotional, tender, and hot.

If you enjoy queer hockey romances, this one is an absolute must-read. Thank you to NetGalley, Ashlyn Kane, and Morgan James for the advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

[queerromancereads ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The speed with which I downloaded this book when Kindle Unlimited notified me it was released… Frankly embarrassing. I ignored my exasperated tbr list and dived straight in. Absolutely no regrets.

The first couple of chapters had me a little uneasy, there were moments where I felt completely hooked and moments where I found myself cringing a little, and I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a book I would enjoy. The age of Mo in the prologue icked me slightly but I was relieved to see there was no romance and that point and the book soon jumped ahead several years. I’m glad I pushed through.

Once the story picked up pace and the plot unfolded I was sat. It weaved all the usual queer joy magic I’ve come to expect from an Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James collab rendered me transfixed— I could not put this book down.

I fear I became rather emotionally attached to Captain Cardboard. Adam’s nowhere near as boring as he likes to pretend to be. He's a great love interest. Steady and dependable with a dry sarcastic streak that hits just right.

And Mo is a loveable mess. How can you not love him? He's so much fun. I'm addicted to his drama and snarky one-liners. A flamboyant theatre kid-cum-mechanic is such stereotype smasher and dismissal of toxic masculinity and I am so here for it.

Adam and Mo balance each other so well.

As for the romance… There's so much back and forth of witty banter. The 🌶️ is ridiculously hot, like seriously 🥵! And when they let their guard down around each other there are some really cute emotionally real moments.

The theme of family runs strong throughout this book and is used in a really impactful way. The contrast of family support and family rejection and how that affects a person's sense of self is done really well. There are also some fantastic found-family vibes.

This is a romcom, there is a certain level of suspension of belief that you need to go into this with to enjoy it. But this is a fantastic romcom— full of queer joy and drama. Absolutely brightens your day.

Genre: Queer sports romance, romcom, MM
Series?: Standalone
Tropes: Fake dating, enemies to lovers, hockey romance, idiots in love, found family
Rep: Gay, NB support character
Focus: Character focused
Spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5
Warnings: Abusive family dynamics

[Kirsten Cunneen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, this book to me was like a 3.5 star read. It took me a couple chapters to really get into the plot & to start falling for the characters, but once I got into it there was no stopping. I am also down for a fake dating turned real feelings kind of girl when it comes to books so this definitely did not disappoint. I really enjoyed Mo as a character and watching his growth throughout the book. He was so funny, blunt, and fully embraced being camp. Adam was reserved, a leader, and was pushing the boundaries with being the first out gay man in the league. I loved watching the two of their worlds collide. I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about how much I loved Jorts & Mads as side characters and how Jorts was really such a great friend to Adam. Sage was great too & I was a big fan of how they constantly called Mo out on his nonsense. Such a good story, so glad I got to read the ARC for this book!!

[Jenni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Mo and Adam so much and couldn't get enough of them! Fake dating is one of my all time favorite tropes and this was done so well, for a fairly realistic reason. Seeing the two of them become friendly to something more was a beautiful journey that had me always wanting more of them. Found family is another favorite trope, and seeing the MCs and their best friends truly embody that.

As always, Ashlyn Kane & Morgan James somehow always make me laugh while also making me cry. I went through a journey of emotions during this book, but it was worth every second of it. The banter!!! Absolutely top tier and had me cracking up and just wanting more.

I highly recommend this book and am so excited for what the rest of the series holds!

Thank you to the publisher for the eARC via NetGalley.

[Bethany Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you @boldwoodbooks for the digital copy to review! I always love reading books by @ashlynkanebooks and @author.morganjames and this one was no exception.

Adam and Mo were so incredibly easy for me to root for! Between the sassy and bossy Mo and the easy to blush and eager to please Adam, this book was tension filled, steamy, sexy, and so much freaking fun. I spent half of my time laughing and the other half gasping because of how sassy Mo was.

I loved that Mo dived right in to the fake dating scheme and Adam was along for the ride. OBVIOUSLY these two dummies caught feelings and it was the best thing ever. I particularly liked when Mo was protective and loving in a way that only he could be, and how Adam was enamored with him from the start.

Mo’s family was seriously awful and I hated them something fierce. His parents were just horrifically horrible people, and I loved that Adam was there to support him through it. Adam’s family was wonderful and loving and who wouldn’t laugh at Mo’s teasing??

I loved watching them fall in love. And everyone around them rooting for it. From Jorts (best hockey nickname ever??) to Maddison to Picks to the entire hockey fam, it was amazing.

Not only did I laugh and laugh during this book, but I cried. There are some parts toward the end that really hit home and these two *went through it* to be together. The grandest of gestures at the end had me sobbing into my pillow.

I love them I love them I love them and I want to see moreeeee in this universe. Still holding out for Picks and Hallsy to have a love story 👀👀👀

OBSESSED YES PLEASE SO GOOD.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some parts of this were so frustrating because they just like stopped communicating with each other and the “big drama” could’ve been avoided with one minute of conversation & then we could’ve gotten two more hours of them being a cute couple instead of them not talking to each other 🙄

BUT the character growth and development overall was really good & I did think they made a very cute couple. Especially with Adam being like “wait do I like a bossy bottom?! YUP” LMAO

[vianny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was okay! Playing His Game is a hockey romance with a fake dating setup. Our MMC is snobbish with genuinely horrible parents, and our other MMC is a role model in the hockey world.

Nothing about this was groundbreaking, but overall it was a fun, easy read. If you're looking for something light and quick, I'd recommend this one.

Thanks to Libro.fm for the listening copy!

[laureneliza]

Just okay. Pretty standard fake dating plot, a few fun moments, and I did feel bad for Mo not knowing how to react to a loving family but overall I think his development and motivations were a bit muddled and it made it harder to be sympathetic to him.

[Fordie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An opposites attract, enemies to lovers, and fake dating MM hockey romance full of tension, banter and brattiness. Adam and Mo couldn't be more different, in personalities and lifestyle...with one of them the son of the wealthy hockey club owners, and the other the first openly gay ice hockey captain. I mean what could possibly go wrong when they come together to spontaneously fake date each other after years of butting heads.

The timeline descriptions in the beginning few chapters of the book threw me off timeline wise so I was confused by the ages of the characters, but I enjoyed the back and forth and personal growth of the characters within.

[ally · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5