Sara

Sara’s Bookshelves

to-read‎ (438)
currently-reading‎ (1)
read‎ (1129)
2025-releases‎ (106)
steamy‎ (88)
2024-releases‎ (81)
young-new-adult‎ (78)
lighthearted‎ (76)
sports‎ (72)
small-town‎ (66)
emotional‎ (63)
friends-to-lovers‎ (52)

forced-proximity‎ (50)
mental-health-rep‎ (50)
workplace‎ (50)
opposites-attract‎ (44)
high-profile‎ (42)
2026-releases‎ (41)
enemies-to-lovers‎ (40)
all-time-favs‎ (38)
grumpy-x-sunshine‎ (38)
fake-dating‎ (37)
non-fiction‎ (33)
tbr-paperbacks-i-own‎ (33)

fantasy‎ (27)
single-parent‎ (25)
slow-burn‎ (25)
second-chance‎ (23)
fav-2021-reads‎ (22)
age-gap‎ (21)
angsty‎ (21)
military‎ (21)
marriage-of-convenience‎ (20)
lgbt-rep‎ (19)
classics‎ (18)
rivals-to-lovers‎ (18)

fav-2023-reads‎ (16)
dark‎ (15)
fav-2022-reads‎ (12)
fav-2025-reads‎ (12)
intimacy-lessons‎ (11)
lit-fic‎ (11)
fav-2024-reads‎ (9)
historical-fiction‎ (9)
irish-lit‎ (8)
thriller‎ (8)
magical-realism‎ (7)
relationship-in-crisis‎ (7)

Stats | More…

Sara is Currently Reading

Sara is currently reading

The Long Game (Game Changers, #6)

by Rachel Reid

bookshelves: all-time-favs, emotional, fav-2025-reads, opposites-attract, relationship-in-crisis, sports, steamy, lgbt-rep, mental-health-rep, currently-reading

read in December 2025

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Sara said: " This is a hill I will die on, but we NEED more sequels of romance books showing how settled life treats our fav characters, the ups and downs of a relationship!!!!!

God, this book destroyed me and put me back together. The Long Game is the sequel This is a hill I will die on, but we NEED more sequels of romance books showing how settled life treats our fav characters, the ups and downs of a relationship!!!!!

God, this book destroyed me and put me back together. The Long Game is the sequel of my dreams. And you know what enhanced this reading experience even more? Being able to see it so vividly in my mind, picturing the adaptation cast. Which may be the best casting ever chosen. Every single character was perfect, but Hudson Williams as Shane and Connor Storrie as Ilya?????? I will NEVER get over how impeccable their performance was. I could picture them so well while reading this book, and I truly don't know how I will be able to wait until they release season 2. I need to be sedated!!!!!!

So yeah, in this book we get to see how Ilya and Shane handle being boyfriends in secret. I loved that Rachel Reid's extended their story, because it needed more than how it left off in Heated Rivalry, needed to show everything they went through in this book.

Specially, how we get to know more of Ilya, and how he deals with his mental health. This is a key aspect of the plot, as his mental state is in decay as he deals with all the trauma of his childhood, having being traded to a worst team just so he is closer to Shane, the stress of hiding, and insecurities that rise every time Shane insists on keeping their love a secret. He is in a very dark place mentally, and oh man what a journey he had. He is most probably one my favorite characters regarding his arc throughout the story. It was raw and heartbreaking, but healing too. Ilya Rozanov, they could never made me hate you.

Shane’s development was so spot on too. My sweetest boy, he has been sort of clueless throughout the first book, portraying that innocence he carries across anything he does. At first, when he is dealing with his sexuality specially, this is a key aspect of his arc but now they have been in each other’s lives for over 10 years and some behaviors needed to be checked on his part. In this book we got to see how this actually became a roadblock in his and Ilya’s relationship and Shane knew that for their relationship to keep growing he had some self-reflection to do. He learned how he needed to be more aware of Ilya’s needs and feelings, but also, here Ilya had to work on opening up to Shane and keep up an open communication channel between them. This I believe is their biggest struggle that has been present since their relationship’s foundation. Truly, watching them work on this and overcome it was top-tier romance in my opinion.

This story was so well developed. It was not easy. It was not supposed to be given the obstacles that lay ahead of Ilya and Shane, being part of a franchise that cannot deal with anything outside the patriarchal foundation it is built upon. My heart hurt so much for them. These two characters and their full story have officially become my safe space, and I know I will come back to re-read and watch the show many times throughout my life.

My babies got their happily ever after, and I loved them so much and I will love these books and its adaptation forever and ever <3 ...more "

Dec 25, 2025 12:29PM · see review