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Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance
Theme: Opposites Attract, Sports
Archetype: Athlete
Kim is a longtime SBTB reader. She writes boring professional documents by day to fund her ever-growing TBR pile, which is currently overflowing with T. Kingfisher, mystery thrillers, and MM romance. Everything she knows about hockey, she learned from queer love stories or the Mighty Ducks franchise.
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TW/CW for anxiety, depression, anxiety-induced vomiting, emetophobia
Recently, I’ve been on an M/M hockey romance binge (and let me just say “queer romance” + “professional hockey” is the Reese’s “you got your peanut butter in my chocolate” mashup I didn’t know I needed in my life). When I read Season’s Change, I knew I had to shout about it to the Bitchery. Probably the best and definitely the weirdest way I can describe how I felt about it is that I wanted to escape my day-to-day life and just curl up inside this book like some kind of hockey-themed pillow fort.
Season’s Change is sweet and steamy, funny and a little angsty, with two likable leads who support and protect each other. It also features lots and lots of my personal catnip: it’s an opposites attract, slow burn, friends-to-lovers, roommates-to-lovers romance with a himbo MC. There’s also a makeover, which, I mean, I just can’t.
Olly Järvinen is a seasoned hockey player who is gay and not out, and who has just been traded to the DC team. His previous team was a homophobia dumpster fire, and he is still dealing (or avoiding dealing) with the trauma of that. His anxiety and depression are sensitively and realistically portrayed, and they sometimes make for a painful read, especially early on.
Content warning: Olly has a problem with unintentional, anxiety-induced vomiting, which I imagine could be activating for folks with experiences of disordered eating or emetophobia.
The DC coach assigns rookie Benji Bryzinski as his roommate, in hopes that Benji will be a support system for Olly. Benji is a sunshiney himbo who likes to party but also embraces things like yoga, healthy eating, and therapy as tools to support his own self-regulation after a difficult upbringing.
What starts as Benji helping Olly quickly evolves into a strong and mutual friendship as the novel progresses through the hockey season and into the postseason. In addition to Olly’s anxiety, they both have “stuff”—fraught family relationships, self-image issues—that they’re dealing with. There are no easy fixes / Magic Wangs here—just two bros who show up for each other, and who do cute-but-not-cutesy things like make pinky promises and do “old person yoga” and hug and touch each other kind of a lot.
[Benji] pawed at Olly’s shoulder with his good hand, dragged him into his chest. His heartbeat was steady as he gave him a one-armed squeeze. “I read on the internet that pressure can help with anxiety. Like, weighted blankets and getting hugged really tight and shit.”
Olly’s ribs might be cracking, whether because of the pressure from Benji’s big, solid arm or the thought of him googling “how to help my buddy’s anxiety.”
This book is very much a slow burn. It’s really enjoyable to see their friendship grow and deepen (which I feel like you don’t always get in friends-to-lovers romances), and to watch them falling for each other long before they’re ever romantically involved.
This is especially true for Benji, who identifies as straight when the book starts; he doesn’t think “I’m interested in Olly so I might be bi” so much as he thinks “Olly has pretty hair / I’m happy when he’s happy / I like touching him (for some reason?) / I WILL DESTROY ANYONE WHO HURTS HIM / Olly has VERY pretty hair and I like to smell it (for some reason???).”
It takes time for Benji to develop awareness of himself as a bisexual man, and to recognize how his sexuality shaped his pre-Olly romantic relationships. That said, his realization is slow but pretty un-angsty, which is a nice counterpoint to Olly’s anxieties around being a gay professional athlete. There is also a whole lot of Benji un-self-consciously manhandling Olly while Olly quietly loses his mind about it, which is one of my favorite sub-sub-tropes.
Season’s Change is very funny and often just a lot of fun to read. The f-bomb-laden banter between Benji, Olly, and their teammates is great, especially when it includes Poiro, the French Canadian goalie who could stand to “be seventy-five percent less dramatic about literally everything.” Benji and Olly have distinctive voices on the page, and Benji’s non-toxic bro vibes, in particular, are hilarious. I kind of love Benji.
I hesitate to mention my biggest complaint (which is still minor) because in some ways it feels unfair. In the second half of the book,
…a lot of narrative tension arises from Olly and (sometimes) Benji not talking about their feelings and making assumptions instead, and I personally find that stressful. But the reason I say this complaint is a little unfair is that there are established and understandable reasons why they would have trouble communicating. I never got that annoying feeling of characters withholding simple information that would easily fix their problems for chapter after chapter for no apparent reason. Also, recognizing that their communication kind of sucks is an important part of their relationship arc, which I thought worked well.
But it was still stressful, and might be for another reader, too.
Really, I just didn’t want Season’s Change to end. The friendship, the banter, the pining—the pacing was great, but I honestly would also have been happy if it was a hundred pages longer, just because I wanted to keep hanging out with Benji and Olly and their team. I foresee many happy rereads in my future.
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Bonus Extra Recs: Here are some of my other recommended reads from my M/M hockey binge, if that’s your jam, too.
- Contract Season (Cait Nary): the second book in the Trade Season series, with a Benji/Olly cameo. Editor’s Note: Lara’s grade: B+
- Time to Shine (Rachel Reid): a favorite of mine. Also features a himbo/quiet guy roommate pairing. Editor’s Note: Lara’s grade: B
- Game Changers series (Rachel Reid): especially loved the two Shane and Ilya stories (Heated Rivalry and Long Game) and Role Model. Editor’s Note: Shana’s grade for Long Game: D, Lara’s Grade for Role Model: B
- Hockey Ever After series, starts with Winging It (Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James)
- Lucky Bounce (Cait Nary) Editor’s Note: Lara’s grade: B+
- The Inside Edge (Ashlyn Kane)
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Thanks!
SEASON’S CHANGE was my favorite reads of 2023 (although I believe it was published in 2022); it’s also one of the rare (for me) books that, as soon as I finished it, I went right back to the beginning and read from cover to cover once more. It’s equal parts angsty, humorous, heartwarming, and romantic—and I was there for all of it. I will add one note to your review: while Benji does not initially think of himself as bi, there is a clear implication that he has been in some sort of sexual situation with another man before. At one point Olly asks Benji if he’s ever “messed around” with a roommate before, and Benji replies, “Not regularly.” To which Olly responds, “So irregularly then?”
TL;DR: SEASON’S CHANGE ranks right up there with HEATED RIVALRY as my favorite m/m hockey romance.
I’m super picky about my hockey romances because there are so darn many and I can barely keep up. This one comes highly recommended, I’ll give it a whirl!
I’ll also add that if you like your m/m hockey romances on the grittier side, the books in Ari Baran’s Penalty Box series (GAME MISCONDUCT, DELAY OF GAME, and HOME ICE ADVANTAGE) are very good—especially HOME ICE ADVANTAGE, which is on my list of favorite books of 2024. I can’t wait for the next book in the series, GOALTENDER INTERFERENCE, scheduled for release in January.
I’ve been really into m/m hockey romance this year so adding this one and the bonus recs that I haven’t read to the tbr!
Ditto this review and what @DiscoDollyDeb said! Terrific review, @Kim! I think I might need a reread, LOL!
I love Heated Rivalry, but this is my favorite m/m hockey romance. Everything about it is great and I also went back to the beginning and read it again as soon as I finished it.
This book has become one of my primary comfort re-reads, along with the Rachel Reid and Ari Baran books mentioned above (and Tal Bauer’s The Rest of the Story, and Cat Sebastian’s Cabot series (not hockey)). I’m trying to save my next read of it for next week but I’m not sure I’ll make it through the weekend…
I’ll have you know that as a result of this post, I’m still in my robe on the couch at almost 3 in the afternoon. Teeth unbrushed, reheated pizza for lunch. And I resent – RESENT – having to get ready to go to a party tonight. I read this book back in 2022. Enjoyed it then, but enjoying the re-read even more. Thanks a lot, guest reviewer!
I really liked this book. I especially liked that the third act drama was very organic to the plot and characters rather than coming totally out of left field.
I’ll also recommend The Inside Edge by Ashlyn Kane since I see it has no linked review. One of the guys is a former figure skater, so figure skater + hockey player + Ashlyn Kane = winner.
Thanks for the review! This is also my favourite m/m hockey romance. I’ve re-read it several times already, which says a lot, given it’s only several years old. I loved the characters (yes, Poiro!) and the writing was great.
This sounds great.
I will also add Power Play by Avon Gale to the list of favorite m/m hockey romances. It’s part of her Scoring Chances series about players in NHL affiliate teams and is my first true love when it comes this sub genre. It’s a different story but has a similar vibe to Heated Rivalry.
Hello! I picked this book up from reading the review and I’m really loving it. I do have a question though; the author keeps using the word “chirp”. Is this slang for something? It’s used as a verb and I’ve never seen it used that way.
This is a great book, and you can tell the author is a real hockey fan that did her homework. The Washington Capitals’ practice facility is in Arlington, VA and there really is a crazy corkscrew ramp in the garage leading up to the facility.
I also second Avon Gale’s Scoring Chances series. I’ve revisited those books many times.