There is just something about a fictional hockey player!!

This one was super emotional and I loved loved loved so many parts. Widowed NHL player, Mike Martin was a dream - sweet dad, kind hearted, good friend - love him. I thought Rory’s growth and maturity through the story was so well done. Holiday did a wonderful job of incorporating mental health and therapy into the story in such an important and healthy way!

And then I had some mixed feelings as well. While understandable, the burn was super slow. And there was a certain plot point (a bit of a lie of omission) that felt unnecessary and a touch immature.

What to expect::
•NHL player single dad
•Nanny/dance teacher
•Forced proximity
•Realistically handled Mental health topics for both
•Forced proximity
•Sloooowwwww burn.
•Great friends
🔥open door, minimal details
🚩death of spouse, eating disorder, emotional abuse

This was a sweet story about two people forming a friendship, helping each other heal, and learning what love can be.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
Spice: 🌶️

💭 Canadian Boyfriend is a lot heavier than its title/adorable cover would let on - I think that’s important to note.

While yes, this book is under the romance category, I’m not sure that’s really the main focus of the book.

It’s really a story about two people who are dealing with a lot of heavy stuff from their past & present (Mike, with the grief of losing his wife and how to move forward; Aurora with her anxiety, eating disorder, and overbearing mother).

They both need a friend, and someone to show them what they could have in their lives. They find that in each other.

As a Canadian, I loved the references - the ones that I did understand. Unfortunately about half of them were things I’d never heard before.

💭 what I struggled with:

Aurora calls him “Mike Martin” for the entire book - this gets really tiring quickly.


I would have liked more romance - this really felt more like two people on their own journeys, coming together and loving each other, but I’m not even sure they were IN love with each other.

Tropes & stuff:
🏒 pro hockey player mmc
🩰 dance teacher + former ballerina
💙 single dad/widow + nanny
🫶🏼 friends to lovers
💟 mental health rep
💔 grief + loss
🐢 slow burn
💞 dual pov/first person
*trigger warnings: eating disorder, grief, death of a spouse/parent, controlling parent, anxiety/panic attacks

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Forever (Grand Central Publishing, and Hachette audio for advanced copies. All opinions are my own.

Teenage Rory meets a cute boy at the mall, and imagines he’s her boyfriend (we’ve all been there girlie.) However, she takes things a bit further when she begins telling all her classmates about her Canadian boyfriend and spends years writing him unsent letters to fill the loneliness in her heart.

Years later, recovering from the trauma of trying to make it as a professional ballerina, Aurora is reunited with Mike, the man she met in the mall all those years ago. As their lives become more and more intertwined, Aurora must figure out how to come clean about the imaginary boyfriend of her past to the real man standing in front of her.

What I Liked: Jenny Holiday does a fantastic job as always writing a romance that is full of emotional depth and swoony moments. There are a lot of CWs for this one: grief, anxiety, and eating disorders to name a few, but they are all handled with care and enrich an already heartfelt story. Mike is an NHL player, which is a fun element, and his relationship with his daughter is incredibly sweet.

What I Didn’t Like: Little House on the Prairie plays a surprisingly large role in the book, and while I also have nostalgia tied up with those stories, it feels wrong to include them if the author is not willing to grapple with the problematic elements that accompany them.

Thank you to the publisher for an early copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

I have been really looking forward to Canadian Boyfriend because I love a single-parent book and I have enjoyed other Jenny Holiday books I have read. I'm happy to say it didn't disappoint!

I really liked Aurora and watching her deal with her anxiety and grow as a person. I really related to Aurora because being a people pleaser is something I spent a ton of time dealing with in therapy as well. There was a quote I really related to:

"Instead of being honest with people, I've spent my life twisting myself into what I thought they wanted me to be. And where did that get me? Sick. It got me sick."

I don't usually put quotes in my reviews but this one really struck a chord with me and I think lots of women will relate to it.

Mike and Olivia were really likeable characters a well. I liked that they both were in therapy and I loved that Mike learned how many things his wife had been taking care of that he never realized.

I recommend this one to anyone who enjoys reading romances about being a parent and dealing with anxiety and grief. I thought Jenny Holiday dealt with all these issues with care and I the result it a moving and emotional read.

🌶️🌶️🌶️ - This book had several steamy scenes but none that were super drawn out.

Canadian Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday
Rating: 4.5 stars
Steam: 1 star
Pub date: 1/30

Canadian Boyfriend is a heartwarming story that skillfully weaves together the worlds of ballet and hockey to create a second-chance romance filled with hope and healing.

The story follows Aurora Evans, a ballet teacher with a past marred by panic attacks, eating disorders, and a failed ballet career. As a teenager, she met a young hockey player named Mike Martin, who she went on to pretend was her Canadian boyfriend. Fate reunites her with him fifteen years later, now that he’s a pro hockey player and widowed dad. His daughter takes dance classes at Aurora’s studio, but Mike doesn’t remember Aurora. They strike up a beautiful friendship and begin to heal from their past traumas together.

What makes this romance stand out to me is its exploration of deep, heartfelt issues such as grief, trauma, and self-discovery while also feeling light and joyful. The story balances the complexities of Mike’s recent loss and Rory’s struggles with mental health. The slow development of their relationship feels authentic and relatable, emphasizing the importance of healing and rebuilding one's life. The secondary characters, especially Mike's daughter and Aurora’s friend, Gretchen, were hilarious and realistic and I loved the levity they brought to the story.

While the second-chance element added extra tension to the story, Mike’s reaction in the third-act conflict was a little over the top. I loved the resolution, however, and the perfect epilogue that brought the story full circle.

Overall, I really liked this book about love, second chances, and the power of self-belief. Thank you so much to Forever Publishing for my advanced copy. Canadian Boyfriend hits shelves on 1/30.

I enjoy a hockey romance, but this one was so much deeper than that.

As a teen working at the Mall of America, Aurora met a Canadian hockey player. In the struggles that her life was, she created a whole persona for him and he became her "imaginary" boyfriend.

Years later, with her aspirations as a ballerina over, she's teaching dance. A student returns after an absence after the unexpected death of her mother. When her dad brings her in, it's Mike Martin - THE hockey player. Aurora recognizes him, but he doesn't remember her.

Mike is struggling with the loss of his wife, raising his daughter, and his wife's secret he discovered upon her death. Aurora struggles in her relationship with her mom and has panic attacks and still has flashes of the eating disorder she worked hard to overcome.

Life throws them together with Mike's need for help with his daughter and Aurora's need for a place to live, among other financial issues. I loved the development of their friendship and how they supported each other in their individual trauma. I was cheering for them when you see the romance spark.

But Mike was upfront from the start that he cannot handle lies, so when he finds Aurora kept a secret, can he forgive and move forward?

Many thanks to NetGalley and Forever/Grand Central Publishing for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

DNF @ 50%.

Not my cup of tea. Really weird that she kept a binder full of letters written to a man she met once and created as a fake boyfriend in her head.

Jenny Holiday strikes again in the best of ways with Canadian Boyfriend! I am a huge fan of her writing and the topics in her newest novel. I love the sports romance genre and while this is a sports romance it is also so very much more. Jenny has touched on heart wrenching, deeply impactful topics in this novel.

This novel follows recently widowed Mike Martin, a professional hockey player who is raising his daughter and trying to figure out life after the loss of his wife. Things start to fall into place when he meets his daughters dance teacher Aurora.

The irony of the entire situation is that as a teen, Aurora created a hockey playing boyfriend from Canada named Mike. He was created after a chance meeting in a coffee shop. The fake BF was a lot like the Mike who is currently taking over her life in the best of ways.

This is a beautiful novel about loss and finding oneself after trauma. It's also about friendship and romance and recovering from trauma. Truly an impactful and beautiful read.

This was my first and probably my last Jenny Holiday book. I liked the idea of a ballet dancer and single dad hockey player, but really, the plot really dragged and lost interest toward the end.

I am always up for reading a Jenny Holiday novel and I was so excited when I learned that her newest one was going to include hockey, which happens to be one of my favorite sports! Canadian Boyfriend was great!

Mike Martin is a professional hockey player who hails from Canada, but who currently lives and plays in Minnesota. He is a recent widower and a single dad to daughter Olivia. Aurora (Rory) Lake, is a former professional ballerina who now is a dance instructor. Rory teaches the class that Olivia happens to be in, so Mike and Rory cross paths when Mike drops off and picks up his daughter from class.

Rory and Mike develop a friendship over the course of a period of time. As Mike is navigating the new normal without his wife, he realizes he needs help with Olivia when he is on the road and given the relationship both he and Olivia have with Rory, asking her to be the one to look after his daughter seems to make the most sense. With Rory set to move in to help take care of Olivia, the trio has to learn to navigate the new living situation. How will Mike take the secret about how Rory pretended he was her "Canadian Boyfriend?"

One of the things I liked so much about this book was how front and center the talk and depiction of mental health issues and therapy were. I LOVE that Mike goes to therapy and deals with losing his wife and how that affects him and how he encourages Rory to go to therapy and how he supports her through it all. It isn't talked about nearly enough and I applaud Jenny Holiday for including it.

I did struggle a bit with the conflict at the end of the story. Of course I knew it was coming and I anticipated how it was going to happen, it had to, but it just felt like that scene was missing something or all of the dialogue wasn't included.

Outside of that one small critique, I highly enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it!

**I voluntarily read an early copy of this title courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review**

While the cover might suggest a frothy, fun hockey romance (spoiler: there’s very little hockey content), this is not a lighter romcom - which I knew prior to reading and I do think that knowledge allowed me to enjoy the story more. It is also more character driven and I would say falls into women’s fiction more so than romance. Not to say there isn’t a romance, because there is a relationship and it is beautiful, but don’t expect lots of steam and tension. The themes in this book are on the heavier side and Holiday handled this subject matter with immense respect and care. As I said before, this isn’t a light romance, and themes of grief, mental health, and loss are central to the story and the characters’ arcs.

I really liked that Holiday had the characters’ therapy sessions take place on page. Often the extent of therapy representation is characters discussing its importance (which is also wonderful!), but I loved how we get to be in the room for Mike and Aurora’s therapy sessions as they talk through grief, loss, anxiety and panic attacks, strained parental relationships, and disordered eating. And while I don’t love a third act breakup (especially at 92%), this was an instance where the characters needed a pause for their own personal growth and healing and I thought it worked. I really liked the ‘happily for now’ for Mike and Aurora. Moving in or getting married wouldn’t have been the healthy next step for them and I appreciated how Holiday gave them a more realistic ending.

And! I loved the discussion throughout about emotional labor, specifically as it pertains to parenting. As a stay at home parent to two littles, who also does a great deal of solo parenting, I was so grateful for Mike frequently discussing and recognizing the extent of emotional labor within parenting and running a household.

Read if you like:
🏒 Sports Romances
👨‍👧Single Dads
🏡 Forced Proximity
🩰 Ballet

I was so excited to read this one and expected to love it after loving other books from Jenny Holiday, but unfortunately this one isn’t my new fave from her as I was expecting.

I liked the idea that the FMC made up a fake boyfriend for herself in order to cope with her social issues as a teen and how it turns out he is the dad of one of her students years later when she reconnects with him after that one meeting years ago at the coffee shop she was working at where she first imagined him as her fake boyfriend all those years ago, however, there was just so much that didn’t work for me that made the rest of the book flop for me personally.

There were a few things that didn’t work for me:
🤥 the MMC stating he can’t stand liars but lied and manipulated the FMC for his own gain multiple times
💔 the reason for the third act break up was soooo immature
📝 the FMC referring to the MMC by his WHOLE name the entire book even when they were in a relationship
⏳ How immature both the MC’s felt despite supposedly being in their 30’s

Thanks so much to the publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I thoroughly loved this book!

This was an emotional read and dealt with heavy topics, so check TW!

I really loved the slow progression of the romance! Both main characters were dealing with their own traumas and were slowly trying to rebuild their lives. I found it really organic that they started up as tentative friends which developped into more with time.

I really felt for Rory. She was a bit odd but so endearing. I only found it a bit annoying that she kept calling the MMC by his full name throughout the entire book, instead of just 'Mike'.

Honestly, this book was beautiful and raw. I can't recommend it enough!

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for providing the ARC.

So, right from the outset, I knew that this book would be predictable. Serendipitous meeting as a teen, a second encounter as adults, the idea that a teenager would make up a fake boyfriend to deal with the overwhelming issues in her life and have that be the same person as the guy she's falling for. It basically writes itself.

What I didn't expect was how thoughtfully and carefully Holiday handled the difficult issues that affected her characters. As someone who was in ballet for over a decade as a child and everything that came with that, and who had a toxic relationship with her parents, it was hard not seeing Aurora's story as my own. And while I believe that the conflict at the end was a bit contrived, I loved how Holiday handled it - with an understanding that people are human, we make mistakes, and we learn from them so that we can avoid them in the future. Both Aurora and Mike made mistakes, and even though they were in the process of healing themselves, it just shows that progress is never a linear line.

Very warm and heartfelt work from Jenny Holiday

🩰 Ballet Teacher x Hockey Player
🩰 Single Dad x Nanny
🩰 Missed Connections
🩰 Secret Relationship
🩰 Secrets
🩰 Close Proximity
⚠️ Eating Disorders
⚠️ Death of a Spouse

This is a cute story about Aurora who invents a “Canadian boyfriend” in her teens based off a guy she once met in the Mall of America and years later meets him again in real life when his daughter is in her dance class. Mike Martin’s wife died months earlier and is in need of someone to help him out with his daughter when the NHL season starts back up. He propositions the role of nanny to Rory and she has to decide whether or not to keep her “Canadian Boyfriend” secret to herself as she finds herself inserted in their lives.

I quite enjoyed this single dad x nanny, hockey romance! This was a unique take on the hockey romance genre and found myself quickly immersed in the book! Rory is a former ballet dancer who is trying to find herself again and heal from the emotional and physical trauma she endured as a dancer and from her “dance mom” mother. Mike and his daughter Olivia are still trying to find ways to heal after the sudden death of his wife. All of them come into each other’s lives when they need it the most and learn to lean on the others for help. There were definitely comical parts of this story and I quite enjoyed reading about Mike’s Canadianisms and Rory’s quirkiness. I also really adored Mike’s parents and his support system of Ivan and Lauren as well as Rory’s friendship with Gretchen.

Overall, communication and healing are the themes of this story and I think they were done quite well! Everyone responds to trauma differently, and grieves and heals at a different pace and I love how that was portrayed in this book.

I can’t wait for Gretchen’s story next!

While I loved how Mike treated Rory for the majority of the book and how supportive and understanding he was, it felt a bit rough the way he treated her when he found out about the letters. I wish we could have gone through without the third act breakup. I also enjoy my hockey romances with more hockey, but that’s a personal preference.

3.75 stars.
I love how this book has a realistic approach of panic attacks and life after loss for a child. There were quite a few heavy topics, but executed well in my opinion. The topic of moral failure has got to be one of my favorite parts of the book. The pacing was a little off throughout the book. The beginning-middle felt a little dragged whereas the ending felt very rushed. I was drawn in, but rushed. The third act breakup and Rory revealing the binder—was a little more dramatic than how I would’ve pictured the reaction.

This was lovely. I had plenty of moments when I couldn’t stop smiling. Mike and Rory’s relationship is refreshing. Rory and Olivia’s relationship is too adorable.

Thank you NetGalley & Jenny Holiday for this ARC!

Many thanks to Forever and Hachette Audio for the advanced copies via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. This romcom will be available on Tuesday, and I recommend it - especially the audio!While mostly set in Minnesota, one of the main characters in this book is from Canada. Canadian Boyfriend is a romance that remains lighthearted even though it tackles some heavier topics including death of a spouse, parental pressure, and disordered eating. Mike is an NHL player whose wife recently died in an accident, leaving him a single dad to pre-teen Olivia. Aurora aka Rory is teaching dance classes and working at Starbucks, after leaving her training as a pre-professional ballerina. Olivia is one of Rory’s students, hence the meet cute - but Mike doesn't remember meeting Rory many years before at the Mall of America. I read the first half and then switched over to the audio for the second half because Joshua Jackson (who I will forever refer to as Pacey) narrates Mike’s portions 😍 The female narrator, Emily Ellet, does a great job, too.

As a teenager, Aurora Evans had a brief encounter with a Canadian hockey player while working at a coffee shop in the mall and later took an opportunity to use him as inspiration for her fake Canadian Boyfriend. Aurora was known around her school for being someone who thought she was better than everyone else and because of that, found herself lacking in the friend department. So she conjured up the story of her Canadian Boyfriend to help her in awkward social situations. Prom? Can't go because my Canadian hockey player boyfriend has a thing. Perfect right? But for Aurora Evans, it turned out to be more than just a harmless excuse. Years after she made up a boyfriend from Canada, she found herself in a complicated situation, hurting people on both sides.

Fast forward to the present, Aurora is now an ex-ballet player turned dance teacher who meets a pro hockey player named Mike Martin. Recently widowed and struggling with his daughter's behavior, Mike seeks Aurora's help in navigating the upcoming school year and hockey season. They quickly develop a strong bond, with Aurora proving to be a perfect nanny and a great support for Mike emotionally.

However, things get complicated when Mike finds out about Aurora's secret, leaving him unsure about trusting her. Despite this, their connection is undeniable and he discovers that Aurora truly understands him, even beyond his professional persona.

"And you - you - are so much better than the idea of you."

I went into this book with zero expectations other than the vibe that the cover gave off and honestly what a cute cover for such a wonderful story. This book had me feeling all of the things; I laughed, I cried, I was frustrated but mostly I was just so happy. Canadian Boyfriend was my first book to read by Jenny Holiday and because I enjoyed it so much, I'm definitely going to be picking up her backlist. This book is the perfect amount of sweet romance mixed in with healing trauma and growing as individuals.

Aurora aka "Rory" is a character that I would fight for. I love her so much and love the journey that she takes throughout this story. I think that the way that Jenny Holiday wrote about Aurora's experience with ballet felt real and made me want to scoop Rory up and protect her at all costs. The way that her anxiety manifests and how she dealt with it also hit super close to home and specifically the relationship with her mom I think was written in a really relatable (unfortunately) sort of way that I think a lot of people will resonate with.

Mike is genuinely such a good guy. I loved seeing his perspective but also getting to see the perspective of Rory regarding him because you can just see that he's a great sort of guy and it's honestly impossible not to fall for him and want the two of them together. I think his chapters navigate grief in a really beautiful way, especially with it being the loss of his wife while he's also navigating being a single dad.

I loved the slow pace of their relationship and how they would sometimes take a step forward only to take a few steps back. It just made it feel all the more genuine due to their particular circumstances. These two are probably one of my favorite literary couples. The chemistry is fantastic and I love how they just . . . sort of happen but not in a forced way, just like it made sense for them to be together.

I do want to note that although this cover is so cute, it does deal with some heavy-hitting topics like the above-mentioned loss of a spouse but also an eating disorder. I often struggle reading this particular topic because I don't always think it's handled in a way that it should be but Jenny Holiday wrote it in a really great way that didn't leave me feeling shamed by the author or glorified in any way.

I definitely think Canadian Boyfriend is going to be one of those books that blows up so make sure you read it!

- hockey player/single dad mmc
- ex ballet dancer/dance teacher fmc
- slow burn
- healing trauma
- let me take care of you
- therapy positive
- anxiety rep/panic attacks
- friends to lovers
- forced proximity

This book was lovely! I loved how this book wasn’t afraid to tackle tough issues like loss of a spouse and mental illness. It is not a lighthearted read, but I didn’t mind because I thought the author did the heavier stuff very well. The love between Mike and Rory was so cute and I loved that they became close friends before they began their romantic relationship. I was really loving this book up until the last few chapters. The third act breakup made no sense to me and it just threw me off from the entire story. Overall though, I enjoyed this one!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.