Jenny Holiday is back with a cute hockey romance. I really enjoyed the second chance nature of this and the way their childhood by-chance meeting is worked into their present relationship. If you’re a sucker for good banter and a cute, somewhat quirky story line, this is definitely one to check out.

I really enjoyed this contemporary romance with its emphasis on mental health, character growth through therapy, and deep emotional connection between the two main characters.
Mike is a professional hockey player who is working through the grief of losing his wife unexpectedly from a car crash. To complicate his grief, his deceased wife’s parents’ challenged his custodial claims to his tween step-daughter he has raised since she was one year old. He needs a nanny and turns to Aurora, his daughter’s favorite dance teacher. Rory agrees to help Mike as she is also struggling financially to pay off her prestigious dance company tuition after quitting the company and moving home. Over time, these two form a close friendship; they discuss Mike’s hesitancy to embrace his fame, Rory’s traumatic relationship with her dance mom and disordered eating. They work together to support Olivia and her own grief. There are lengthy text exchanges, ice ream runs, ice skating lessons, shared dinners, and dance parties. Mike and Rory fall into a comfortable companionship that blossoms into something much more serious. After crossing physical boundary lines when Olivia was away visiting her grandparents, both Mike and Aurora have to contemplate if they are ready for a new relationship or commitment. Their journey to a HEA is one filled with beautiful moments and sometimes uncomfortable tears or conversations! But I really enjoyed how Holiday emphasized boundary setting, relying on medical professionals for therapy, and communication in and out of the bedroom! Mike and Aurora were LOVELY characters with great banter, chemistry, and so easy to root for as a couple!

Thank you to Forever Publishing for my e-arc in exchange for my review. This romance book is releasing on Jan. 30, 2024!

I love a hockey romance. This one had a pace. He is a widower with a preteen who attends a dance school.

Aurora, the teacher and main character has a lot of baggage that she works through as an ex ballerina. She has panic attacks, an eating disorder and an extremely toxic mother.

Mike, the hockey player is a widower with an 11 year old moody preteen who is struggling.

The story is slow moving but not a slow burn. It moves organically as they work through their issues and develop a friendship and eventually a romantic relationship.

Relationships take time and this book reflects that.

Growing up as a ballerina, Aurora (Rory) felt isolated and lonely. While working in the mall, she meets Mike, a Canadian hockey player. At school Rory starts telling people she has a boyfriend named Mike. Now grown up, Mike and Aurora's paths cross again. Mike is a new widow with a daughter, and Rory is her dance teacher.

This book was more than just a typical, I know how this ends romance story. Both main characters have big flaws, but they balance each other. There is some heavy topics throughout the book, including, abuse, eating disorders, death, and therapy. I really enjoyed how the flow of their romance story went. It felt genuine and the spicy stuff didn't seem forced.

Thank you to Netgalley, Jenny Holiday, and the publishers for this free ebook. This review is 100% my own and honest opinion.

Thank you Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for my copy! All thoughts are my own.

I saw this cover and heard “ballerina + hockey player” and I was immediately sold. It was so much more than I could have imagined from the cute cover and tropes. I was particularly happy to read the therapy representation in this book and loved that it was a juicy, sexy, sweet romance paired with fully realized characters going through very real things in their life. I love a good frothy book but there’s just something a book that can give you both!

Synopsis:

“Once upon a time teenage Aurora Evans met a hockey player at the Mall of America. He was from Canada. And soon, he was the perfect fake boyfriend, a get-out-of-jail-free card for all kinds of sticky situations. I can't go to prom. I'm going to be visiting my boyfriend in Canada. He was just what she needed to cover her social awkwardness. He never had to know. It wasn't like she was ever going to see him again...Years later, Aurora is teaching kids’ dance classes and battling panic and eating disorders—souvenirs from her failed ballet career—when pro hockey player Mike Martin walks in with his daughter. Mike’s honesty about his struggles with widowhood helps Aurora confront some of her own demons, and the two forge an unlikely friendship. There’s just one problem: Mike is the boy she spent years pretending was her “Canadian boyfriend.”The longer she keeps her secret, the more she knows it will shatter the trust between them. But to have the life she wants, she needs to tackle the most important thing of all—believing in herself.” —NetGalley

What I Liked:

The Internal Dialogue—I loved the individual journeys both Rory and Mike went on. The grief, dealing with parents, the self discovery, therapy representation, Rory’s disordered eating and relationship ballet were all so powerful in their quietness. It was a great example of two characters working through their own things and working through things together.

The Concept—I thought it was such a fun idea! I wish there had been a few more letters or maybe a few more flashbacks to young Rory and her letters.

The Setting—I’m a sucker for lakes! I don’t think I’ve read a lot of books set in Minnesota and I loved it. Plus I thought the Little House references were fun too. It made me want to watch the show!

What Didn’t Work For Me:

The 3rd Act Break Up—I kept looking at my reading percentage on my kindle, dreading when the 3rd act break up would happen. Now that I’m writing this, it’s not that I hated that it happened, it just felt like Mike’s reaction was really out of character. Still had a great time reading the book!

Character Authenticity: 4/5 Spice Rating: 1/5 Overall Rating: 4.5/5

Content Warnings:

Disordered eating, strained parent/child relationship, death of a spouse, grief, anxiety, panic attacks (on the page), death of a parent

Aurora "Rory" Evans is a failed ballerina working at a strip mall dance studio by night and Starbucks by day after flaming out of a famous ballet school in NYC. She's just been dumped and can't afford the apartment she shared with her now-ex, and she has a toxic mother and history of disordered eating. What she least expects is to cross paths again with the handsome Canadian hockey player Mike that she met briefly as a teenager and crafted a whole imaginary relationship with. The real Mike is all grown up with his own baggage - he's a recent widower trying to keep his daughter Olivia's life from unraveling. When Mike asks Rory to move in and help him take care of his daughter while he is at away games, she agrees, but as time goes on, their arrangement gets complicated and lines begin to blur.

I was not expecting to love this one so much, but I did! Rory has been through SO MUCH in her life and her strength is so admirable. The way she and Mike just got each other and supported each other was heartwarming. I loved how much Mike fought for his daughter and to give her as normal of a life as he could, and how he put her first in every aspect. The way that Rory and Mike were just so steadfast for each other gave me all the feels and I loved seeing their relationship progress and their feelings deepen.

TW: Death of a spouse, mention of car accident, parental abandonment, toxic family dynamics, mention of eating disorder

4.5 stars

I really enjoyed this one. It was a thoughtful representation of life after loss and overcoming emotional trauma.

Mike and Rory both had interesting backstories and POV. Mike is dealing with the recent loss of his wife while caring for an emotional preteen daughter. Rory is a dance teacher who is dealing with her mom’s emotional abuse and overcoming an eating disorder. They meet and are instantly drawn to each other.

I loved their friendship! They were both so mature and good for each other. The romance is a slow burn, which really does their characters justice. I enjoyed their romantic relationship, but I liked their friendship even better.

There are so many fun quirks in this book that balance out the heavier topics (Dance Momsᵗᵐ, Rory calling Mike by his full name in her head, Canadianisms, and so many more!).

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝗼𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞:
👩‍❤️‍👨 Dual POV
🏒/🩰 Hockey Player + Dancer
👨‍👧 Single Dad
❤️‍🩹 Emotional topics
🏘️ Minnesota setting
🌶️.5

I wanted to like this book SO bad. The idea was definitely there but I had the hardest time staying engaged. And found the characters not likable. Just not for me.

Who doesn’t love a good hockey, single dad romance? This one really hit me in all my feels and had me on an emotional roller coaster. I loved Rory’s character and enjoyed her point of view. She did seem a bit immature at times but I still loved her. My heart broke for Mike and his daughter and their grief with the loss of their wife/mom. This book deals with some heavy topics but also has some fun and lighthearted moments. One of my favorite parts of the story was Rory’s relationship with Olivia, Mike’s daughter. I also appreciated the fact that Rory and Mike became friends before lovers. The only thing I didn’t care for was the third act break up. I felt like Mike’s reaction was over the top. He could have handled things better. Overall this was a great read that I really enjoyed!

Aurora(Rory) is a former ballet dancer turned dance teacher while Mike Martin is a professional hockey player. He is a single father dealing with grief from losing his wife. Years ago, Rory met Mike and had turned him into her invisible Canadian boyfriend so she would seem less like a loner in school. When Rory and Mike start a relationship she misses the opportunity to tell him about what she had done, when one of the things Mike really liked about her was that she had no idea who he was.
I was really impressed with the way the author tackled several mental health issues, including grief, eating disorders, panic attacks. The book was very organic, heartfelt, emotional, and enjoyable. The only thing I would have changed was how the end of the book seemed a little rushed, other then that I really enjoyed it.
Thank you to NetGalley, Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and Jenny Holiday for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
This book publishes on January 30, 2024

4.5 Stars! Winsome, warm, and uplifting!

Canadian Boyfriend is an absorbing, heartfelt tale that takes you into the lives of two main characters. Mike Martin, a professional hockey player and widower whose main focus is raising his daughter the best way he can, and Aurora Evans, a former ballerina turned dance teacher who, after pretending to date a Canadian hockey player for years as a teen, may have finally just stumbled across the man himself in real life.

The writing is light and tender. The characters are supportive, kind, and genuine. And the plot is an entertaining, amusing mix of life, love, family, friendship, grief, trust, compassion, happiness, healing, self-reflection, tricky moments, undeniable attraction, and romance.

Overall, Canadian Boyfriend is a cosy, sweet, heart-tugging tale by Holiday with characters I couldn’t help but fall in love with, a push-pull storyline that kept me engaged from start to finish, and a happy-ever-after ending that made me swoon.

I was expecting a silly little hockey romance, but this book was much more than that. Yes, there is an incredibly sweet romance between Aurora (Rory) and Mike. However, I think this book is more about grief and healing from pain, and Jenny Holiday does a beautiful job of illustrating that. We see Mike healing from the loss of his wife and healing the relationship with his daughter. We also see Rory heal from the abuse she experienced as a child and the eating disorder she had as a result. Most books tend to rush through the healing process and show the characters as magically fixed once they meet their love interest, but that wasn't the case in this book. Rory and Mike took their time, and we saw the progress as it was made.
Plus, the relationship between Aurora and Mike was adorable.
The book dragged a bit for me, and I got bored throughout the middle. So, I think it could have been shorter. There were also a few plot points that seemingly disappeared (especially the custody/adoption case), and I think the fake Canadian Boyfriend aspect wasn't highlighted as much as it could have been.
Overall, this is a really cute yet also heartfelt yet also cringe read.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reading copy! So full disclosure, I LOVE Jenny Holiday, but have only read her holiday romances, so I was very excited to give a more traditional romance a try. This book was amazing, thoughtful, and sweet, really bringing out the stunning nature of Holiday’s writing. Aurora (Rory) is a ballerina who moved back to Minnesota after a failed professional career, when she connects with Mike, a hockey star, single dad, who is reeling after the death of his wife. But as their life gets intertwined, particularly with helping his kid Olivia, Rory realizes that he’s the same man/boy that she made up as a fake boyfriend when she was a teenager. This is a romance, but it’s heavy. I love romances, and this is a great one, with a traditional HEA, BUT be sure you read those content warnings because oof, they’ make this story hard to read sometimes. Rory was sooooo mistreated by her mom and her eating struggles were the hardest for me to absorb, BUT I think this was portrayed with grace and empathy. I thought about giving this book 4 stars only because it felt a little long and there is a part at the end that kind of threw me in terms of character traits, but overall this book is great and I think deserves 5 stars because of its great writing and it brought me to tears in a great way multiple times. The writing is great, the characters are great, and my favorite part, the growth and love the characters have for each other builds over a long period of time. Have I used the word “great” enough? Holiday is a master of building love and relationships over a reasonable amount of time and giving the characters their happy endings WITH hard personal growth and work in therapy. I love her writing and I hope that other people find this book and love it too. I highly recommend this book for fans of Holiday, contemporary romance, and sports (though this is definitely not a dominating theme).

Thank you so much Forever (Grand Central Publishing), NetGalley and Jenny Holiday for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

I loved this book SO much! The chemistry between Aurora and Mike was perfect and I love how mature and honest they both were with each other! As a fellow Canadian I think Jenny Holiday did an excellent job at really encapsulating us Canadians. Tim Hortons, Hockey, Toques, and saying sorry all the time.. yup she pretty much nailed it! Jenny also does a really great job with discussions of mental health and eating disorders in this book. Overall if you’re looking for a cute, funny and hopeful read..this one is for you!

3.5/5 (rounded to 4)

I thought Canadian Boyfriend was an easy and quick read. I really loved the concept, former ballet dancer and a hockey player, literally was solely into this book because of the hockey!
There are other things I loved too.
Both Aurora and Mike going to therapy, working on themselves, and the way they talked about this and confiding in each other about their struggles was so wonderfully done in my opinion. It’s nice to see books like this where therapy is normalized.
I loved their friendship and how Mike would always do these gestures for Aurora, calling her “a bright thing”, you can tell all he wanted to do was protect her.
I think what fell short for me however was the how Mike reacted to the “lie”. I honestly feel like the lie was not a big deal, I am not sure how to explain it but I saw nothing wrong with what Aurora did by not telling him immediately especially since her fears were valid too. It was just crazy to me that he felt betrayed and like Aurora didn’t see him for who he was when Aurora always made him feel seen, like did all those conversations they had really not prove that because I thought they did.
He then realizes his mistakes and big gestures in the epilogue and it’s over.
I would have love to seen more, like Olive, his daughter, being included in their new relationship.
My favorite scene has got to be the camping scene. It was quite beautiful.
Olive and Gretchen were my favorite and I’m kind of excited that Gretchen is getting her own book next.

Thank you NetGalley and Forever for the e-ARC.

DNF @ 65% - it's taken me from December 12th to January 18th to get to 65%. One of my friends finally advised me to DNF because I was bored, so here I am.

And, honestly, I am so bored. I might come back to this one someday in the future, but for now, it's dragging.

There's a LOT of internal thoughts and very little dialogue. The pacing is off. Things don't seem to flow naturally, because they end abruptly and/or change gears to something else in a very unnatural manner.

I enjoyed immensely the work that Jenny put in to representing 1. a ballerina recovering from an eating disorder and an anxiety order and 2. a husband dealing with the death of his wife and the mother of his child. The therapy is great for both of them and we need more representation of positive use of therapy.

Thank you to the publisher and author for an ARC of this one via NetGalley. These are my honest thoughts.

This was an ARC that I requested through NetGalley based on its description, not having any prior experience with this author. Overall, this was an enjoyable book, it’s a dual POV romance that actually tackles some pretty big issues such as grief due to the death of a spouse, panic disorder, and eating disorders, and on those issues this book deserves 4 stars. What brought my rating of the book down was the conflict between the two main characters, and my feeling that if these two characters could handle such large issues as previously mentioned in such a rational manner, that they (and especially Mike) could have handled the conflict much better.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review.

Jenny Holiday scores deep with this single dad hockey player and daughter's dance teacher romance. Weaving grief and mental health together, creating a story of healing yourself and each other. Rory and Mike are so so sweet and I truly loved every word of this book. Mike is the ultimate Canadian Boyfriend.

Rating ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ .5 (rounded up to 5 ⭐️ because my issues were minor)
Spice 🌶 🌶 🌶

This book was so much more of an emotional ride than I expected! The grief, the anxiety rep and the normalization of going to therapy were all handled so beautifully. I loved how the relationship developed between Mike and Rory. It felty really organic and the two just couldn't escape the pull between them. I really appreciated the care and respect that Mike's ex was given as he came to terms with his grief and the fallout after her death.

Olivia, Mike's daughter, was absolutely perfect. I loved how delicately her own struggles after her mothers death were portrayed. I loved the relationship she developed with Rory. Honestly all the main characters in this book were just beautiful. This book really brought me through the full range of emotions and treated all the different issues the characters had with such care. I did find a major plot point to be quite predictable but otherwise this was a wonderful story and I'm so glad I was given the opportunity to read it.

Thank you to Forever Publishing for providing me with an arc.

I was really excited for this and I did start and enjoy it but I am temporarily DNFing as I'm not in the place to read ED in a book right now. I am excited to come back to this whenever I can though.