I am struggling with getting my review of Jenny Holiday’s Canadian Boyfriend right. I really enjoyed it. It’s a romance surfing on big waves of grief and trauma. For a big chunk of the book Mike and Aurora have a quasi employer/employee relationship that some people will, reasonably, consider a hard no. I want to put all this up front, because it’s important information for readers, and I don’t want my whole review to be about the things that might put a reader off of a book I enjoyed very much.

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.

At the beginning of the book (after the prologue), Aurora considers herself to be a failed ballerina with a tense relationship with her mother. Mike is grieving the death of his wife and struggling to keep custody of Olivia, his tween step-daughter, and give her stability as she grieves for her mother. Both of them are tackling harmful and hurtful things in their lives – grief, disordered eating, body dysmorphia, self-respect, the expectations of others, betrayal, and fear of abandonment. These are heavy themes, but I think Holiday deftly lightens them without trivializing them.

Mike pays attention to Aurora in part because her dance class (jazz and tap, not ballet) is one of the things that makes his daughter happy. Aurora isn’t sure if Mike is the Mike that she based her fake boyfriend on. They build a relationship with extremes of caution and bursts of profligate abandon. Everyone, including them, is confused about who they are to each other. They are messy. They try so hard not to be and fail. Mike is especially messy, clumsily trying to stay close to Aurora, but also keep her at a distance, ostensibly to protect Olivia, but really to protect himself. Throughout the book, Mike is in therapy, and Aurora starts her own therapy. They grow over the corse of the book, both through their own efforts and in response to each other.

I have very few things that I think are hard lines in romance. Too many times an author has taken a thing I would normally not read and turn it into something I loved. I’m not a huge fan of boss/employee relationships, but here I think Holiday is so clear that Mike tries to make Aurora an employee to keep her physically close while keeping her at an emotional distance. The boss/employee dynamic is not hot, it’s not ok and Holiday is clear that in this case, it’s unhealthy. Along with the themes of grief, self respect and boundaries, there is also an exploration of forgiveness. Mike has to learn to forgive his late wife and himself in a situation where death has cut off the possibility of closure. Aurora has to decide whether she will forgive her mother, when she doesn’t understand the ways in which she has harmed Aurora. I often like third act breakups because they are an opportunity for the relationship to recover from harm. People make mistakes and often it’s ok after some time and repair. From the prologue, you can see the crash coming in Aurora and Mike’s relationship. When that breakup does happen, Holiday has built enough of a foundation between them that it feels like a healthy reset for them.

This was a lovely read. Like a good romance reader, I’m already looking forward to Gretchen’s book please.

I received this as an advance reader copy from Forever and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.

This is a really well done hockey romance! Swoon-worthy and adorable without hitting you over the head with overdone hockey tropes. It's a funny, lighter side of the subgenre that will leave you grinning. Very well done!

Not your typical hockey romance. If you're go to tropes are second change romance, single dad and golden retriever mmc than this is for you. A cozy hockey read that isn't all about the spice.

I loved this book. I was particularly compelled by all the discussion on emotional labor and how it affected the mmc to change. The kindness and friendship between the main characters made the romance that much more believable.

I really loved this hockey x ballerina romance (because who doesn't want a hunky Canadian boyfriend?) I liked how anxiety/panic attacks were tackled as well as grief. I loved the MMC and FMC's relationship (though I hated the third act breakup because WHY). I liked that this was a sports romance with substance and tough topics.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishers for this Advanced Readers Copy of Canadian Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday!

Unfortunately, this book didn’t work for me and I ended up not finishing it. I’ve read and loved other Jenny Holiday books in the past but this one did not work for me. The writing was confusing and often times nonsensical in what was going on and I felt myself pulled out of the story. The actions of the two main characters felt very disconnected from how people would actually behave. Thank you for the opportunity to review this book, I’m very sad it didn’t work for me being a previous Jenny Holiday fan and huge hockey fan. Hopefully it works much better for other readers!

Once upon a time in Mall of America, teenage Aurora Evans met a hockey player named Mike. He was from Canada. Mike the perfect fake boyfriend to get her out of sticky situations, the perfect cover for her social awkwardness. He never had to know. She wasn't going to see him again. Years later, she's a dance teacher battling panic attacks and eating disorders. One day, widowed pro hockey player Mike Martin show's up in her class with his daughter, and he reminds her a lot of "Mike," her fake boyfriend from Canada.

After reading the Christmas in Eldovia series, Jenny Holiday has become one of my auto-read authors. I'm a fan of her romances. To me, this read was a little different from the Hallmark-esque vibes her holiday reads give off, and in a good way. Aurora and Mike were both going through personal issues; they found a confidant in each other. The on-again-off again romance they were having was a red flag, but they also weren't the only ones in the picture. They also had to think about his daughter. Honestly though, I just like how Aurora and Mike were with each other. When the main conflict in their relationship came about, I appreciated that it wasn't overdramatic or dragged out in the story. Tough issues (grief, panic attacks, eating disorders, and toxic relationships) mentioned were handled well and in a sensitive manner.

Arc provided by Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

Discovering that Jenny Holiday has over 30 other books published put a lot into perspective for me. For one, she's probably out of ideas. If you've read any other slightly romantic book, then you've read this one. For two, and my own personal bias is slipping in here, I cannot take anyone from Manitoba seriously. I'm sorry.
This book's whole conflict centering around the fact that she knew him for 5 minutes when they were younger, and this being such a huge secret she had to hide makes no sense to me. I cannot fathom a situation in which someone would genuinely be upset that they were used as an imaginary boyfriend. The development of the two characters separately was probably the only thing in this book I enjoyed which brings me to my next point: Where's the rom and where's the com. I don't think I cracked a smile once in this book and there was so little romantic tension between the leads it made me angry.
If you liked Jenny Holiday before then you'll probably like this, but this being the first book by her I picked up, I don't see it happening again.

I loved Jenny Holiday's Christmas series of romantic comedies so I knew I needed this new one! Of course being a Canadian, I was instantly drawn to the title. A Canadian hockey romance!? Yes, please! Don't let the sweet cover fool you, however. This story ended up being so layered with difficult topics like grief, eating disorders, perfectionism, anxiety, and more. I loved that the relationship between Mike and Rory took time and they built each other's trust. They both were on their own healing journey which I thought really made their connection more authentic and not as 'insta love'. Olivia was such a sweet character and she added to Mike's growth. This was a cute yet emotional read. Four stars.

I really enjoyed reading this book and usually I don't like books with sports but this was amazing! I like romance novel and I was intrigued by the ballet dance and hockey player couple. It was well written and I was very entertained.

I want to start by saying there is a major TW for eating disorders and minor TW for grieving, anxiety, verbal abuse.

So, when I started this book I thought it was too ridiculous. The first 25 percent was like a soap opera with its bombardment of tropes and drama. I literally was texting my friends about the book and laughing at the info that was absolutely dumping. I won’t give everything away, but as a sample I was texting Amy Imogene Reads at the 10 percent mark because the Eating Disorder was put out right at the beginning.

Despite all of that, I decided to continue. I guess my thought was to watch the train crash to say I did. Instead, after the 25 percent mark the book ran like a regular romance. One I was quite enjoying. I ended up finishing the book in 2 days because I couldn’t stop. It wasn’t a train crash, it felt more like a healing story. It’s like the author dumped everything out at the beginning to make you immediately on the same page as the characters and then took you through their healing and subsequent romance. By the end you enjoyed the journey.

In the book the characters are well fleshed out, the romance has a nice slow build, and the ending is what you hope for. I will say the tension of when is the secret going to come out killed me, and the ending could seem rushed. But the revelations they get make sense when you actually attend their therapy appointments through out the book. I can’t say anymore with out spoilers…

Overall- yup, I liked it. Sold 4 out of 5 for me. If you read it, I suggest laughing at the start and smiling at the end.

LOVED this book so much. It had everything I was looking for in a story and the steam was 👌🏼. I love the way the tension stays with the book due to the secret she has about him. It made things interesting that you know something he doesn’t. Overall, I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it as a fun sports romance rom com!

I’ve enjoyed every Jenny Holiday book I’ve read, and Canadian Boyfriend is no exception. The premise of this one really hooked me and the depth of the emotional connection between the main characters kept me turning the pages.

Mike Martin is a hockey player whose wife died in a car accident, leaving him and his 11 year old daughter, Olivia, on their own. When Olivia’s dance teacher, Aurora, shows an interest and connection with Olivia, Mike quickly acts to bring Aurora into their lives first as occasional babysitter and then live in nanny. Aurora’s keeping a secret - that she met Mike Martin as a 14 year old and invented a persona for him as her (fake) Canadian boyfriend to build her own social capital at the time.

This book touches on a lot of very deep and emotional topics - widowerhood, grief after loss, single parenting, recovery from eating disorder and body dysmorphia - and Jenny treated these topics with a lot of care while still managing to write a story that felt light and flirty. There were a few things that I struggled with (why does Aurora refer to him as Mike Martin every.single.time??) but overall I enjoyed this. I don’t love when the only source of conflict is miscommunication where one conversation could solve all the issues, and that was especially the case here especially among two adults who both are getting a lot of therapy.

I voluntarily read a gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I loved this book! I devoured it in only a few sittings and wish there was more to read. The story line was paced very well and the characters were easy to love!

Canadian Boyfriend was a nice romance reprieve from the light-hearted, low-stakes style romcom hockey books I’ve read recently.

The characters had a believable and relatable amount of depth that made them multi-dimensional and interesting. I didn’t predict the outcome as well as I often can from chapter 1 of most romance books.

What I appreciated most about Mike and Aurora’s relationship
was that the majority of this story focused on building a really deep friendship between them, and neither character had blatant romantic intentions or physical desires for each other until their relationship as friends had been well established. I think it’s rare for a romance to not mention attraction between the characters constantly, and I think going about the building of their love in this way made it more interesting to read.

This book was sooo sad. The characters start sad and the overall tone throughout is sad. Don’t be fooled by either cover that’s out there for this book, the cartoony one of them at the ice rink or the ones of them in swim suits at the lake in the sun (which makes no sense to me as they never go swimming together on page). Major trigger warning for death of a spouse and parent by car accident, the MMC and his daughter are still actively grieving throughout this whole story. Additional CW for past parental abuse (parent still distantly present in character’s life) and recovering ED. The FMC had a very difficult and different upbringing that she is continually hurt by and has to work through. Each character is on their own individual journeys and at times it’s a very heavy read.

This is still a romance and it does have a HEA but there is a bittersweet tone through a lot of this. They are messy in their relationship especially when they attempt to compartmentalize and stop and start a FWB situation. This is NOT a cute sports romance or cute boss/nanny romance. This is angsty and at times the MMC is so emotionally removed from the FMC in a way that he never really has to make up for. It’s not that he’s not over his deceased wife in an emotional sense it’s just that he decides how connected he gets to the FMC and at times as an outside reader I felt hurt for her that their connection didn’t override their control.

And yet I couldn’t put this down. I ended up really liking the main characters and I felt that the details were so vivid. This covers a lot of time and a lot of plot. They have a developed world in Minnesota and Canada and I found it all so compelling. It is technically first person but it almost feels like third with how separate you feel from the characters.

There is on page spice but it’s only like one pepper and slow burn. Half of it was randomly closed door which was disappointing for me cause I loved the stuff that was on page and I felt like really spoke to their developing friendship and intimacy. Just an FYI for those curious.

Overall this was a really unique read and I maintain my warning of overarching cloud of SAD but I do think it’s good and well written, I just wouldn’t blanket recommend it. Thank you to Forever for this ARC. I’ve seen that other things by this author might be lighter so I plan on giving them a try! This was my first.

Another great book from Jenny Holiday. The premise was funny and adorable, and Jenny's writing and humour is as strong as ever. I thought she handled the tougher themes of the book very well and sensitively (toxic parental relationship, disordered eating, loss of a spouse). Definitely watch for this one - I highly recommend.

Jenny Holiday's new book is my second hockey romance of the fall season. I'm not a true hockey fan but these fictional ones have been holding my interest. Holiday gives depth to this story that I was unprepared to encounter. Thoroughly enjoyed.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. These opinions are my own.

This was such a sweet rom-com. Aurora was a ballet dancer as a child. Her intense schedule kept her away from school and other activities, so she made up a fake boyfriend based on a guy she met once at a mall coffee kiosk. Years later, she is teaching dance to his daughter, and he's a professional hockey player.

This was more emotional than I had expected from the cover(s), but in a great way. I greatly appreciated the content warnings (disordered eating and death of a spouse before the book begins) that were included at the start of the book. I was also impressed by how panic attacks and therapy were incorporated into the plot. And I liked the acknowledgement of the different kinds of labor involved in running a household, especially that of being the person to keep the mental to do list.

I found Aurora's letters to her fake boyfriend excellent. And they way in which they differed from the current relationship and real person was so well done. I found I didn't much mind the miscommunication in this book. Instead, it felt like a major theme was the kind of lies we tell ourselves and others. And then, I loved the ending and epilogue.