This book was absolutely everything and more. I love how the story went back and forth from the letters she wrote to the man she thought she was in love with as she was refalling in love with the same man in present time. I also loved how much growth the characters had within the book dealing with different tough topics like loss of a wife and anxiety. Can’t wait to see this book on the shelf’s soon!

I was so excited to listen to this audio book. With Joshua Jackson and Emily Ellet as narrators, I knew that this was going to be a special book. I loved that it was duet narration. It added so much to the story because it was also dual point of view. I loved hearing from both characters and listening to their inner thoughts, as well as their conversations from the narrator's voices. Both of their performances were excellent.

Canadian Boyfriend is a story about two people who are struggling to heal from past traumas. For Mike, after the death of his wife, he is now a single parent of an eleven year old daughter. He is navigating his hockey career, his daughter, and his own mental health. For Aurora, she is healing for her mother's control and emotional abuse as well as disordered thoughts about eating and panic attacks.

Aurora is now a dance teacher, after she quits her ballet career, and she meets Mike when he brings his daughter to Aurora's dance classes. Aurora soon realizes that she had actually met Mike fourteen years ago, and she used him or the idea of him as her fake Canadian boyfriend. She eventually moves in to Mike's basement to act as a nanny for his daughter, Olivia, when he is traveling for hockey.

As they spend more time together, they start to form a friendship, which eventually leads to them hooking up, but not in a relationship. I think that they cared about each other, but I wasn't necessarily rooting for them to be a couple and wind up together.

I think that the book cover is misleading because the book does cover heavy topics, and it doesn't really have much to do with hockey. I think that the romance in the story was secondary to the rest of the story.

When listening to the audio book, it did become frustrating that Aurora kept referring to Mike by his full name. Every time she talked about him, she called him Mike Martin. The third act breakup was very disappointing because it was miscommunication, and this trope is one that I don't enjoy.

For me, the story is about two people who are struggling, and they find each other. I think the story was well written, and I read it in a day.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hachette Audio for an ALC of this book.

This was very sweet and cute. I normally like my leading romcom male characters to be grumpy, but it was nice that Mike was just an emotionally healthy adult working on bettering himself and being there for his daughter. I do think one of the conflicts was a little silly, but didn't detract from my enjoyment.

And the narrators were great. OMG, who doesn't want to hear Joshua Jackson being all Pacey for 10 hours?

Thank you, NetGalley!

I was really looking forward to this book by its description so I was excited I was gifted an advanced copy of the audible version. I think the female narrator’s voice could be grating at times. I think that was one of the reasons when the FMC kept referring to MC as Mike Martin the whole book was really annoying to me. I think the MC narration was very flat to me, no inflection. I hate to be that negative but it really took away from really getting the most out of the story. The story itself was overall good. I just wish I could have switch over to the print copy. Thank you to NetGalley for this free advanced copy . This review I’m leaving voluntarily

4.5 stars rounded up.
More hockey & more smut would’ve tipped this up to a perfect 5 star rating.
Narrators were excellent!
LOVED that emotional labor, toxic family relationships, anxiety & eating disorders, and grief were all delicately but realistically tackled in this novel.

Can
Canadian Boyfriend may look like your run of the mill, fluffy sports romance but it was so much more than that! Our main characters, Rory and Mike, were in their late twenties/early thirties.

Hockey star Mike Martin has recently been widowed and left with his wife’s daughter, Olivia, from a previous relationship. It’s obviously been a very hard time for them, so their therapist suggests Olivia pick two things that make her happy to focus on. One is long car rides with Mike, so they buy a convertible. The other is tap classes with Miss Rory.

Rory is the only daughter of a full on Dance Mom. A people pleaser all her life, made a loner by the competitions she was always enrolled in, Rory struggles to do things for herself. She also struggles a lot with body image and eating, which I thought was discussed very well in this book.

Mike and Rory are thrown together when Olivia asks if they can drive Miss Rory home and it becomes a habit. Soon, Mike asks Rory to drive Olivia home while he’s away for games, and eventually she becomes their live-in nanny.

I really liked the overall relationship between Rory and Mike. This book felt very realistic. My only issue was their romance. Their first kiss came up so randomly and I can’t believe I have to say this but it was CLOSED DOOR. We didn’t get that exhilarating first kiss. So much of their romantic interactions were told to us, and I really struggled to see their chemistry overall. Flirty banter, longing…give me something! It felt clinical whenever we were told they’d been intimate.

That being said, this was still a cute, quick read.

The narration was amazing, and absolutely raised my rating. Joshua Jackson 😍

The performance was great and made this a fun, easy listen. They totally sold the characters for me! I loved the positive therapy representation and appreciated how both MC’s made the effort to work through their deep personal issues.
For being a somewhat large part of the plot, I wasn’t totally sold on why the letter reveal was such a big conflict. The story had excellent pacing and the characters were likable and believable. I enjoyed their personal growth and the way their relationships developed. There were some very sweet moments with Olivia. Overall it was a fun read!

Well I just loved this book! I went into it mostly because Joshua Jackson was a narrator and I am so happy I did. Both narrators were amazing and I could feel the chemistry between them. This was not just a rom com it had depth and heart which I really love in a romance book. The 3rd act conflict was a little rushed and I knew it would make my eyes roll but that didn't change the fact that I just loved this book!

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.

🎧 audiobook review:

First off, duet narration - PERFECTION. I wish all audiobooks were duet, it’s so much more fun that way.

Second of all, JOSHUA freakin JACKSON! He did NOT disappoint. I will fully admit my review MAY be a little biased since I love him so very much.
Emily Ellet also did a fantastic job as Aurora.

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.

The book beautifully unfolds the story of a widowed hockey player and a ballet dancer who, by chance, becomes the nanny to his daughter from his late wife. Filled with tender moments and unexpected humor, the narrative paints the characters as cherished friends. Set against the enchanting backdrop of Canada, with vivid descriptions of the Northern Lights, the story takes on a magical quality.

The protagonist's transition to a nanny role is portrayed with nuanced elegance, while the hockey player's vulnerability and the ballet dancer's dedication add depth to their relatable humanity. Beyond the central theme of love, the book explores friendship and emotions, avoiding clichés and maintaining a dynamic narrative with a mix of joy and sadness.

In the end, this book leaves a lasting impression, combining dreamy Canadian scenes, heartfelt moments, and a universal theme of love. The connection with the daughter adds an extra layer of complexity, making the journey uniquely personal and touching.

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 is read by Joshua Jackson and Emily Ellet and has duet narration. Joshua Jackson is a newer audiobook narrator but readers may recognize him from his acting career most notably, his roles in Dawson's Creek and Fringe. I have enjoyed other audiobooks narrated by Emily Ellet, most recently, Blonde Identity. I know a lot of readers appreciate duet narration so I think many readers will love this audiobook. I will say every time there is a text message sent the text tone sounds and I kept checking my phone (you have been warned).

4.5⭐️ When widower and pro hockey player Mike Martin brings his daughter to her dance class run by Aurora Evans, and sees his daughter’s connection to her, it sparks an idea. He offers her a quasi nanny roll in order to help soothe the stress his time on the road will cause. Soon, Mike realizes just how much of a balm Aurora is for him as well.

If ever I was guilty of judging a book by it’s cover and then getting it completely wrong, it was with this book. I have to admit, I saw the cover and thought cute smutty hockey book.

Then I heard Joshua Jackson co-narrated it, and immediately dropped everything to listen. And boy was I wrong with a capital W. This is the antithesis of the smutty hockey romance (not that I don’t enjoy those as well). This is the feel good book I didn’t realize I needed just at the moment I needed it. Minus two little issues I had (discussed below) this book is romcom perfection in every way. If there was a warm hug in book format, it’s this one.

I asked recently about what ingredients make a great book “recipe” and most of the elements can be found right here in Canadian Boyfriend. With the most adorable down-to-earth and lovably flawed MCs, found family vibes, an emotional component, therapy positivity, a ton of LOL moments and some steamy moments thrown in for good measure, Jenny Holiday has concocted the ideal romcom.

Let’s talk for a moment about what didn’t work as well. I am not the biggest fan of drama thrown in to create tension, and while I think it kind of works given the emotional baggage of these MC’s, I still could not fully understand why it created the impact it did. Thankfully it makes up such a small percentage of the story. There was also a repetition of the MMCs full name that drove me batty. I think though, if you can overlook those two elements like I did, you will find this to be a winner.

As I mentioned above, Joshua Jackson (with his glorious Canadian accent) co-narrates this duet, graphic style audio with Emily Ellet, and both add even more depth and emotion to this already emotionally rich story. I cannot recommend listening to the audio enough. Even better, grab the e-book or physical book to read with it. You know this is my favorite way to go for the best immersive experience.

Read if you like:
•hockey/ballet romance
•forced proximity
•friends to lovers
•overcoming grief
•therapy positivity
•found family
•feel good romcoms

Thank you Hachette Audio for the gifted copy

This is so disappointing to say, but unfortunately this one is a DNF at 35% for me. I requested this for Joshua Jackson's voice, which luckily doesn't disappoint (please please please give him more audiobook narration jobs, thx) but everything else was just too hard to get through.
The narrator for Aurora has a voice that is really hard for me to handle, and it's made a whole lot worse by the fact that she calls Mike "Mike Martin" for the entirety of the book. I can understand calling him this when they first meet, as he has that celebrity status- oh wow Ryan Gosling is in our studio can you believe it- but once they become friends, and then lovers? Why are you still calling him by his full name? It went from weird to just plain absurd.
The letter writing secret seemed not that bad but Mike reminds us every few minutes how much he really hates liars (as opposed to all those people who....like them?) so we know it's a setup to enable him to totally blow up at Aurora once he finds out her secret. When an entire book is just leading up to a lack of communication/lie-based breakup, it's hard for me to be fully immersed in their story.
While I listened to nearly half of this book, the pacing felt off and I kept losing track of how long they'd actually known each other. It felt extremely fast for him to have her hanging out with his daughter after class for a couple of hours one day a week, to suddenly buying her a car and then she's moving IN WITH THEM to be an unpaid nanny of some kind? I felt like I'd missed a month of them connecting and become super close before he felt comfortable enough with this arrangement to offer it. But I guess it was just a gut feeling he had. I didn't feel any chemistry between them and according to some reviews I read on this earlier today, their first kiss is a fade to black? Fade to black spice is completely fine, but fading to black on just a kiss seems so strange to me.
This is my first book by this author, and I'm not sure I'm compelled to try her again. Maybe if I'm promised that the characters get comfortable enough to stop calling them by their full names in their heads. I could be persuaded.
Listen for Joshua Jackson. Just wait until he's narrating a different book first.

Canadian Boyfriend is the newest release from Jenny Holiday. I’ve read a handful of this author’s books in the past and thought this one would be a cute, romcom. But was surprised how this was more emotional/deeper and deals with grief and tough situations for the characters. She’s a former ballet dancer, he’s a hockey player, widower, and single father, she pretended he was her “Canadian boyfriend” for years as a teen, and now she’s his pseudo nanny/driver/caretaker for his daughter.

Aurora and Mike first meet when they’re teenagers, she works at the mall and he’s in town for hockey. He ends up making quite the impression on her, enough so for her to claim he’s her “Canadian boyfriend” for years to get out of social situations when she’s a teen. Cut to 13 years later and she sees her “Canadian boyfriend” again and starts working for him to help with his daughter, one of her dance students. Aurora is a former ballet dancer, who now works as a dance teacher and a barista. She’s his daughter’s dance teacher and he wants to hire her to drive his daughter to-and-from class since he’s about to start back up with hockey after losing his wife in a car accident.

I thought this one was just okay. It was heavier than I expected, which isn’t bad, it’s just worth noting since I feel like it was described more as a romcom beforehand. On top of the loss of a spouse/mother for his daughter, this also handles Aurora’s panic attacks, her eating disorder, and her complicated/toxic relationship with her mother. This book was just so long, and I didn’t think it needed to be. A lot of the plot felt dragged out and it was obvious what the conflict would be the whole time. I also couldn’t stand how she constantly refers to him as her “Canadian boyfriend” in the beginning and then uses his full name (first and last) over and over, anytime she thinks about him. Just felt odd. The conflict and letters leading to the 3rd act breakup wasn’t fun.

I received an audio ALC from Hachette Audio via NetGalley, all thoughts in this review are my own. This is a duet narration, which isn’t always my fav type of narration style (she reads all of the heroine’s parts, he reads all of the hero’s parts throughout the story). But it did grab my attention since actor Joshua Jackson was the hero’s narrator! Canadian Boyfriend is out January 30, 2024.

CW: disorder eating, death of a spouse, toxic mother-daughter relationship, panic attacks

This one was sooo cute! I loved listening to Joshua Jackson narrate! Definitely a cute feel good read that I didn’t want to end!

3.5 rounded down

This was cute. I would consider this a slow burn romance. The first kiss happens at 50%.

It’s not a fluffy romance, the MMC is dealing with grief over losing his wife and adopting her daughter. The daughter has a lot of trauma from that loss and fears the MMC will die and/or abandon her as well.

The FMC has disordered eating and a strained relationship with her mom because of it. I think these heavy tops were overall handled appropriately but also handled in a very convenient way which I didn’t find very believable.

At one point the two main characters suggest a casual relationship which felt out of place and not like the characters at all. I was pleased when that didn’t fruition into anything and they kept true to themselves and each other that their feelings are real.

Overall, I really enjoyed this. It did become annoying towards the end just how excessive the FMC referred to the MMC in first and last name. I would have liked her internal monologue to refrain from using his full name all of the time.

Also, did I mention Joshua Jackson narratives for the MMC?! 😍

Loved it. Emotionally invested. Very cute. Quirky humor. Single dad age gap hockey player x ballerina. Strong topics written in a light meaningful tone.
Who told Joshua Jackson to narrate a romance book because THANK YOU! My ears appreciated the voice.

Did I request this book because Joshua Jackson was a narrator and I had a childhood crush on Charlie Conway? 1000%. This was my first audiobook duet and I LOVED it! It was such a fun experience getting to hear the narrators performing together in every chapter. I thought they had excellent chemistry and I need Joshua Jackson to narrate more audiobooks ASAP.

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.

I really enjoyed this story and LOVED the audiobook experience immensely!

A Canadian hockey player who’s sweet, a step-dad and goes to therapy. My hockey loving self can’t handle it all 😉 this is a sweet book with a slow burn. I didn’t love the 3rd act conflict because it happened SO late we barely saw the outcome. But overall it was a sweet romance.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

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.