I listened to the audiobook and the narrators were perfect. I am in love with this book! I finished it earlier today and I am still so sad! I want many, many sequels!! It was the best rom com I’ve read in a very long time, but it feels like so much more than just a rom com. The dialogue was funny and the characters felt like they had so much personality. This is a new to me author and I will be reading all of her books. Loved it!!!

Aurora and Mike were perfect! I love a single dad romance and they had the best banter. It was sweet reading about his journey after what happened (no spoilers), and I love how they found each other. Such a beautiful story and the narration was fantastic! Their struggles were obviously very different but it was touching how they helped each other grow and overcome.

Thank you to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review. All of thoughts are my own.

Canadian Boyfriend is a standalone hockey romance from Jenny Holiday. This isn’t my first Jenny Holiday book, but this one is deeper than I had originally assumed it would be Mike is a widower who is the stepfather to Olivia (11 years old). He is a professional hockey player, and was hurt by the lies that his wife had told him and that he didn’t like being recognized or befriend because he was a pro-athlete. Aurora was emotionally abused and manipulated in the past. She finally stood up for herself and left ballet behind. However, she met Mike 14 years earlier in a mall and used him as a “Canadian Boyfriend” a coping mechanism to deal with her mother and the bullying from others that she endured. She never thought that she would one day be working for him as a nanny or be teaching ballet to Olivia or that they would become friends. The pacing was good and it had to be as the romance is a slow burn. This spice isn’t that spicy. You know that Mike and Aurora are doing, but you aren’t getting a lot of descriptions. It isn’t necessary to drive the plot of this story forward as Mike and Aurora’s connections is not so much physical as it was more emotional. Both had to learn to trust each other before giving into their attraction to each other. The side characters, including Olivia, helped develop the story and romance into an enjoyable read. There was some telling over showing, like Aurora telling us that she and Mike did have sex then we got to see it.

The narrators: This was duet, so the female narrator performed female parts and the male narrator performed the male parts. This was my first Emily Eilet narrated book, but she did a phenomenal job! Her ability to voice Olivia and make her sound like a child and an alien or sea creature or sound like she was 2 years old! I loved it! Joshua Jackson of Dawson’s Creek and The Skulls and Fringe fame voiced Mike. I had no idea he was narrating audiobooks, but damn it! He killed it, too! He did such a fantastic job! Both Emily Eilet and Joshua Jackson worked well together, bringing a solid romance novel to life! The production was well done and the editing was impeccable.

This isn’t dark, but there are trigger warnings: talking of eating disorders, death of a parent, gaslighting by a parent, lying/hiding of contraceptives by a partner. I would recommend that you listen to Canadian Boyfriend as the narrators brought a solid 4 star read to 4.5 stars (rounding up to 5 stars).

I thought this story was cute with heartfelt moments. The narrators (hello Joshua Jackson) did a great job being the story and their characters to life. My biggest disappointment was the third act “breakup”, it happened so late into the story and honestly just wasn’t as big of a deal as the MMC/FMC made it. Overall I did enjoy the story and would absolutely read more by this author. #CanadianBoyfriendAudio

I listened to the audiobook for this one, and I’m so glad I did. The narrators did an amazing job of bringing the characters to life and the overall production was amazing. I’m not sure I would’ve given the book 4 stars if I’d read another format.

The book itself was cute. It approached tough issues in ways that weren’t awkward or out of place. I think the author did a particularly good job of handling the topic of grief. The characters were brave in that they didn’t shy away from heavy topics, even when they wanted to, and I found that to be inspiring.

That said, there were several things I didn’t love. The FMC almost exclusively referred to the MMC by his full name all the way to the end of the book. I also felt the book could have been cut down a bit and some topics, while handled well, were addressed maybe longer than they needed to be.

In the spirit of full disclosure, this last issue is completely personal and will likely have no bearing on anyone else and perhaps shouldn’t reflect in my rating but it does anyway because I’m human. The FMC is named Aurora and nicknamed Rory. My daughter is also named Aurora and nicknamed Rory. At first I thought this was cute, then I got to the first open door scene (of two). I should’ve known when I picked up the book the direction it was heading in and this one is solely on me, but I can’t move past the (again, completely personal and my fault) issue this creates for me.

A million thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book.

This romance was hopeful and I really loved each character's growth as the story developed. While this was a romance novel, I was cheering on Aurora's personal growth through panic attacks, ED recovery and toxic relationships and Mike's personal growth through grieving the loss of his wife and his evolving relationship with his daughter. The author was thoughtful in her portrayal of all of the characters' individual experiences.

I really enjoyed the audio book narration performed in duet, it made the listening experience much more engaging and immersive. I didn't love the phone message pinging sounds interspersed in their text exchanges.

One thing that annoyed me is Aurora calling Mike Martin by his full name nearly every. single. time. it’s so strange and became a bit off-putting hearing it so frequently. I also felt that Mike's reaction to the conflict at the end of the book was out of character and too over the top, but the resolution was sweet.

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.

**I read this one twice - once as an ebook and once again as an audiobook - and it was even better the second time around. The narration by Joshua Jackson and Emily Ellet was EXCELLENT!!

I've always been a big Jenny Holiday fan and this latest book is by far one of my favorites! Set in Minnesota, this was a dual POV romance between Mike Martin, a Canadian pro hockey player, new widow and single dad and Aurora (Rory) Lake, a former professional ballerina turned dance instructor who teacher's Mike's daughter, Olivia.

The two meet when Mike has to pick his daughter up and strike up a slow friendship that eventually leads to Rory moving in with Mike and Olivia to help look after her while Mike is on the road. Where this book shines for me was the amazing mental health and therapy rep!

Mike goes to therapy regularly to deal with depression and his grief and guilt over his wife's death and he also encourages (and helps pay) for Rory to start going. Rory for her part struggles with anxiety attacks and disordered eating, thanks to her emotionally abusive mother.

There's also a whole 'fake Canadian boyfriend' angle to the story that seemed more of a side plot than the main point wherein Rory first met Mike when she was in high school and he has no recollection of it in the present but she used him as her imaginary boyfriend and wrote him letters. It only really comes into play near the end when it becomes a big part of the third act break up.

Overall a solid read I enjoyed from start to finish. Highly recommended for fans of authors like Emily Henry, Elsie Silver or Abby Jimenez. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!!

Steam level: some open door scenes

A sweet romance between a new window/ professional hockey player and the dance instructor who teaches his daughter. I enjoyed the sports dynamics (ballet/hockey) and each characters individual growth. The audiobook is a MUST. Performed in a duet style narration with sound effects, I could not stop listening. The audio also bumped it a half star for me.

Read if you like:
-Single dad
-Friends to lovers
-Forced proximity
-Dancer FMC
-NHL player MMC
-MN references
-1 Last Shot Nikki Castle