Lana Ferguson at her best. This was everything I wanted and more from her. This hockey romance is hot just as it is cool. Her best work yet!

I love that Lana Ferguson is writing across genres within the romance category. This hockey romance was fun and engaging. An enjoyable light read with the right balance of drama and spice.

Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC.

Perfectly fine friends to lovers/fake dating, but honestly, without the paranormal element that I enjoyed in The Fake Mate, this didn't really stand out. Fine but not memorable

First off, thank you to Berkeley Publishing and NetGalley for an arc for my honest review.

I struggled with this but told myself to keep reading a bit more, but I ended up not finishing it around 55%. I found that the writing and characters were trying too hard to be funny and the female main character only focused on more sexual thoughts and conversations with the male main character which rubbed me the wrong way.

I’m typically a big fan of hockey romance, especially when it’s a forbidden and fake dating situation, but this just didn’t hit the mark for me.

I had so much reading The Game Changer. I loved how much Delilah and Ian shared with each other and began to depend on and support one another. It was so sweet and heartwarming the entire time! It had everything I was looking for - banter, a fast-paced plot, actual communication, and spicy scenes! I loved how it wasn’t just hockey but there were moments for Delilah’s career to shine through her baking and her show.

It was so cute and I loved it wholeheartedly! Lana Ferguson has officially become one of my auto-buy authors, I just want to give her a big hug!

After reading this, I just want to give Lana Ferguson a little forehead kiss for all she has given us 😩

🏒 hockey player
🏒 fake dating
🏒 brother’s best friend
🏒 childhood crush

And of course…. a HEA 💗💗


Delilah Baker is the sister of famous hockey player, Jack Baker— but she is successful in her own right, hosting a baking show “Whisky Business”. When Delilah’s network ratings begin to slip, she pitches the idea of bringing a Druid’s hockey player on for a segment, thinking one of her brother’s teammates would be willing to help out.

As the fates would have it, Jack’s best friend and former teammate, Ian Chase, has just returned to the Druids after years away. He’s had recent bad publicity and desperately needs to shift public interest to rescue his image. Which makes Ian the perfect candidate to star on a segment of Delilah’s show!

Upon seeing Ian Chase again after all these years, Delilah finds herself still enamored with him. When sparks fly on the set of their segment, the two find themselves in the middle of a publicity stunt and fake dating to benefit both of their images. Fake dating doesn’t last long though as long held affections come to light and Ian realizes he can’t see Delilah as just “Jack’s little sister” anymore.

🌶️: 1.5/2 — honestly I expected a little more in this category from Lana. I would say despite a few more explicit scenes, this book is more steamy than *spicy*. That being said tension is key in any romance and she has that down!

This is just a fun read! For those who liked Lana Ferguson’s other contemporary romance, this is different, but it’s all the same, lighthearted banter and wittiness. It’s super tropey and wonderful with fake dating-light, sports romance, and brother’s best friend. I really like how the characters in this book are people that I would want to hang out with. Each of them had such rich back stories, even if they were characters that were only on page for a short bit. For me, this was exactly what I wanted in a romance: steam, banter, and a fast-paced plot!

I really enjoy Lana's books. This one was a little more sweet and heartwarming than her pervious titles. It is nice to see a romance book where the drama isn't center around the romance.

I would love more from Delilah's brother. I'm gonna start a petition for him to get his own book.

Lana Ferguson is the most fun author. I love her creativity and willingness to have fun and try new things. The Game Changer is the perfect sports romance book. I ate it up and can’t wait for more of her work.

I have to say that I enjoyed this book - the characters were fun (can we talk about Delilah's brother for a second?), the story was well-rounded but I have to say that there wasn't anything that truly stood out to me from other contemporary hockey romance books. Overall a good read but not something that I'd be coming back to read over and over.

Thank you for the chance to read early!

This was a light read that has some really cute moments, but I'm unsure how I feel about the main couple. Jack seemed really uncomfortable for a good chunk of the book and that made me feel uncomfortable by default. Also the nicknames used felt like a way to show the readers they somewhat grew up together but made the transition from childhood friends to lovers a bit shaky for me. Sadly as a result I didn't feel the spark that I had hoped I would, which is a bummer since the chemistry was off the charts in The Fake Mate. Also about halfway through I felt my interest slipping and i'm not sure why? Especially since there was still story to read and absorb.

Unfortunately this wasn't a love for me but i'm eager to read whatever Lana writes next!

3/5

Another swoony, sweet, and sexy romance from Lana Ferguson! It had strong characters and great banter as always, as well. A great read for romance and hockey lovers.

I adored this book. Everyone has a crush growing up, but few get to act on it. Ferguson plays off of that childhood pull and turned it into a delightful story that was real and true. While I can't relate to being a baker on television or being a hockey star, the characters were down to earth, real and messy as life often goes. No one, celebrity or not, is perfect and I enjoyed how Ferguson showed us the love between two characters as well as the battles each had to overcome in their lives to get where they are separately and together.

This is a steamy rom com full of some of my favorite tropes (childhood crush, fake dating, friends to lovers). It is a fun sports story filled with banter, humor, passion and heartfelt moments.

I received this free eARC novel from NetGalley. This is my honest review.

Lana Ferguson is seriously becoming a must buy author for me! I gobbled this book up just like her other two novels and I cannot get enough of her fantastic writing and story telling!

Ian and Delilah were amazing together. I loved how both of them were absolutely stunned when they saw each other after years of separation. Their reactions toward each other during this entire novel were real and raw and just really resonated with me.

I also absolutely loved how Delilah didn't shy away from things and actually instigated a lot of moments with Iam. For a girl who had a major crush on Ian as a teen, she was bold and took charge of what she wanted and I loved that. Most of the time the female characters are shy and quite but definitely not Delilah and that was a breath of fresh air!

And Ian being this big burly guy who got flustered around Delilah? Priceless and precious!

I have no idea how Lana goes from one genre to another and absolutely slays it, but she does every time and I am biting at the bit for her next release in December! I'm determined to get everyone I know to read all of this authors books because they need more loving! So glad I got to read this and can't wait to hold it in my hands this summer!

I'm torn on The Game Changer. I really enjoy Lila and Ian and their dynamic, but the books falls apart for me around the 50% mark.

There are a bunch of side characters, but rather than being fleshed out, they act more as plot devices. I wanted to know so much more about Mei, Jack, and Abby but we're left with very little. Even the "scandal" at the end I could see coming a mile away. This is very much a surface level story, and while I love our main couple, once they get together, the story just seems to be a way to get us from one spicy scene to another.

In the end this is a quick, cute read so I definitely think there is an audience for this. It just wasn't what I was expecting. This is my first Lana Ferguson book.

Rated 3 stars. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC ebook.

childhood friend
childhood crush
brother's best friend

fake relationship

friends to lovers

Lana Ferguson seems to enjoy writing accessible Romance novels for niche tropes - here we have Hockey, even though the game wasn't super at the forefront for a lot of the book. The writing is smooth, the dialogue is often humorous, and the smut is satisfying. A good intro to the genre, or a palette cleanser for a light, easy read.

I like that in the smut, toys were used and celebrated. The post-coital banter was cute. There were some BDSM undertones.

I appreciated that the FMC was so bold!

I'm honestly WAY more excited for her book after this and have my eye out for when that ARC drops.

I've had fun with her previous books, so I was excited to read this one. It was sadly not my cup of tea. I found the characters to be one dimensional, a little bit cringey for my taste. The spice wasn't the best. I didn't like the dialogue or the characters. I wouldn't recommend this one.

Absolutely loved this book! I am a big hockey fan- so the hockey aspect alone had me really enjoying this, but the tropes were also so fun- best friend's sister&& fake dating- sign me up! The romance was spicy and the characters were fun!

thank you netgalley and Berkeley Publishing for the ARC!

Alright so it was cute and i’m not mad that i read it but there was a few issues i couldn’t get through. First…the nicknames. Kid. Brat. Cupcake. it all felt juvenile and not like 30 year olds being together. which brings me to my next one… the whole thing about them knowing eachother as kids and him mentioning it so much…i just couldn’t get past that. like i get wanting to make it a whole thing where she grew up and now he’s noticing her but stop thinking about her when she was a kid alright? and the comments from jack saying his brother kissing his sister im like where is the line? it’s very thin! but idk this is my second book from this author where I just think Eh it’s a good book but i’m not in LOVE with it. I will keep reading her future stuff and I hope she wows me one day! OH, But the spice scenes were pretty good i must add