I’ve apparently been in my hockey romance era lately, and I’m not mad at it. Found myself continuing the theme with The Game Changer by Lana Ferguson.

We follow Lila and Ian - who are childhood friends-ish, more so, he’s her older brother’s best friend and always has been. But now, she’s the baker that’s stealing the city’s heart with her baking show, and he’s the bad boy with a reputation that needs to be repaired who’s back on their hometown hockey team. To help both of their images, and her rankings, their PR managers have them spending a lot of time together for appearances and just short of fake dating (since they legally couldn’t make them fake date apparently). AND WE KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT FAKE DATINGGGGG, SWOOOOOOON.

This was absolutely adorable, and seeing how they fall back into their friendship after years of going without made my heart smile. And the protective guy bit - absolutely heart warming. I truly didn’t know I needed this in my life.

Lana is so hit or miss for me.
I really wanted to LOVE this, but I only ended up liking it.
I think I needed more character depth. But it was a fun and quick read.
And worth it if you like Lana's writing!

The Game Changer by Lana Ferguson is a delightful blend of romance and sports that captures the essence of second chances. The story revolves around Ian Chase, a hockey player navigating a public divorce, and Delilah Baker, his best friend’s little sister and a baking show host. Their fake relationship, designed to revive both of their careers, quickly blurs the lines into real feelings, enhanced by witty banter and a rich emotional connection. The vibrant cast of supporting characters adds an extra layer of charm, making this book a compelling read that’s both spicy and heartfelt​.

I checked the audiobook from the library.

I’ve loved all of Ferguson’s novels so far. She has great characters, weaves good storylines and keeps me impatiently waiting for her next release.

Thank you to @berkleypub for the eARC! This was a sweet and spicy childhood friends/brother’s best friend romance (with some spice)!

I enjoyed all of the characters but would have loved to see them explored even deeper, it felt like we didn’t get enough of the side characters and they were so fun - especially Ian and Abby’s relationship, that felt so integral to the plot. Delilah and Ian had great chemistry and this was a fun, well-paced romance read!

This book is so fun!! I didn’t love it as much as I loved the fake mate but I love hockey romances and brother’s best friend romances so this delivered on all of those fronts

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

This book was so good! I absolutely loved the romance, I thought the chemistry between Delilah and Ian was greta and believable. I also love how even though Delilah fell first, Ian definitely fell harder. Their romance felt cozy and safe, but the spicy scenes were HOT. I also loved the side characters, Jack was definitly my favorite and I hope we get his story in the future!

Really enjoyed this one! I requested it after reading The Fake Mate also by this author and it was so much fun! I love a good hockey romance and it was so fun to see the dynamic between Ian and Delilah! And the spice was spicing!!

Oh this book was so cute. I loved reading it. I felt more connected to the female character because she shares the same interests as me, so it was very cool to have a main character pursuing a career I was interested in. I think the author did a good job of mixing plot and romance, it wasn't one of those books where I felt it was too much romance and not enough plot, or vice versa. One thing that threw me off a little bit was in the beginning when he called her "kid". Now I understand why, he hadn't seen her in a while and that was all he knew her as, but after him seeing her for the first time I was hoping it would stop, especially because he was talking about how mature she had gotten. I was able to move past it and finish the book, I did really like book as a whole.

The Game Changer was such a fun, spicy read! Ian and Delilah have this natural chemistry that makes their fake relationship feel like it was always meant to be something more. I loved the mix of sports and baking—it added a unique layer to the story, especially with Delilah's sweet charm as a baker.

The whole “best friend’s little sister” trope always gets me, and the author handled it with humor and heat. I found some of the plot predictable, but honestly, that didn’t stop me from enjoying every moment. The banter between Ian and Delilah felt real, and watching their relationship shift from a PR stunt to something genuine was satisfying.

If you’re into a slow-burn romance with great tension, some laugh-out-loud moments, and plenty of swoon-worthy scenes, The Game Changer is definitely worth a read!

The Game Changer is a cute hockey romance, where he needs to fix his reputation and does that by fake-dating his brother's best friend, who also needs a rating boost for her baking show. Ian and Delilah were a very cute couple and I really enjoyed wathing there story play out. I look forward to maybe getting a book about some of the side characters in this one.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

I've enjoyed every book Lana put out., they always hit. The was cute fun, and spicy it me kick my feet and swooning

5 ✨

Another book read by my favorite and her books just keeps getting better and better. This time around Lana wrote a hockey romance where a hockey player and a baker fake dates. It’s also brother’s best friend/teammate and I could not get enough of Delilah and Ian!!!

This is Lana’s first attempt at writing a sports/hockey romance and boy she did good if you ask me. You wouldn’t know it’s her first try because of how well rounded and fantastic it is. Lila and Ian share such a deep and meaningful bond and that comes perfectly out on paper in this book. Ian was actually Delilah’s first crush/love and lost all hope of ever getting together with him when he got married and moved away. But then 6 years later he’s divorced and ready to come back to the hockey team that helped put him on the map. But Lila’s cooking show is on the rocks and Ian has a bad reputation because of some dumb rumors. So the people behind him decide they need to spend time together in the public aka fake date to help them out both with their problems.

It’s fun, flirty, rom-comy and filled with so much heart. It’s definitely has its softer and emotional parts but that’s why it’s so well balanced. You get a lot of great spice but also those emotional parts that make a romance so good for me personally. I wouldn’t wanna read a book that doesn’t make me feel all sorts of emotions and The Game Changer definitely does just that. Lana just has a way with words and I wouldn’t know what I would have done if I haven’t discovered The Nanny way back when. Everything she writes is just top tier but in each their own way. She definitely doesn’t do much use of repetition in her books in that way that every one of her books is so different from each other and I love that.

🧁 What to expect:
— hockey romance
— baker x hockey player
— brother’s best friend (teammate)
— fake dating
— she calls him cupcake
— friends to lovers
— slow burn
— no third act breakup

This book was SO cute! The storyline was beautiful and the childhood friends to fake romance to falling in love? So cute! And the spice?! SO good! I loved the character development and the way the storyline included SO much but it wasn’t overwhelming! Would ABSOLUTELY recommend!

What a quick, cute and fun read! Loved all the characters, the plot and the baking! Spice level was just right and I found myself giggling nad blushing! Solid read from one of my auto read authors!

Ian is ready to retire from his career in the NHL. After a public breakup leaves him with a lot of bad publicity, all he wants is one last year on his home ice before retiring.
Delilah has a baking show with dwindling numbers. She needs something big to keep her show.
Delilah is Ian's teammate, and best friends younger sister. Totally off limits.
But when an opportunity presents itself that'll be mutually beneficial for Delilah and Ian, they can't pass it up. The idea? Fake date. It'll improve Ian's reputation with the team, and Delilah's viewers will love seeing the huge hockey player in a pink apron making cupcakes.
Now all they have to do is not fall in love. Shouldn't be a problem.

I've been a bit trepidatious of Lana Ferguson. I enjoyed The Nanny and then I wasn't a fan of The Fake Mate. But the idea of this sounded good. Best friends little sister? Fake dating?? Sign me up.
This ended up being a win for me. It's given me more faith in Lana Ferguson and now I want to pick up more.

Thank you so much to Berkley Romance, Netgalley, and PRH Audio for providing advanced copies of this! All thoughts and opinions are still my own.

I've enjoyed Lana Ferguson's romances up until this point despite them often being a little over the top and silly. But I was nervous going into this one knowing that she used real athletes stretching for "sexy" advertising for this romance. But I was willing to go in with an open mind.

Unfortunately I liked pretty much nothing about this romance...

I will say, Lana Ferguson, can write a great steamy, tension filled scene. It's definitely one of her strong suits as an author. Her characters have great chemistry.

But everything else left so much to be desired. The plot was silly and contrived, the characters (and their relationship) was entirely one dimensional, and the exposition was obnoxiously repetitive.

There was no reason for their "forbidden" romance. The heroine talked about her teenage crush on the hero so often it was annoying. There was no depth to why they liked each other. But the biggest factor was the hero's "dark past". I don't think I could come up with a more contrived, ridiculous reason for him to have a "bad reputation".

It made absolutely no sense.

While I've enjoyed 2 of this author's books in the past, I think this is where we part ways. I don't feel like there is enough development or depth tp any of her characters or their romances to keep me coming back to her books.

Lana has become one of my favourite romance authors for the way the sweet and spicy balances. Her first foray into the hockey romance genre was a riveting success, and I absolutely loved this. Both MCs are lovable and the tropes didn't feel convoluted, they worked with the plot and development rather than against them by overshadowing.

The premise of this book is so cute. Some other readers have said its not unique. However, what could be more unique than a woman dating her brother’s best friend, who happens to be her first love, to save her baking show? Yes, fake dating and hockey players has been done, but never like this.

I loved the cuteness and spice! Also, there was no 3rd act breakup which I know is something everyone wonders about when it comes to romance books. I rate it 4 stars overall and 3 jalapeños for spice.