This is second chance romance at it's finest. We see the struggles of coming to terms with sexuality, through many encounters and decades, but in the end, that opportunity wins out.

I've read a handful of Rachel Reids books in the past. I felt this book fit perfectly in her wheelhouse. She created characters that had depth (and weren't perfect!) and didn't just float across the pages. We felt Riley's emotional struggle, with losing his father and trying to rekindle a relationship that hurt for so long. We walk with Adam as he comes to terms with what he's felt all along, and between the two, their journey was a good one. While not all end in with happy endings, this novel was just what I needed for a pick-me-up on a rainy day.

Rachel Reid’s The Shots You Take is a stunning second-chance romance that masterfully blends grief, longing, and love with her signature emotional depth. The story of Riley and Adam navigating their complicated past and rekindling their connection is both heart-wrenching and uplifting. Reid’s portrayal of their journey is rich with nuance and authenticity, making this an unforgettable read. For fans of deeply emotional, mature romances, this book is a must-read.

Rachel Reid treats characters with such love and care, and it’s just as apparent in The Shots You Take as it is in her other novels. Reading m/m romances, especially sports romances can feel a bit repetitive and formulaic (but don’t get me wrong here, I’d read thousands of them with glee), but Rachel Reid always manages to avoid this by writing plots you really care about. Realistic people with relatable issues, but peppered with the juicy tropes you love.

In The Shots You Take, the relatable novelty comes from the fact that the protagonists haven’t spoken to each other for twelve years. The joy in this book comes from the longing, the pining, and the angst that these twelve years apart gives the reader. Pair those things with the aching relearning of each other and a dash of spice, and Riley and Adam’s story is a great read.

I don’t know what Rachel puts in her books all I know is that I can never put them down. I absolutely loved this book. It was so raw and real as it dealt with love and the complexities of life. Riley and Adam, I am obsessed with these two and the fact that they were older MCs was just amazing. Every time I was concerned or annoyed with either of them, I learned I should’ve just trusted Rachel’s process. Also, can someone make this into a movie. A good movie not one that leaves me annoyed.

Thank you to Carina Adores and Netgalley for a copy in advance.

The alternate title of this book is Canadian Angst.

Right person, wrong time always hits. This starts out heavy - at Riley’s father’s funeral and in walks in his ex-best friend/unrequired love of his life, Adam. It goes just swimmingly right off the bat. They have to work through years of things they should have said and balance Riley’s brand new grief at the same time.

I shouldn’t have liked Adam as much as I did but at no point in the current timeline does he do anything except own all of his mistakes and issues from back then. I thought they were nice together once they got through the bulk of the book.

The mental health representation in this felt pretty solid. Riley knows what he can and what he cannot put himself into as far as situations go and is his own biggest advocate on boundaries.

The queen of mm hockey romance has returned with an absolutely precious and heart wrenching book!!!!

I loved seeing Riley and Adam’s story unfold. Rachel always writes such strong flashback chapters and her books that span a wide timeline are so well done. You can really feel and believe in the history and tension between her characters, and the struggle for them to find their way back to each other after so long. Riley and Adam are older than her usual characters so there’s an added sense of maturity with their story, plus some fun flashbacks to their 20s together. This book mainly takes place in a fictional town in Nova Scotia which I really loved, and included a lovely and diverse set of side characters.

You’ll laugh, cry, feel the angst, and fall in love with Riley and Adam’s love.

Thank you SO MUCH to Harlequin/Carina Adores and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review, this was my 4th time getting to read an ARC of Rachel’s and I felt so lucky to receive that email after being a day 1 Rachel Reid fan.🥹

This was good, but there was a thread of melancholy throughout it that I wasn't expecting and kind of bummed me out. I was also sad that they wasted so many years apart. It was a good book, but not as light-hearted as I was hoping it would be.

3.5 stars

You rarely see an older couple (early 40s) in a sports romance, living life after they’re retired, so that was fun BUT since there wasn’t really any “sports” in it, I don’t love that it’s labeled a sports romance. Could’ve just been a romance with two retired athletes, because really what this is is a second chance romance in a small town so my expectations weren’t entirely met.

OMG! I got this book from NetGalley yesterday morning and stayed up late to finish it last night. I can’t tell you how excited I was to learn that we had another book coming from Rachel Reid. It lived up to all my expectations!

This book was so good. I love a second chance romance and this was probably one of the best I’ve read. Riley and Adam were best friends and teammates who haven’t spoken to each other in years when a tragedy brings them back together. I sobbed through the first half of this book. You can really feel the emotions that the characters are going through and the angst hits just right. Riley, especially, is a great character who has worked hard to put his life back together over the years.

This is a small town, hockey, ex-best friends, second chance romance that people are sure to love.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin-Carina Adores for this eARC!

This book was EVERYTHING and then some! Every single emotion that a human is capable of I felt while reading this book- probably more than once. I am a huge Rachel Reid fan, and this book is absolutely getting added to the list of favorites.

The dual timeline really helped with the amount of heartache that is packed into this book, but still make sure you have tissues with you, because you’re gonna need them!! And then my guess is you will think Rachel for making you cry! 🥹

I have been a Rachel Reid fan for a few years, and to see her take on this change in pace and format and absolutely NAIL IT makes me SO INCREDIBLY HAPPY INSIDE!!

The Shots You Take is a contemporary romance that deals with loss, second chances, grief, acceptance, and other heavier topics. Her other books, while discuss these topics, don’t encompass them the way TSYT did… I was heavily emotionally invested the entire time. I absolutely LOVED Riley and Adam!!! Learning about their friendship, watching their bond re-form, watching them heal… UGH, I absolutely loved this book.

Preorder this book now, you won’t regret it!

Many thanks to Netgalley, Harlequin and Carina Adores for the ARC

Two of the most underrated things in romance novels are:
1) A story of second chances
2) A story written by Rachel Reid

There are no words that will be able to adequately express how pure, and heart-breaking and flawed Adam and Riley were. They were two imperfect people who worked so hard and made so many mistakes and endured so many heartbreaks. It didn't matter who was at fault for their falling out, or who hurt who more. They were both devastated by the decisions they made, and they both overcame fear, grief, and heart ache at all the years they lost.

These are the kinds of stories Rachel Reid knows how to tell. The story of the innate fallibility, but also astounding resilience of humans when they are loved the way they deserve to be loved.

Publish date: March 4, 2025

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

Hockey? Yes, Romance? Yes. MM? Yes. It’s like this book was written for me! I loved this book so much and need to immediately find anything and everything that Rachel has read so far.

Rachel Reid never disappoints! 🙌🏼 I got chills! her characters have me in a chokehold from beginning to end and I loved this story. 12 years is definitely too long to wait tho gentlemen! get it together!

loved everything else tho 💞 would recommend for a cute MM sports romance!

The day I got the email with an invitation to read an early copy of this book was an exciting day! Rachel Reid has written some of my very favorite books and The Shots You Take was probably my most anticipated book of 2025. I’m happy to say that this book did not disappoint. It had my heart in a vice from the first page and slowly released the pressure all the way through until it set it free during the most heartwarming epilogue. I finished the book with tears in my eyes and so much love in my heart for Riley and Adam who deserved every second of their hard-won HEA.

Riley Tuck and Adam Sheppard had been best friends and teammates from their very first season in the NHL. Their friendship morphed into a friends-with-benefits relationship over the years but Adam insisted it meant nothing beyond the physical, leaving Riley drowning in his unrequited love for his best friend. After some poor decisions led to a falling out, the two men hadn’t seen each other in over 12 years until Adam shows up in Riley’s small town in Nova Scotia during the worst week of Riley’s life. Having just lost his father unexpectedly, Riley is in no condition to deal with seeing Adam again. But Adam desperately wants to repair their relationship and help Riley through his loss. Will these men be able to work through their complicated past to find the future neither ever thought they could have together?

This book throws you right into the angst from the very first chapter. Riley is lost in his grief over losing his beloved father when he’s forced to confront his anger over Adam reappearing so suddenly. I liked how the first portion of the book alternated between what was happening in the present day with snippets of important moments from Adam and Riley’s past. It wasn’t easy, it hurt seeing Riley’s unrequited love and how fear caused Adam to treat him poorly. But it helped to justify the anger Riley, rightfully, had toward Adam. I loved how stubborn Adam was, he refused to give up on Riley again. I enjoyed seeing him try to prove to himself, and Riley, that he was worthy of Riley’s love.

The slow burn was so good in this story! The pining and longing were so perfectly executed. Both men were pining hard but now that they were older (hooray for mature characters in their 40s!) and had perspective, they knew nothing good would come from jumping back into anything without working through their baggage. They were both so scared to mess it up again and with that came a certain level of cautiousness that I appreciated. For all the miscommunication they suffered through when they were young and dumb, they made up for it now that they were older and wiser. I loved seeing these guys find their way back to one another, it brought tears to my eyes more than once.

I also loved how this book dealt with the impact of being a pro athlete with a mental illness or who’s gay, particularly 20-odd years ago when these men were just starting in their pro-hockey careers. Conversations surrounding these topics may be changing but back when Riley and Adam were young, neither thing was openly discussed and you wonder how things might have gone differently between them back when they were younger if there wasn’t such a stigma around mental health or being LGBTQ.

Anyway, I loved this book, Rachel Reid is such a talented writer and continues to deliver engaging, emotional stories with characters that burrow themselves deep into my heart. I’ll definitely be returning to Adam and Riley’s story and I can’t wait to add a physical copy to my collection!

Um, hello Rachel Reid, and thank you for Riley and Adam! I thoroughly enjoyed this story of estranged former friends-with-benefits coming back together. I loved the time jump: romances with characters in their 40s are few (and shouldn't be!). I appreciated the small town Canadian setting and the side characters were done perfectly for the story. Steamy scenes were excellently written. I read this in one afternoon and I'm planning to dive into Rachel's backlist next!

I'm always happy to read a romance about people in their 40s, and I love Rachel Reid's writing. The one thing that was odd is that the ending (pre-epilogue) is really abrupt.

This is second chance romance at its finest. I truly believe it’s a difficult trope to pull off but this is flawless. The characters, their history, the time that’s passed, and the conversations/interactions they have all make it not only believable but something to actively root for. Adam and Riley have a complicated history and they’re complex people navigating difficult situations who still deeply care about each other. There’s regret, mistakes, maturity, room for growth and missteps, and above all, an enduring (but recultivated) love. There’s no flinching away from the pain and messiness but the payoff is beautiful and so worth it.

Some authors just know romance. They get at the very heart of it and understand how every glance and brief touch can carry so much weight and longing. The yearning and care and affection that can be communicated through the simplest gestures. There’s an abundance of that here and I don’t know what to say besides chef’s kiss (chef who’s making soup and wearing a lil apron of course).

I’d say this one is more hockey-adjacent in that it explores the detrimental effects such a demanding sport can take on the body and mind and the even more harmful expectations for athletes to accept and embrace it as part of the job. And I loved it! (and that’s coming from someone who typically likes a generous helping of hockey in hockey romances.) Looking at these issues through two retired NHL players trying to reconcile the sport’s impact on their lives both then and now is done so well.

It’s hilarious, it’s emotional (Grieving Novia Scotians are back baby!), and it’s romantic. The dual timeline, the reconciliation, the older mcs, the messiness but ultimate maturity…yeah, you’ll want to grab this as soon as it’s out.

Huge huge thank you to Harlequin/Carina Adores and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. I was ready to do something drastic like sell my soul for an early copy so I’m glad it was a lot simpler than that.

This was fine! This era of cartoon cover Rachel Reid books are just not necessarily what I'm looking for from her - I prefer Heated Rivalry to the type of romance that has a lot of big issues mental health stuff and that takes forever to get the characters actually hooking up. I personally also just didn't love that a funeral was the impetus for these characters reuniting, but that is a person ick.

3.75✨

Rachel Reid continues to commit to the bit of making me feel things about hockey players. This was such a bittersweet story and I enjoyed it! I'm not usually a fan of second-chance romance but this one sold me on the entire adventure.

Special shoutout to the Nova Scotia setting and Toronto slander, gotta respect it.

Overall something felt a bit missing from the experience -- the end? the middle? the timeline? Maybe this one just wasn't entirely for me but I couldn't fall into the story in the same way.