Book Chat: Tough Guy
Game Changers (Book 3) by Rachel Reid
Source: Google Images
They have nothing in common—so why does Ryan feel most like himself whenever he’s with Fabian?
Pro hockey star Ryan Price may be an enforcer, but off the ice he struggles with anxiety. Recently traded to the Toronto Guardians, he’s determined to make a fresh start in the city’s dynamic LGBTQ Village. The last thing he expects to stumble upon in his new neighborhood is a blast from his past in the fabulous form of Fabian Salah.
Aspiring musician Fabian loathes hockey. But that doesn’t stop him from being attracted to a certain burly, ginger-bearded defenseman. He hasn’t forgotten the kiss they almost shared back in high school, and it’s clear the chemistry between them has only intensified.
Fabian is more than happy to be Ryan’s guide to the gay scene in Toronto. Between dance clubs and art exhibits—and the most amazing sex—Ryan’s starting to feel something he hasn’t experienced in a long time: joy. But playing the role of the heavy on the ice has taken its toll on his body and mind, and a future with Fabian may mean hanging up his skates for good.
ISBN: 9781488068911 (2020) | Source: Goodreads
Good Concept, Poor Execution
Like Reid's previous two books in Game Changers, Tough Guy is nothing like its predecessors. Our athlete here was not hiding his sexuality. The love interest here was not a struggling service employee nor a fellow athlete. However, with that in mind, I knew Tough Guy was not going to beat Heated Rivalry in terms of, well, everything. I did go into this book knowing I would most probably not enjoy it.
First things first, based off that synopsis, it just wasn't enticing enough. If Ryan did not appear previously, I would not have known to expect something deeper in this story. Honestly, this felt like a rather different sports romance novel as compared to the ones I've read before. Tough Guy brushed on obvious subject like stereotypes but it also talked about panic attacks and identity crisis. Not something you come across often in this specific genre, right?
Anyway, I really did like the idea of Tough Guy. I liked that we were teased with what Ryan might be going through previously, and in his book, we get to see him grow. However, because we were so busy watching (or reading) Ryan grow, Fabian seemed so irrelevant to the story. This felt like when I was reading the first book in the series, it was so much Scott Hunter and that was it. Not gonna lie, I almost DNF-ed this book like I did Game Changers. But because I really wanted to see the character development in Ryan, I went on to finish the book. No regrets there because that epilogue? And walking in on them? Yeah, that epilogue made my experience with Tough Guy slightly better.
I just wished Reid had taken her time to write this book. Or rather, let Ryan take his time to grow and have the couple take their time to develop their relationship. In terms of chemistry, I felt more chemistry between Scott and Kip, and I did not even finish reading that book! Fabian needed more spotlight, Ryan needed a slower pace and well, this book could have done with a couple more chapters.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
More on the Game Changers series here: Heated Rivalry (#2)
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LIFE EXPERIENCE || I’M A PAPPARAZZI
Usually kept at arm's length and treated with disdain by celebs and newsmakers, without their courage and their resilience, the world would lose much of the gossip, secrets and inside scoops that makes news if it wasn’t for the paparazzi.
I’ve met hundreds of celebrities over the last ten years working as a paparazzi, and here are my experiences with some of your favorite (and least favorite) celebrities.
the (generally) positive...
Whitney Carlisle is always a positive experience to shoot. I’ve never had an issue with photographing her. She is always extremely polite about the whole thing. You can walk up, get your photo, and go without problem.
Noah Chang and Seth Seong are always extremely pleasant to shoot. They make it easy and are cooperative with the whole thing. One of the guys I regularly find myself out with told me that Seth went on a whole ramble about Big Foot.
Vincent Barlowe is extremely polite, but extremely difficult to shoot. He is very good at evading paparazzi. I’ll look at my camera for one moment, and he’ll be completely gone. It can take a lot to get a good shot of him because he is also constantly moving on a skateboard or just running around. When you can get him, he doesn’t seem happy to be shot, but he doesn’t cause a fuss or ask you to stop.
I’ve caught his assistant Stella Bennett a few times with Vincent Barlowe, Reilly Addams, and Zeke Hawthorne. She very frequently blocks shots. So that is less positive, I suppose.
Austin Harper is always extremely pleasant and polite, but another one that is very good at evading paparazzi. Unfortunately, however, has been much more difficult to work with since Essence has been pregnant. As it stands right now, there has been no proper face photos of their baby released / leaked to the public so people are going rabid to get a photo of Aurora Harper. While I typically avoid photographing kids, it would pay my rent for a while to get a photo of their kid.
Madam Vivi is polite if you’re polite. If you go up, take your photographs, ask polite questions, and go - she’ll be nice to you. I’ve had some guys I know ask her rude questions and she tends to get a little snippy with them, but as long as you’re being respectful - she’ll be respectful back.
Blade Vader and Roman Rizvi are another two that come to mind when it comes to just being generally polite about the whole thing. They don’t ever seem to seek us out, but they don’t cause a fuss. Blade let me bum a cigarette off of him once.
Olivia Marie is another that you run into frequently that makes it easy to photograph. She doesn’t seek is out, either, but makes it easy to photograph her and doesn’t typically get angry. There was once after her boyfriend died that she snapped at us to stop. Most of us did, but I know a few guys hung around.
Candie Rose doesn’t seem like the brightest woman on Earth, but she’ll always seem excited to get her photograph taken.
calls on themselves...
Not all of these people call on themselves a lot, but they’ve done it in my recent enough memory.
Cleo Holliday calls on herself every chance that she can get. I’m not big on photographing online celebrities, but sometimes you’ll get a few good pictures of her walking around.
Hiroki Hamada rarely calls on himself, but he has before. He can be easy when hes in the mood to be photographed, otherwise he is just running around too much to get a good shot of him.
Fletcher Astor and Parker Alexander both call on themselves. Ten years ago, I was foaming at the mouth to do it, but now..? Not so much. If there is some scandal going on with Philip Astor, I’ll go ask Fletcher about it.
Venus Marie is always particularly sweet, but she calls on herself a lot. There are a lot of times she comes out extremely drunk. There was one point where Venus invited me inside as long as I didn’t bring my camera in. She made me a drink. It was a bit odd, but she was nice.
Caden Yang is..a bit of a mess..and not the most fun to photograph. He clearly has some type of drug problem that isn’t well hidden. He calls us constantly and often acts up. We mostly catch him outside of clubs (or wherever he says hes gonna be that day).
depends on the day...
99% of my photographs of Axel Parrish when he is with Margaeux Fox, but in general he is..a bit unpredictable. He has never done anything too crazy, but he just doesn’t seem particularly happy to be shot. He doesn’t make it difficult, but he’ll flip you off and stuff.
I’ve been photographing Essence Woods since she was about ten. It really depends on the day. We frequently got calls from Alexis Woods telling us where Essence would be that day when she was younger. When she got married, it ended up with James Prescott calling us and telling us where she was whenever he was out of town. She is typically nice about it, but it depends on the day. There are times where she has just asked us to go home for a while and said that if we did, she’d give us a particularly good photo (different outfit, eye contact with the camera) and has always honored that.
Sebastian Jones really depends on the day, but generally he is a fun guy to be around when photographing. He is particularly chatty and will talk a lot to you if you’re trying to photograph him. He won’t really answer anything seriously if you ask him questions, but he so polite about it, you almost don’t mind. If hes in a bad mood, he’ll typically just ignore us and come off a bit moody. Hes never really rude about it, but you can usually tell within a few seconds if you’re getting some good clips, or if he’ll just side eye you and go inside.
In the same vein, Preston Barlowe has always been similar. He is typically extremely talkative. When he was doing Youtube, he was particularly in love with us and frequently called us. Though, there are times where he is typically snippy. He doesn’t like photographs of Oliver at all.
Eva Rappaport is clearly over every photographer. She isn’t rude, but isn’t nice either. She typically just ignores you and goes about her day. You’ll catch her in a good mood sometimes and she’ll give you a smile, but otherwise, she won’t really acknowledge you negatively or positively. As far as Rappaports go, Lyssa is very similar. She is very hot and cold. Some days she wants to participate, other days not so much.
A good shot of Elliot Lim is worth a lot, but he is extremely hard to find. When you do, he is typically just running errands.
the (generally) negative....
Sadie Brooks is generally not the best to photograph. She isn’t very pleasant about the whole thing. She is never outright rude, or like, throwing something at you. She just isn’t pleasant and clearly doesn’t want you to be there.
I started photographing Ryan Price after his breakdown and he was never pleasant about it. He typically ignores us now, but there are times where he just flat out tells us to go away or gets rude about it. He was especially rude during the filming of Vainglorious because he didn’t want us to get anything that he was filming.
Londyn Pierce probably doesn’t surprise anyone. She isn’t the most pleasant, has thrown stuff at us, and is just generally not my favorite person to photograph. However, you kind of deal with it because the photos go for a lot after whatever scandal or fight. People were seething at the mouth to get the first photograph of her after the balcony situation.
Jae Jhang is extremely difficult to photograph. He typically just puts his hood up and walks away from us. He’ll flip us off, puts his headphones on, and doesn’t like being photographed. He was a little miserable after Dollhouse, I imagine. There was once or twice that we caught Essence elbowing him and telling him to wave and smile.
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𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑖 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟.
OUTER BANKS.
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THE WALKING DEAD.
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911.
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MARVEL.
peter parker (all), captain america
TOP GUN.
jake seresin, bradley bradshaw, robert floyd, natasha trace
LIFE IS STRANGE.
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RED DEAD REDEMPTION.
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SHAMELESS.
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THE MAZE RUNNER.
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THE QUARRY.
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UNTIL DAWN.
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TEEN WOLF.
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CELEBRITY CRUSHES.
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