About 6 h 45 min · at 30 minutes a day, about 14 days
Estimated from the page count of this edition. Dense books can take longer than the estimate.
About the book
Traded to the Ottawa Centaurs after a breakup and a scandal, hockey player Troy Barrett wants to concentrate on his game and keep to himself. Harris Drover, the team’s openly gay social media manager, needs him to connect with fans and refuses to be put off by his reserve. Working together leads to friendship and attraction, but Troy’s fear of revealing his sexuality complicates a relationship with someone already comfortable being out.
Reader notes
Comic banter and explicit sex alternate with more painful questions about shame and openness in this contemporary gay sports romance, the fifth Game Changers novel. Homophobia and the hockey world’s response to sexual-assault allegations are serious parts of the story.
How it reads
Writing style
Conversational · Dialogue-driven · Witty
Tone
Hopeful · Humorous · Romantic · Warm
Structure
Linear
Driven by
Character · Relationships
Point of view
Third person, limited
Setting
Ottawa, Canada
Reading complexity
Writing
2 / 5
Ideas
2 / 5
Structure
2 / 5
Background knowledge
1 / 5
About this profile
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
Writing
How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas
How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure
How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge
Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity
Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.
Steamy: a few explicit scenes. Troy and Harris’s relationship develops through working together, friendship and attraction, with comic banter alongside the sex.
What serious content should I expect?
Homophobia and the hockey world’s response to sexual-assault allegations are serious parts of the story. There is also strong sexual content and strong language, while Troy’s shame and fear of revealing his sexuality shape the relationship.
Is it a light romance or an emotionally heavy one?
The tone is warm, humorous and hopeful, but comic banter alternates with painful questions about shame and openness. Troy’s fear of coming out complicates his attraction to Harris, who is already comfortable being openly gay.
Is it hard to read?
No, the conversational prose, witty dialogue and linear narrative make it approachable. The moderate pace keeps the focus on the characters and their developing relationship.
How long is it?
336 pages in the Carina Press 2024 paperback edition.
Which edition is shown here?
Carina Press · 2024 · Paperback. ISBN 9781335534613.
What is the order of books in Game Changers?
1. Game Changer; 2. Heated Rivalry; 3. Tough Guy; 4. Common Goal; 5. Role Model; 6. The Long Game.
How long does it take to read Role Model?
About 6 hours 45 minutes at 50 pages an hour, based on the 336-page Carina Press edition. Dense books can take longer.
About the author
Rachel Reid
Rachel Reid is a Canadian writer whose gay romances use professional hockey as both setting and source of pressure. Her prose is direct, conversational, and driven by dialogue, with courtship unfolding amid games, media attention, team culture, and the demands of public image. Reid repeatedly focuses on the unequal burden of secrecy: one partner may regard privacy as protection, while the other experiences it as exclusion. Heated Rivalry develops the attraction between rival captains Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov through years of concealed encounters, then The Long Game returns to them as an established couple whose old arrangement can no longer support a shared future. Elsewhere, she varies that conflict by changing the balance of fame and power. In Game Changer, a star player’s fear of exposure governs his relationship with a juice-bar employee, while Role Model places a guarded player opposite the social media manager charged with making him visible. These romances build momentum through negotiation, banter, physical intimacy, and the gradual revision of rules meant to keep desire manageable.
