I was really looking forward to this book as I adore Rachel Reid, but I had to DNF it. Second-chance romance can be iffy for me, and I didn't like the way Adam behaved for two decades before he showed back up when Riley was emotionally vulnerable due to a loss.

I love Rachel Reid and how she writes complex characters which is present in this second chance romance of hockey players.

Adam and Riley were former hockey teammates moved on from each other. Adam decides to reappear in Riley's life during Riley's father's funeral service. I thought it was very selfish of Adam to try and rekindle old feelings out of the blue when Riley is hurting.

Adam was a tough character for me to like. He needed to do more to prove his love for Riley. His reason for not coming out sounded very selfish.

I started warning up to Adam a bit more on the second half of the story.

I thought Greg Boudreaux did a great job with the narration and bringing these two characters to life.

Thank you @harlequin_audio and publisher for a copy of the book.

The thing about Rachel Reid is she could write quite literally anything and I would gobble it up, and this second chance small town romance is no exception.

The Shots You Take is a little different than what she normally writes, both in terms of the characters age and their retirement from hockey. Even though I love her normal set up, this was new and exciting.

Adam and Riley caught my attention from the get go and kept it. They’re both complex characters going through a lot, and I loved watching them grow and come back together after such a long time. I was pretty firmly on Riley’s side at first, but Adam grew on me. He made his fair share of mistakes, but throughout the book he worked to earn Riley’s forgiveness.

I loved the ending and can’t wait for everyone to read this!

I think I'm actually incapable of taking more than a day to read any of Rachel Reid's romances. I always find myself picking them up at every spare moment, procrastinating from other things to read more, and staying up just to finish, and this was no exception. Riley and Adam's story grabbed me from the start, not letting go until the very end when you get to see how it all works out. I've learned I'm pretty picky about second-chance romances, but this is done so well, addressing the reasons why it didn't and couldn't have worked out in the past and how they've grown and what they both need from each other to be together now. I especially loved the subplot of Adam coming out later in life and it not invalidating his life or happiness with his ex-wife and kids or meaning he has to feel shame for not realizing sooner. It fits so well with how Riley as able to build community and that Adam could see that for himself.

There are a lot of themes of grief, mental health, and internalized homophobia, all of which I thought were handled well from both characters, and particularly from the view of professional athletes. I also really enjoyed getting to see two characters moving on to what's "next", knowing that 40 might be the end of a professional career, but not of their lives and dreams.

Rachel Reid can just have my whole heart at this point. She has such a talent for writing sad boy hockey players without it seeming formulaic. And "The Shots You Take" was a surprisingly beautiful departure from her usual.

Adam and Riley were once teammates, roommates, and friends-with-benefits - at least until Riley caught feelings and confessed. Adam panicked and brushed him off in a raging case of internalized homophobia, leading to almost two decades worth of distance and baggage between them. Except, on the day of the funeral for Riley's father, Adam shows back up in his life, recently retired and mostly aimless beyond the belief that he has to help Riley through his grief however he can. He's divorced, ready to come out, and desperate to repair the relationship with Riley in whatever way he'll take him. But, Riley has his own thriving life in the small Novia Scotia town of Avery River and two decades is a lot of distance considering how poorly things ended.

So, my first surprise in this book was how little hockey there actually was. We get a few flashbacks to Riley and Adam's days on the Toronto team, but otherwise hockey is on the backburner to the larger story of Riley's grief, Adam's attempts to discover himself, and the shared distance between them after so many years not speaking. And it's all set against the backdrop of a lovely small town in Novia Scotia, full of farmers markets and dumpy dive bars and a hard-won community of queer people that Riley has surrounded himself with. This book felt cozier than Reid's previous ones because of how self-contained it was. It is so heart-achingly great to follow these two as they try to figure out if they still mean anything to each other given their past, blending old and new grief together and creating something more beautiful because of it. Riley working through the loss of his father, and Adam trying to figure out his new place in a world where he doesn't play hockey. Every romantic or spicy scene felt earned.

Obviously at this point I'll read anything Rachel Reid comes up with, but this was such a nice little change up from her usual!

This is a small town second-chance romance full of Big Feelings between two very much grown men in their forties. I'd joked that Rachel Reid took the basic premise of Heated Rivalry (pro hockey players hooking up for years without emotional clarity), but made it even more heart wrenching with the estrangement and their reunion a DECADE PLUS later... and I was right!

When there's two decades of baggage between the heroes, shit's bound to get messy, and I love how Rachel Reid leaned into it with every flashback (she loves a flashback) that builds up the present-day scenes. Adam and Riley were friends, hockey teammates, and roommates who started hooking up. Both caught feelings. Riley admitted his, Adam denied everything and yes, internalized homophobia played a large role. That's a fairly simple summary, but reading it drawn out over the years and chapters is angsty in the best way.

When they reunite, Adam and Riley have gone through it all— careers ending, depression, kids, divorce, death. Interestingly, in the world of hockey, while Adam was something of a god while Riley was the burnout, now Adam retired and somewhat aimless, and still trying to figure out how to live as a gay man who's not quite out yet. Meanwhile, Riley is flourishing and has a queer community in his small town to surround himself with. But there's still so much unspoken feelings that need to be dealt with, and that's exactly what happens once Adam decides to stick around Riley's hometown in Nova Scotia after his dad's funeral. Most of the story takes place over a week, but the romance is very much a slow burn in the sense that it has been twenty years in the making.

I also appreciate that since both MCs are in their forties and retired from hockey, you get this interesting, if not sad retrospective on homophobia and mental health struggles in the NHL, and its impact on players decades later.

The sex:

Sex-wise, this is something of a slow-burn. Unlike Heated Rivalry, the flashbacks aren't very explicit. BUT once these two start present-day, they can't be stopped, plus, Riley is a bit bossy in bed and Adam is so down for that.

Thank you to Harlequin and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 4/5
Heat Level: 3.25/5
Pub Date: March 4th

generally good. i liked Riley's character a lot. Adam, on the other hand, was not my favorite at all, though he grew. i felt like we needed to see him grow more, though, maybe seeing the change with his ex or kids. 3.5, rounded up. tysm for the arc.

I requested this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. SPOILERS ahead

This story follows Riley (a forty-something professional hockey player who retired early due to mental health issues following his bff/friends with benefits rejecting him after post-big-game-win sex) and Adam (a forty something retired hockey player/super star, who really enjoyed fucking his bff Riley and was probably in love with him, but couldn't admit to himself that maybe, he might just be queer? So instead he marries a woman.) While Riley's father dies suddenly, Adam travels to small town Nova Scotia to attend the funeral and reconnect with Riley. (By this point Adam has realized that he's gay, is divorced, and was probably always in love with Riley and is a big dummy.)

STRENGTHS
- I did think the small town Nova Scotia vibes were great (if a little utopic with everyone being super queer-positive); I have in-laws in small town Nova Scotia and let's just say the queer-positive vibes are so not there IRL
- the spicy scenes were well written -- no extra arms, physically impossible positions, baseball-bat sized genitals AND everything that Adam and Riley do (from grinding on each other to oral sex to penetrative sex) is considered sex (which is actually kind of radical in books, even now. I read so many things where any non-penis-in-vagina sex isn't considered sex and the characters put A LOT of pressure on that penetrative sex as being the penultimate expression of adult love)

WEAKNESSES
- the writing is not great... it felt very clunky in places, the main characters felt tonally inconsistent at times
- the sudden death of Riley's dad and funeral being the reason that Adam comes back into Riley's life wasn't fun (like it wasn't escapist for me as someone who has lost a parental figure young ) and having a MC swallowed by grief over a parent, feeling the "wasted years" of them being apart because Adam wasn't ready to admit he was gay/in love with Riley gave the overall book a depressing vibe
- I also didn't love the pacing; we drag towards Adam and Riley getting together, Adam goes for his shoulder surgery and Riley flies to Toronto to take care of him establishing them as in a relationship then BAM epilogue, five years later, we're one year past their wedding anniversary (we didn't get to see a proposal or a wedding even) and we get a re-do of a flashback scene where they jerked each other off on the beach and swam in the ocean only now they are 40 and jerking each other off on a public beach and swimming naked; the whiplash of the ending after the slow burn of them getting together really didn't work for me

OPPORTUNITIES
- strong, queer-positive spicy scenes are great for a spicy romance author; I feel like the writing around the spicy scenes needs work (but given the girlies are flocking to smut for the spicy scenes, that aspect of the writing at least delivers? I've definitely read smut with great pacing, character development, world building, but the spicy scenes are awkward AF)

THREATS
- this is the first hockey romance I've read focusing on retired hockey players; I feel like we largely focus on young up-and-coming athletes in these stories, so it doesn't blend in as much (this is maybe a strength too?)
- on the flip side, there is something escapist and fantastic about watching a person 10 years younger than you winning at life, achieving their dreams and winning the love of their life (in ways that it probably didn't happen for a lot of us); this doesn't deliver that warm fuzzy feel that I want from a romance because it feels too real in that the men are "past their hockey prime", "late to the party" of getting married/starting a family, (or there is that feeling of "missing out" that I'm left with anyway based on how the character talk about themselves, their bodies, where they are at with their careers
- the logical ending based on the premise felt like a big "Whomp whomp!"

The book begins with Riley losing his father, and he struggles deeply with this loss. At the funeral, his former hockey teammate—someone he hasn’t seen in over ten years—shows up. They used to be best friends with benefits, and Riley was in love with Adam, but Adam didn’t feel the same way. Instead, he got married and had two kids.

In the past, Adam treated Riley horribly, to the point where Riley quit hockey and fell into depression. I felt so bad for him. I don’t excuse Adam’s behavior, but to some extent, I understand the challenges he faced back then and how scared he was. I liked how slowly he earned Riley’s trust and how supportive he was. It was hard for Riley to trust Adam again, but through his care, Adam proved that he had changed.

I also enjoyed the flashback chapters, as they gave us a deeper look into their history. It’s a shame they wasted so much time—both characters are in their forties now—but this book shows that it’s never too late to love and make things right.

This was my first book by Rachel Reid, but I definitely plan to read more of her stories in the future.

𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬:
✓ second chance
✓ slow burn
✓ small town
✓ former teammates
✓ grief
✓ coming out

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Romance for this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Where do I start? I picked this book up solely based on the author and the fact The Long Game and Heated Rivalry are two of my favorite books and I knew nothing going into this one!

At first I thought we were going to get a ton of past chapters and I almost DNFed because that’s my least favorite book set up but I pushed through because I knew it would be worth it. And I wasn’t let down!!!

I loved Riley and I felt his pain and the emotional trauma he’s had to endure not only in losing his father but also of what Adam put him through. I loved the relationships he had in his town and his friend group. I loved that he had his house and Lucky. In the End I’m glad he also got to marry Adam.

Adam was… okay. I appreciated the time and effort he put into getting Riley back. I wish we could’ve seen more of his character development though. I needed to see more from his side like introducing Riley to his kids as his boyfriend. I don’t know something felt lacking on this end.

I am extremely thankful though when Riley first kissed him it didn’t go directly to them hooking up. I rolled my eyes at first thinking that it enough groveling had been done, and it wasn’t so that was good. I felt the pacing was well done.

THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE A SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE!!! the growth, the epilogue, the characters. fantastic.

4.5 stars

DNF at 17%

Thanks for the opportunity to read this. I’ve heard a lot of great things about this author and I love seeing queer books thrive, but unfortunately this just wasn’t for me.

I didn’t like the writing style or the characters. This felt very teen drama to me.

My goodness, The Shots You Take was a wonderful read.

After an emotional breakup twelve years ago, ex-NHL players Riley and Adam finally reconnect in Riley’s small Nova Scotia town following Riley’s family tragedy. Despite having taken a leading role their breakup all those years ago, Adam dedicates his time to supporting Riley in this time of need, hoping to rebuild their relationship over time despite a frosty initial reception by Riley.

Rachel Reid does a fantastic job in making Adam and Riley’s eventual rapprochement feel well-earned. In particular, I liked that even though Adam knows how badly he left things with Riley years ago, and he sees how much ground he needs to cover now, he is committed to doing everything Riley will let him do in order to earn back his trust and affection. I feel like this book showed us the perfect balance of characters atoning for the past as well as enjoying the present and looking ahead to a promising future; the story was well-balanced and the characters were served well by the narrative choices made over the course of the book. There was genuine hurt behind their breakup twelve years earlier which was not overlooked or magicked away in The Shots You Take, and Adam and Riley really put the work in to repair their relationship over the course of this book. This is definitely a well-earned happily-ever-after.

My thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Romance/Carina Adores for providing this book for review consideration; all opinions above are my own, and I loved the book so much that I have already pre-ordered my own copy.

The Shots You Take by Rachel Reid is a stand alone, MM, hockey romance. I just this minute finished this book and right now am overflowing with ALL the feels. That last chapter was so sweet, I suspect I might have a bit of a book hangover the next few days. I can say without a doubt that these two men are going to live for a very long time in my heart. The first half of the book was pretty emotional I have to admit while they navigated their past history. But the entire second half I feel like was filled with hope for their future. I really do love this book so much!

Adam Sheppard and Riley Tuck were hockey teammates when they were in their twenties in Toronto. They were also roommates both in their apartment and when they traveled. Riley knew he was gay at that time but kept it a secret. Riley was also secretly in love with Adam. They were together all the time and eventually developed a secret friends with benefits situation which in Adam’s mind was just for fun. Until he began dating a woman, married her and started a family. Riley eventually left Toronto for another team and they haven’t seen each other in twelve years.

In the present, they are both now in their forties, which I loved. When Riley has a family tragedy, Adam shows up in Avery River, Nova Scotia, Riley’s home town, to support him. Riley can’t understand why Adam has turned up after all the years and bad feelings between them. But Adam is persistent. He is there to help, even though Riley keeps trying to push him away. Adam wants to put things right between them once and for all.

With the emotional upheaval of Riley’s grief, and having Adam there which is bringing back all the emotions he spent twelve years trying to bury, it is overwhelming. But Adam proves over and over that he is there for him. Slowly, truths come out and old feelings resurface. Adam is determined to do things right this time. He is determined that he will earn Riley’s trust and heart. Riley’s heart slowly softens and he starts to let Adam back in but their time is limited. Adam has to go back to Toronto. Riley’s home is in Avery River. What could any future for them even look like?

Throughout the story, we get little glimpses into their pasts which helps us to understand their feelings for each other in the present. I just loved these two so much. Their pain was so big but their love for one another even bigger. And they were both so brave. Riley had been through so much but he did what he had to do to be healthy. And Adam might have been too scared when they were young to figure out his truths, but I loved the way he owned up to everything as the man he is now. The epilogue pretty much slayed me and as I said before, I’ll be thinking about these two for a very long time.

Such a great m/m hockey romance! We have later in life recogniciation of first love, and mental health rep, all wrapped up in a story of overcoming grief and queer joy.

The characters were well developed, there’s a strong case of secondary characters, a cute dog, and an idyllic setting.

Fans of any of Rachel Reid’s other stories will love this one too!

Another hit from a fav Canadian author!! This latest M/M sports romance features two former hockey teammates and best friends who are reunited in Nova Scotia after one's father dies.

Startled when Adam shows up at his father's funeral, Riley never expected his first love and the man who broke his heart want to stick around and reconcile for past mistakes. Newly out as gay, Adam is still coming to terms with his sexuality and what his life will look like after hockey as a divorced father of teens. I so shipped Adam and Riley and loved that we got to see them when they were younger through flashbacks.

There was also excellent mental health (addiction, alcohol abuse and depression) in the book and the author does a great job highlighting the darker sides of hockey and how that can get exacerbated and ignored when players need help. Great on audio and perfect for fans of authors like Sarina Bowen. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

I loved The Shots You Take! I don’t typically reach for angsty books, but the specific angst in this book was just what I needed right now. I feel like second chance romances inherently encompass some grief in a way, but the grief in this was varied and layered and both Riley and Adam worked hard to get through it. Riley was grieving the loss of his dad, and he and Adam both were grieving the past, the different choices that they wish they’d made, the time missed with each other, and the life they could’ve been having together now.

While I’m not exactly in their shoes I know all too well about making choices when you’re younger that in hindsight you’d probably do differently, and wishing that past you could’ve been a little smarter, a little braver. At 41, I think that readers near or over Riley and Adam’s age will relate a lot to this feeling, at least I know that I do, of being a bit haunted for years by decisions you made in your youth because they seemed right at the time. I love that this is in dual pov because we get to see them navigate these feelings and actually communicate this time around.

This was so good - it’s a Rachel Reid book, so that’s no surprise - and probably the only hockey romance that I loved that had next to no hockey (a must usually!). Riley’s 12 years removed from his hockey career and Adam is recently retired, so while the sport shaped their lives it no longer controls it as much. I love that Rachel’s books don’t ignore the mental health of her characters and that this book didn’t shy away from the mostly brushed aside aspects of giving your body and mind over to a sport, that Adam’s busted shoulder was basically a side character and that Riley was open about his mental health and was vulnerable with Adam even after so much time apart.

While it’s easy to mourn the time they spent apart, it does come with the gift of getting to relearn each other, of getting to know and fall in love with a newer, slightly different version of the other, too. Being able to fall in love with each other again sounds like a gift indeed.

A Slow-Burning Reunion Packed with Angst, Heat, and Emotional Gut Punches

Rachel Reid’s The Shots You Take pulls you in from the very first page, hitting you with an emotional gut punch as Riley Tuck grapples with the loss of his father. The grief is palpable, and just when Riley is at his lowest, in walks Adam Sheppard—his former teammate, ex-fuck buddy, and the man he hasn’t seen in over a decade. Adam’s sudden return is like a match thrown onto a pile of unresolved feelings, guilt, and simmering attraction, reigniting a fire Riley thought had long burned out.

Told through dual perspectives, the novel gives readers a deep dive into both men’s emotions and past regrets. While the angsty slow burn is undeniably satisfying, there’s a lot of time spent in Riley’s head—his grief, his resentment toward Adam, and his complicated relationship with hockey. However, his struggles with mental health sometimes feel like they take a backseat to his anger, making certain emotional beats feel disconnected from the rest of the story. Similarly, while the flashbacks add depth to Riley and Adam’s history, the transitions between past and present could have been smoother to maintain the story’s flow.

Adam, on the other hand, is dealing with his own personal crisis. Fresh off a divorce and reeling from the rejection of his two teenage kids—who resent him for prioritizing his hockey career—he’s drowning in regret, guilt, and imposter syndrome. Years of repressing his sexuality, forcing himself into the mold of the “perfect” straight athlete, have left him untethered, questioning everything about his past and who he truly is. His return to Riley isn’t just about offering comfort; it’s a desperate attempt to find stability and connection in a life that suddenly feels hollow.

And let’s talk about the steam—because when Rachel Reid delivers, she delivers. The tension builds and builds, making you ache for that eventual release. But the wait is long, relying mostly on teasing flashbacks before we finally get the payoff. Once Riley lets his walls down, though? The chemistry is undeniable, and the spice is absolutely worth the anticipation.

Overall, The Shots You Take is an emotional, angsty, and steamy ride that delivers Reid’s signature HEA with plenty of heat. While a few tweaks could have made it an even stronger read, it’s still an engaging romance that fans of her work won’t want to miss. Would I recommend it? Absolutely. And will I be diving into more of Rachel Reid’s books? Without question—because she knows exactly how to leave readers craving more.

Thank you Harlequin - Carina Adores, Rachel Reid, and NetGalley for this eARC!!

I really really enjoyed this! Very well written and with wonderful characters that were very fleshed out and engaging to read about. The repeated time jumps are not my favorite structure of story telling however I think it was very well used here and though it’s not my favorite way to read a story it wasn’t so tiresome that I didn’t want to keep reading. Overall, a great book that I definitely confidently recommend

Rachel Reid writes beautiful, heartwarming hockey romances that get me every time. That this one is a second chance romance between former best friends and teammates makes it even more special. Professional male athletes, especially hockey players, are “liars” as Adam says. They lie about their pain, their mental illness and addictions, and, sometimes, their sexuality as well. Reid gently explores the pressure to “man up” in this story, with Adam denying his love for and attraction to Riley for over two decades. In the process, he hurt Riley deeply and himself as well. It isn’t until two years into retirement that he reconnects with Riley at his father’s funeral, and it’s anything but smooth sailing.

I thoroughly enjoyed the way these two navigate their second chance, with honesty, humility, forgiveness, and a good deal of steaminess. The choice of a dual point of view really helps to round out the relationship. I highly recommend this beautiful soulmates’ love story.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Carina Adores through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.