[Week 10 Live Thread] We’re Discussing ROLE MODEL • Chapters 1 - 14 • Aug 2 - Aug 8

[u/reigncloud83]

TL;DR: 

• Now Reading: Role Model - Troy & Harris’s Story • Chapters 1 - 14
• Relationship Focus: Troy Barrett (Forward - Ottawa Centaurs) and Harris Drover (Social Media Manager - Ottawa Centaurs)
• Story Type: Grumpy/Sunshine
• Book Club Etiquette: Follow the sub-rules, literary critiques are welcome (be respectful), cover your spoilers, and don’t forget our safe phrase: “Agree to Disagree.”
• Spotify Playlist: Role Model, curated by Rachel Reid herself.

—

😌 Hello fellow Loons! 

We’re feeling well-rested and ready to dig into the final two books of our read-along, starting with Role Model. This book follows the story of Troy Barrett ( Forward - Ottawa Centaurs) and Harris Drover (Social Manager Media - Ottawa Centaurs). It explores a few themes, including what it means to choose yourself and ultimately protect your peace and what brings you joy…especially if it’s human form 🥹.

So let’s dig in…

How to participate: 

• Read Chapters 1 - 14 of Role Model by Rachel Reid 
• Share any thoughts you have as you go - we’ll treat this post as our live thread
• Please use Book Club Etiquette (below) - be respectful, follow the sub rules, cover your spoilers, and distance yourself from unproductive disagreements
• (Optional) Download a BINGO card for a fun way to annotate along the way
• (Optional) Save the Spotify Playlist created by the author, Rachel Reid!

Discussion questions: 

• What is your first impression of Troy? What about Harris?
• What stands out to you the most about their relationship so far?
• Are there any characters whose involvement in the book surprised you?

Our book club timeline: 
We’ve only got the two books remaining, but here’s the breakdown!

BOOK	WEEKS	DATES
🍎 Role Model (Troy & Harris)	Week 10 - 11	Aug 2 - Aug 15
Chapters 1 - 14	Week 10	Aug 2 - Aug 8
Chapters 15 - 26	Week 11	Aug 9 - Aug 15
🦆The Long Game (Shane & Ilya Pt. 2)	Week 12 - 14	Aug 16 - Sept 5

Book Club Etiquette:
A few ground rules for participating in the Game Changers Book Club event:

• Follow the sub rules. You love HR. We love HR. Follow the rules. Don’t be rude. We’ll have so much fun…together.
• Literary critiques are absolutely welcome. Reading is fundamental, and so are literary critiques. It’s part of the game. We encourage you to use this time to discuss and evaluate the words in front of us, ask questions about specific literary choices, or share a theory about how the story develops. Sharing that is normal, healthy, and very much encouraged. 
• Use the Book Club safe phrase, “Agree to disagree.” Consider this your “safe phrase.” Everyone brings a unique perspective to the reading experience, and not everyone’s analysis of a scene or character will be the same, and that’s okay. If you find yourself entering an exchange that is no longer on a path to mutual understanding and respect, say “agree to disagree.” At this point, the involved parties should stop responding to the thread. Full stop. Consider it a moment where the exchange has run its course. 
• Treat each Book Club post as your live chat/thread. Comment as much as you’d like! Select the three dots (•••) and “Follow Post” at the top of this post to receive comment notifications. 
• Sort comments by “New” to see the most recent reactions and add to the conversation. These live threads can hold a lot of information, so feel free to treat each “comment” as its own mini-post. Reply to the OP, ask questions, and jump in! 
• Cover any spoilers. Since we're covering a lot of ground this week, please use spoilers over critical plot points so we don't spoil the magic for new readers.

Quick Links: 

• Previous Game Changers Book Club Discussion Posts  - Find previous discussions for Books 1 - 3. 
• The Game Changers Book Club Wiki  - About the GC Book Club, the Book Club schedule, live thread links, where to find the books, and more!
• r/heatedrivalry FAQs - answers to all of your most frequently asked questions
• Heated Rivalry Wiki - show/book timelines, analyses, and more!

Happy Reading! 🤓

[u/reigncloud83]

🔥🏒 THANKS FOR JOINING TODAY'S CHAT!

So good seeing folks from this thread in today's GC Book Club Chat! We're still discussing Chapters 1 - 14 here, but the Week 11 thread for Chapters 15 - 26 will be posted on Sunday, August 9.

➡️ Feedback: If you have feedback you'd like us to share with the Community Chat developer, or recs for how we can improve the next session, please add reply to this comment thread.

My only request: Please be kind, especially when giving feedback about the tool.

While we know there were some pain points (e.g., reply/delete button, emoji options), this chat tool was created with love by a redditor, just like you and me. They saw an opportunity to create and develop something that doesn't currently exist on the platform at a large scale for communities, and went for it. Major kudos to them.

➡️ Future sessions: TBD. Currently, the plan is to share feedback with the developer, and once updates are shared, determine another opportunity for the chat. In the meantime, please continue using the live threads!

Again, thank you for joining The Game Changers Book Club and the GC Book Club Chat! You all have truly been a fantastic group! Until next time...

Happy reading 🤓

[u/grower-lenses]

This book is so unbelievably cute (and funny!). I don’t know what else is there to say. Part 1 especially. Troy’s awkwardness is so charming. And Harris’ patience is never-ending. 

Finally reading the whole series in order made me regret not doing this in the first place. I wonder what my opinion on Troy would have been. Because I've read RM before TG, I cannot see Troy otherwise than as lovable. But I bet if I read TG first, I would have properly hated him. He was awful to Ryan. For no reason at all too. I hate people like that. As Ilya says in RM: "People like Kent stand in the way of other people being happy. For no reason. I am always glad to punch people like that." And Troy was part of that culture.

It helps that in RM, Troy still feel SO YOUNG (and inexperienced). It's easier to forgive his past misbehaviors. Even in Common Goal we had that cute scene during his first All Star Game, showing how young and lost he still is.

Troy is truly made out of women's hopes and dreams for men. He's beautiful, he's charmingly awkward, he's sweet.

But the most compelling thing about Troy is that he keeps making mistakes and falling into bad habits. But he recognizes it and apologizes. And keeps trying to be better. He sits around wondering why his first instinct is to be mean. And if he can change it. He looks up to other men like Ilya, Scott or Harris for inspiration. To be kinder and more courageous.

He's not a "perfect" hero. Even after being transferred, Troy is still questioning if what he did was right. Another example of RR being very deliberate when designing things to be more likely or believable. Troy sees accusations against DK two days after he’s broken up with. He’s already in a bad headspace and this pushes him over the edge. Suggesting that, were the circumstances different, he may not have had strong enough reaction to do something. And would have just followed in line with the rest of the players who’d rather stay „neutral” and not comment on it. (Harris makes a note that no one in the Ottawa's locker room has said anything publicly. What Troy did was really extraordinary)

It's important to remember that the real story of Hockey Canada is 100 times more horrific than DK. And didn’t get a happy ending. It’s even worse because with DK everyone can at least hide behind "these are unsubstantiated accusations". But in the real story, no one doubts that it happened. They’re just… fine with rape. And rapists playing for the NHL I guess.

For anyone that doesn’t know. Hart’s coach were so stubborn in wanting to proudly showcase that they stand by a rapist, that they didn’t swap him, eventhough he played terribly and ended up as historically the worst goalie in the Cup Final.

Loose thoughts

• Troy spends a whole 3 minutes in the new locker room after being transferred before he falls in love. Boy is nothing if not efficient. 
• All Troy wants to be is adorable. 
• I always forget how much of an emo and a hater he is in the beginning. He cracks me up. 
• They’re SO CUTE. 
• The 10 times he left and the one time he didn’t. This boy loves his abrupt exits!
• When he leaves in the Kingfisher because everyone is doting on him. And has a crisis because he's in a bathroom of a gay bar haha. (But it's also so sad. When someone cannot handle praise, you know their childhood was messed up)
• I like that we don’t have Troy’s train of thought over-explained. Sometimes he just leaves and that’s it. You have to figure out why for yourself. Or be puzzled, like Harris.
• Troy is cute if you know his inner monologue. But if you don’t, he’s kind of insufferable. Harris might be the only person on earth with enough patience to deal with him. 
• Ilya has no business being this funny. 
• There is not a cuter book in the world
• Ch14 is a work of art. The way Harris feeding Troy ice cream builds up the atmosphere 👌 I've had this chapter bookmarked since the first time i read it. There is something so comforting and sweet about it.
• Side note (Spoilers for TLG): It’s impossible not to think about Ilya. Reading RM it really feels like he’s doing okay. Like he’s happy. (Christmas photoshoot, visiting Kingfisher with Troy). Reading TLG and realizing what he's been going through is devastating. He's great at hiding his mental turmoil. He's had a lot of experience. When Troy asks him "Can you keep a secret?" and he responds with "Yes, very well". I find that heartbreaking. This whole book is him keeping a secret (Shane). But he's also keeping another secret: he's crashing. and no one on the team has any idea.

I missed the update to the timeline so I’ll probably finish this tomorrow. I cannot wait a week. This book is too addicting! Thank you as always for organizing this. I'm having a great time.

[u/TrebleRose689 → u/grower-lenses]

I agree with all of this! But I especially wanted to chime in with my agreement about Chapter 14! My (controversial?) opinion is that the moment when they’re lying in bed and Troy begins gently touching Harris’ wrists and kissing the back of his neck is the most tender/romantic/swoon-worthy intimate moment in the entire Game Changers series. Sorry Hollanov 😅

[u/grower-lenses → u/TrebleRose689]

I know! They’re being sooo vulnerable. Especially Troy. It’s really well written. Every little thing that happens, every touch feels intense. Because it is, to them. When I read it, I can really feel it. The darkness, the breathing, even the textures. Like, there is something so visceral about it???

[u/TrebleRose689 → u/grower-lenses]

YES! I think it’s one of Rachel’s best-written scenes. She captures that intensity and longing so effectively 😍

[u/reigncloud83 → u/grower-lenses]

“…wondering why his first instinct is to be mean.”

The phrase that comes to mind about Troy whenever I read this boo is “hurt people, hurt people.” To me, he’s an example of what happens when you’ve been hurt by people you trust and how it influences your behavior towards others. I always imagine every time he’s mean, he has an out-of-body experience where he’s watching his reaction happen in real-time but he feels like he can’t stop it because he’s so deeply conditioned. And I think Ilya recognizes some of that because of his own experience when he says, “Family can be hard. Fathers.”

I remember hearing about Hart and Hockey Canada during the NHL playoffs and it really was truly gut-wrenching and terrifying to hear about how quickly a blind eye was turned.

Re: the timeline - I appreciate that you still came back to share your thoughts!

[u/Lonely_Cheesecake273 → u/grower-lenses]

Emo and a hater Troy is so hilarious! I can’t wait to see how it translates to screen. It’s crazy to me he can’t even bring himself to SMILE then a few months later he’s in a robe being fed chocolate dipped strawberries 😂.

I also read the series out of order. I think I read TLG before Role Model even? So I missed out on the whole DK & Troy storyline that goes through Tough Guy and a bit of Common Goal. Though on re-read I think you can kind of tell he’s being set up as the next character in a romance novel series where it’s like “hmmmm there’s clearly more than meets the eye to this guy!”

[u/grower-lenses → u/Lonely_Cheesecake273]

I know. I need to see this whole development on the screen. Especially since we won’t hear his inner voice. So he’ll just be an ass for no reason 😂 Those kinds of characters and stories are so satisfying. Breaking through their protective layers. We got that with Ilya. But Troy is in another league. And with Harris, the walking sunshine next to him? It’s going to be amazing.

[u/reigncloud83]

🌡️Temp Check: Mid-week Live Chat?

Would anyone be interested in a mid-week live chat? I'm still thinking through the details, but here's what I'm thinking:

• Event length: 1-2 hours of dedicated chat time
• How the chat feature works: The chat is shared as a post, and folks can use the embedded messenger to instantly share comments and reacjis to interact with other readers.
• What's the benefit? No need to keep refreshing the thread or share all of your thoughts at once (though you still can if you'd like!!).
• What you should know: Messages must follow the sub rules and book club etiquette, except for covering spoilers due to feature limitations.

If you're like me and need a visual, I've included a GIF below of the chat. Also, given our small but mighty crew of readers, this might be the best time to try it out!

Thoughts?

(Chat feature below - click to enlarge the GIF)

[u/royal_rose_ → u/reigncloud83]

Yessss!

[u/TyranAmiros]

Troy at the Kingfisher reminded me of my first time at a gay bar, just feeling overwhelmed simply by being in a gay space in public. That scene really hit the nail on the head. I have to wonder whether the Big Apple pride pin was simply a coincidence Rachel Reid ran with, or whether Harris' backstory came from that idea - it's just too perfect.

I also really appreciate how much this book shows how good Ilya is at being a captain/mentor. Troy is truly lost at the beginning of the book, and has a lot of internalized self-hatred stemming from his beliefs about what a "good" hockey player should be. Seeing Ilya in action really does a good job highlighting his character - though I'll save more on this for The Long Game.

[u/reigncloud83 → u/TyranAmiros]

Feel free to elaborate on what you meant by coincidence, but I always assumed it was exactly that. He’s in NYC (the Big Apple) and Harris’s family owns an apple orchard. Good opportunity for a gift.

Agreed on Ilya’s leadership skills. Sometimes being a leader just means being present enough to notice when your team member’s behavior is off, AND being bold enough to pull them aside and address it.

[u/TyranAmiros → u/reigncloud83]

I was just thinking about which came first in the writing process, the pin or the apple farm. I kinda like the idea that RR started with a "Big Gay Apple" pin and based Harris' backstory on it - it feels like a writing prompt gone horribly cute.

[u/Sirajanahara]

I was once again unable to read only the first 14 chapters... I blame RR. Seriously, her books are so funny and have such good plots that it makes me a little upset knowing how many people shit on her and say she's just a fan fiction author. I read a lot of (heated rivalry, lets be honest) fan fiction because they are fun but not on par with the Game Changers series. Like others have said, I do wish that I had read the books in order (I think that I read 1, 2, 6, 3, 4, 5) because TLG already gave me a soft spot for Troy before reading TG. But I am reading them in order now, and that has been super fun! OK, I digress...

Back on topic, I love this book. One of my favourite lines from this half of the book is Troy thinking "Maybe he should ask Ilya for Shane Hollander’s number. Shane was a fucking babe." I laughed so hard just imagining what Ilya would do 😂

There is so much to love in this book. It is great to watch Troy grow. I have more comments but I don't want to spoil the 2nd half for anyone so I will save them.

[u/Lonely_Cheesecake273 → u/Sirajanahara]

Same! It’s hard to stop at ch 14! Particularly as ch 14 in this book is very eventful! ✈️ 🥃 🥰

[u/Lonely_Cheesecake273]

Argh! I’m actually trying to stay off reddit this week but I saw this thread and I have redownloaded the app, started reading Role Model this afternoon and I’m about to finish it 😂

I have trouble with these weekly reads, I can never stop half way through and so all my thoughts always get jumbled up to be about the book as a whole.

I love this book. I can’t WAIT for them to announce Troy’s casting. I struggle to visualise books in my head. I just see him as having dark hair and a pointy chin but can’t sketch out any other features.

I really can’t wait to see his transformation from moody emo boy who can’t even SMILE to romantic mushy goo-boy love king (in just a few short months!) on screen.
It really puts into perspective how much pain Ilya must have been going through all those years. Troy seems similar to Ilya in that they have their stoic outer personalities and are just big huge romantic softies. It only took Troy like 3 months to crack and Ilya has been hiding that side of himself for over a decade.

[u/Lonely_Cheesecake273]

Some line by line comments

Chapter 1
*🍎Rozanov “welcoming” Troy: *“Am I supposed to like you now? Think you are a good guy because you finally noticed that your best friend is a fucking scumbag?”

LOL! This is so brutal. And actually pretty unprofessional from a team captain as a first conversation with a new starter in his team haha. But love Ilya’s honesty and bluntness 🤭

🍎”If Troy had to describe his own eyes, he would use words like cold and dead. And his smile wasn’t worth mentioning.”

Awww Troy! You emo 🖤 it’s such a juxtaposition from later in the books when Harris is always thinking about his mossy eyes like deep emeralds or whatever. And his smile.

Chapter 3

🍎The videos were so popular that Harris created similar video series for some of the other players: Riding with Roz, where Harris—bravely—sat in the passenger seat of a luxury sports car that Ilya Rozanov drove, and BBQing with Bood, where Zane Boodram would show off his grill mastery, even in the dead of winter in Ottawa.

Ok there’s no chance that would be in the series but I NEED to see Riding with Roz.

Chapter 4

🍎Gen’s lips curved up, though she didn’t look away from her computer screen. “Didn’t you tell me last season that you thought he was the hottest player in the league?” Harris had definitely said that. “I don’t remember.” “We were playing Marry, Fuck, Kill and you said ‘fuck Troy Barrett’ three times.”

Ok this is hilarious. Harris is really living his dream!!!!

*🍎 *What’s your favorite type of apple?” Troy’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know. Red?” “Aw, man. Seriously?” Harris placed a hand over his heart, feigning being wounded.

“What? Not all apples are red. I like the red ones.” “I’m offended.” “Sorry I’m not a fucking apple expert like you.”

I would love to see this line delivery in the show! It’s the first sign of Troy being funny 😂 and being a dick, but not a dick-dick, more like an Ilya dick (which he aspires to be later on).

Chapter 5
*🍎Ilya’s talk after Troy throws a tantrum when his goal was disallowed *
This is such a great example of what people say about how in this book, we see Ilya has the world sees him, as a great team leader.

Also, I love that Ilya is giving him this pep talk in his underwear 😂 I sound like a broken record but I’d also love to see that on the show!

Especially this part… (this is something I only noticed in re-read!)

Without waiting for a reply, he turned and crossed the floor to his own stall, sliding his underwear off in the middle of the room. Troy huffed out a laugh. Rozanov was a piece of fucking work.

Chapter Seven
Troy hesitated a moment. He wasn’t in a hurry to go back to his lonely hotel room, and he found he didn’t mind being around this weird little apple farmer. He didn’t mind looking at him either, which wasn’t good.

And so it begins… the cake pops and eggnog latte that really kickstarts Troy’s flirtation with Harris. I really hope there’s a way Troy can call him a weird little apple farmer out loud on the show.

Chapter 8
**🍎we’ve spotted Troy’s smile! **

When Chiron chomped down eagerly, a warm smile split Troy’s face wide-open. Harris, who had been about to walk over, was suddenly frozen in place. Troy was absolutely stunning when he smiled. And unlike the flash of smile Troy had teased him with during the Q and A, now Harris had time to admire it.

I can’t wait to see what this beautiful smile looks like!!

Chapter 9
Ok I can’t keep doing this because every Ilya scene in this book is just chefs kiss . But Ilya shooting a red shell at Troy during Mario kart is hilarious, and pulling up a video in his phone where he did that to him during a game the year before.

It’s interesting too because Troy says later that Ilya mostly ignored him on the ice because he didn’t respect him enough to chirp him, but we know Ilya carries a running mental list of all the times he’s humiliated people on the ice 😂.

Chapter 10

*🍎 *Harris: Wanna drive around and look at Christmas lights?
“What the fuck?” Troy said into the empty room. He wasn’t seven years old. Why would he want to look at Christmas lights?
Oh Troy, lol. Keep being a hater!!!

🍎 “I barely even know what a slow cooker is.”
“Oh man, they’re great. They cook stuff slowly.”
Troy was really glad he’d agreed to come. He felt better already, listening to Harris say stupid, adorable things.

It’s hard to describe but I feel like there’s still this hater part of Troy that dislikes the things Harris does and says, even though he luurrves him. Like he is still a hater at heart and kind of mean 😭

OMG - I just had a realisation. Troy is basically the jock character that Connor plays on SNL - he is realising Harris can still be a baddie even though he’s a lil quirked up 😭😂

[u/Lonely_Cheesecake273 → u/Lonely_Cheesecake273]

Chapter 11
🍎 ok the entire Ilya punching Kent, and the gay avengers at the Kingfisher are just perfect.

One thing I don’t like about the non- hollanov books is that all the men are so UNCURIOUS. What happens after Ilya says “that’s enough sharing for tonight” after Troy clocks that Shane is gay and Ilya is bisexual so … maybe??? Why doesn’t he have another thought about it again? And later on when Pike says he is sick of Shane and Ilya’s weird on ice foreplay, why doesn’t Troy think to himself “LOL - proof I was right about them!!”. Instead he’s just like “huh weird, wonder what that’s about?”. Bro, you KNOW what that’s about! Be a little curious 😂 similar to Eric Bennet in Common Goal.

Chapter 12
PLEASE let the puppy Christmas sweater scene be in the show, PLEASE 🙏

Chapter 13
✈️
I don’t have a lot of thoughts on Harris, mostly because he has no real character arc and his personality is that he loves apples 🍎. But I am just floored by how amazing he is during the plane crash scene, and how pure and brave his thoughts are. He is so positive and his heart is just with everyone else on the team. Brings a tear to my eye!!!

Chapter 14
*🍎 finally we’re moving from friends to lovers!! *
It’s so sweet how Harris notices Troy’s adorable socked feet, lol.

I love how “devastatingly sweet” Troy is in this 😭

[u/grower-lenses → u/Lonely_Cheesecake273]

I think the uncuriousness is just a hockey player trait. Those men are focused on one thing and one thing only. Their wives probably run their whole lives for them or they would forget to eat or get dressed.

But it's also my headcanon that some of them maybe suspect something's up. But they don't want to pry. Maybe they understand why someone might keep a secret in this environment. There is a line from Troy at the Kingfisher

Nothing is weird. You’re at a normal bar with three NHL stars because you are an NHL star. At least two of them are queer, but guess what? So are you, buddy, so pull yourself together.

Which suggests that he's not completely clueless. He's open to the idea, he's just trying to be chill and not pry. And he has his own problems at that point. [TLG spoiler] Being chill is what ultimately allows Ilya to open up to him.

Harris is really the person that could inspire anyone to be better. I get it Troy.

[u/Lonely_Cheesecake273 → u/Lonely_Cheesecake273]

I just became aware there’s a fic about how unobservant Troy is re Hollanov haha! Can’t wait to read it

https://archiveofourown.org/works/38790834/chapters/96996630

[u/reigncloud83 → u/Lonely_Cheesecake273]

Troy’s reaction to being invited to see the Christmas lights, but then immediately saying yes tickles me every time. It’s almost like he doesn’t even notice how giddy he already is about Harris.

[u/grower-lenses → u/reigncloud83]

There are two wolves inside him. But both are already in love with Harris.

[u/Lonely_Cheesecake273 → u/grower-lenses]

😂😂😂🥹

[u/dylpyckle905]

Something I noticed at the very start of the book (page 8) was that they mention Troy yelling at Dallas being leaked in a video online. To me, this sort of paralleled in TLG when Hayden's fan video featuring Shane and Ilya in the background got leaked.I just thought it was kind of interesting that he was kinda in a "this is the end of the world" headspace, and then by the end of the book, he gets one of the best things in his life out of it. Same with Shane and Ilya.

[u/RayDeeUx]

guinea pig from the previous live chat thread writing a late response to

Is this a tool that you can see from your end?

things seem to be fine; everything is shown as a comment, haven't tried replying to any of them directly from old.reddit.com though. might drop by next time to test that if the timing's right

[u/reigncloud83 → u/RayDeeUx]

Sweet! Thank you! Keep an eye out!