A review by kayetaz
Tough Guy by Rachel Reid

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

5 ⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️.5/5

Format: audiobook

Narration: 🎤🎤🎤/5

Ryan and Fabian! The literal cutest cuties!

Listen, real talk, was this as good as Heated Rivalry/The Long Game? No. But I did love this book and a couple a whole lot.

Firstly, give me a femme MC with a no-fucks-given attitude and a love of lacy underwear and I’m a goner. Pair him with a big ole anxious teddy bear who needs constant reassurance and I’m dead. Deceased. Plus add in the fact that they knew each other as teens and both secretly had crushes on one another? Ahhh!

I loved everything about them. I loved that this was relatively slow burn, just both of them dancing around each other while being super smitten. Then when they finally get together and Fabian meets all of Ryan’s hang-ups with zero judgement and only understanding and caring. How they worked up to things in the bedroom, but still kept it super spicy—like whoa.

I also actually really liked the conflict that happened. The emphasis on mental health and being safe in a sport that feeds off of pushing yourself too far, and just toxic masculinity in general. How Ryan navigated through what he wanted in life. I just really liked the character development in this book.

And I also really loved all the little pieces of my baby Ilya that we got.

I wish I moved onto the other books in this series sooner after finishing Shane and Ilya’s stories, but I’m really excited to see what’s next.