A review by silver_lining_in_a_book
The Long Game by Rachel Reid

dark emotional funny hopeful relaxing sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

 
Kiss me, Ilya wanted to say. Kiss me and hold me in front of all these people. Pull me onstage and do it. I don’t care anymore. Please. I’m dying. “Nothing,” Ilya said, and stepped away. “Nothing.”

This book cover, unfortunately, is not at all representative of how difficult some parts of this book were to read, particularly in the first half of the book. I was expecting to just have a tonne of fun as I did with the first part of Ilya and Shane's love story, but instead, I was greeted with depictions of untreated depression, undiagnosed (and not discussed) orthorexia, and Ilya's heartbreaking and under-appreciated sacrifices for Shane's sake. Many of the discussions in this book were so important, but I found them to be so mentally draining at times.

However, after slightly struggling through the first part of the book, I finally found myself sinking into the story and I couldn't stop reading it. Shane's behaviour in this sequel slightly disappointed me - he didn't quite feel like the same person at times and I thought he was really taking Ilya for granted - but he did get better throughout this novel. Ilya, on the other hand, has to be one of my favourite characters. I absolutely loved him because of how relatable he was to me. His emotions and actions felt very realistic and true to his character; I appreciated the depiction of his mental health struggles and how well he understood his own emotions, and my heart absolutely went out to him.

Overall, I think this was a really great book and it must be one of the best follow-ups to an enemies-to-lovers romance that I have ever read. It didn't feel like Reid was forcing any unnecessary conflict into the book, but there were still lots of high stakes and emotions throughout!
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