The Blame Game: An M/M Hockey Romance (Relationship Goals Book 5)

🏒Hockey player X Escort 🏒Mutually beneficially relations 🏒 He fell first but HE fell harder 🏒Fisher Cats PR loves fake relationships 🏒 Emotionally repressed oyster 🏒A lot of family history that is effecting both parties 🏒 Fisher Cats SAPs are basically complete! 🏒 End of an Era :,< The 5th and final book for the #RelationshipGoals series and it was a tear jerky for me in particular. I got to grow with these men and their partners from book 1. And I've more or less trauma bonded to at least 1 partner in each book. From book 1 we KNEW Dom was a closed off and kind of negative energy to the men in books 1-4 when it comes to love and being vulnerable with their partners. A lot of this comes from Dom's past relationship + issues with his own family. With envy and not wanting to change driving Dom is has left him very closed off. Which is where our lovely Escort, Shea comes in. What Shea didn't realize is that he would fall for Dom and fall hard. As we start going through the book we learn that Shea is basically only an escort for Dom and doesn't need his money for support anymore. Love sometimes works in mysterious ways and it def hit these 2 men pretty hard. Close proximity + fake relationship really sets these two men up for a pretty good relationship. Dom has a lot of non stop problems that is effecting him, his friendships, relationships and his game. Since his contract wont be renewed he is on the journey of lifetime trying to figure out what he is going to do.…

This series for me has been a bit hit or miss. I’ve loved the characters but some of the storylines felt like they needed more detail or depth. This book did not suffer from that at all! Dom and Shea were great from the very start! I loved the dynamic between them and how seamlessly it switched from their arrangement to them falling in love. There was a bit of miscommunication and at some points it was mildly frustrating but it also made sense for the book. There was almost no angst between the MMCs which I love. I was nervous going into this mammoth of a book that its length meant a ton of drama and angst but it never felt like that. Yes there were some plots and scenes that could have been whittled down or cut completely but all in all the book just works. I loved how much this book involved the other players on the team and side characters. It was fun to read about their dynamic on the ice and off and especially when they were all together with the SAPs too. It made me appreciate even the books in this series that weren’t my favorite. I really enjoyed how the whole escort side of the story was portrayed. I am not a romance reader who enjoys any sharing so I appreciated that despite the topic of the book and Shea’s work, that there was no “other person” drama. Though the hints with Travis were a bit unnecessary. That felt like it was just there to stir trouble but maybe it’s a hint at a future book character / love interest? Also the meeting with Dom’s ex did not sit…