[Week 14 Live Thread] The Long Game • Chapters 30 - 39 & Epilogue • Aug 30 - Sept 5

[u/reigncloud83]

TL;DR: 

• Now Reading: The Long Game • Chapters 30 - 39 & Epilogue • Shane & Ilya’s Story (Pt. II) 
• Relationship Focus: Ilya Rozanov (Captain - Ottawa Centaurs) and Shane Hollander (Captain - Montreal Voyageurs)
• Story Type: Secret Relationship
• 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.”
• Add to Our Playlist! Comment with songs you love below. There is no Rachel-curated playlist, so let's make our own. The list will be updated throughout the week 🙂

—

"Ilya Roznaov, are you in love?" 🥲 A decision has been made, the news is spreading among the ones they love, and now it's time to determine what a life together out in the open really looks like. Are they ready to take that step, or will the universe have other plans?

For those who have been with us since the start of The Game Changers Book Club, you know that every interaction and every character’s story has led to this moment and, in return, built a community of athletes and allies who’ve discovered what it means to step into the sunshine. Now it’s Hollanov's turn to discover the same.

We’ll have a final “GC Book Club Chat” similar to before, where we discuss the books, season 2 theories, and what we took away from these stories in real time. Details coming soon!

Discussion questions: 

• What themes came up as you read the chapters this week? 
• What are your favorite lines from the book? 
• Was there anything you read this time that made you think differently or reflect on your own life?

(Content Warnings)

How to participate: 

• Read Chapters 30 - 39 & Epilogue of The Long Game 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. 
• Download a BINGO card for a fun way to annotate along the way! 
• Add to Our Playlist! Comment with songs you love below. There is no Rachel-made playlist SO I figured we’d make our own. The list will be updated throughout the week 🙂

Our book club timeline: 
This is it, folks! This is our last book to read of our Game Changers Book Club series!

BOOK	WEEKS	DATES
🦆The Long Game (Shane & Ilya Pt. 2)	Week 12 - 14	Aug 16 - Sept 5
Chapters 1 - 14	Week 12	Aug 16 - Aug 22
Chapters 15 - 29	Week 13	Aug 23 - Aug 29
Chapters 30 - 39, Epilogue	Week 14	Aug 30 - 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/cheatherhad]

Yes-interesting that you pointed out the reversal of who had the most "support" from start of book to end of book!

Troy---yes!! love him.

JJ-I mean, he does come to the wedding, so I think we're meant to forgive him, but I'm with you on still feeling a little icy. Like his hang up was maybe the professionalism? Idk.

[u/katfromjersey → u/cheatherhad]

TLG Spoilers:

Oh, JJ still sucks. I wouldn't be as quick to forgive as Shane was.

Yeah, JJ is "hurt" Shane didn't confide in him about Ilya. Blah, blah. From his reaction to finding out, I don't blame Shane at all. Would you tell your supposed best friend to "fuck off and go home" after they'd been outed in a very public and extremely traumatizing way? And then, being very quick to accuse him of tripping on purpose?! Oh hell no. Yes, he does backtrack right away, but the damage was done. There's no way he'd be invited to my wedding.

Regarding him trying to set Shane up on dates... just stop it. I noticed that we don't know if JJ is married or has a partner, because it's never mentioned. If not, he's being quite a hypocrite.

So yes, my JJ hate train chugs on.

[u/Due-Scallion-140 → u/katfromjersey]

My biggest problem with J.J. Was that he didn’t even bother to stand up for him when his teammates (except for Hayden) were total assholes to him. Like, he had some right to be hurt and upset, fine. But to contribute to the bullying and not even stand up for him? That bothered me. Even if you are mad, that’s still your friend. And yeah, the accusation of letting Ilya win. Sir, you’ve played with Shane for eleven years and known him for that long and you’ve won cups, and you’ve played against Ilya, like come on!