This dude was 100 percent going to break my heart. No, he already had. He’d cracked it open, and what did Leonard Cohen say? That’s how the light gets in?`
Jenny has written a laugh-out-loud instant classic that I will return to again and again for all the feels.
Once upon a time teenage Aurora Evans met a hockey player at the Mall of America. He was from Canada. And soon, he was the perfect fake boyfriend, a get-out-of-jail-free card for all kinds of sticky situations. I can’t go to prom. I’m going to be visiting my boyfriend in Canada. He was just what she needed to cover her social awkwardness. He never had to know. It wasn’t like she was ever going to see him again…
Years later, Aurora is teaching kids’ dance classes and battling panic and eating disorders—souvenirs from her failed ballet career—when pro hockey player Mike Martin walks in with his daughter. Mike’s honesty about his struggles with widowhood helps Aurora confront some of her own demons, and the two forge an unlikely friendship. There’s just one problem: Mike is the boy she spent years pretending was her “Canadian boyfriend.”
The longer she keeps her secret, the more she knows it will shatter the trust between them. But to have the life she wants, she needs to tackle the most important thing of all—believing in herself.
I love Canadian Boyfriend and Aurora and Mike. These two and their cast of friends and family made me laugh and sigh. Aurora (or Rory as she prefers to be called) is feisty, poignant and in her healing era after some trauma. Mike is an NHL star and recent widow. On paper, the two have little in common. But when Rory ends up kind of nannying for Mike and then living with him to help take care of his pre-teen daughter, Olivia, there’s some serious sparks, along with some laughter, healing and a lot of food. Their story is sweet and layered, as you expect from a Jenny Holiday story, and has her fabulous swoony intimacy as well. I already can’t wait to read this story again and hang out with Mike and Rory.
Mike and Rory are standout characters and I am so glad that they both get a POV in this story. We need to be in both of their heads to understand where they are coming from. Mike is a Canadian hockey player who made it semi-big in the NHL. He’s sweet, hard working and doesn’t take his life for granted. Rory was a dancer who was pushed into a professional career by her dance mom who expected her to sacrifice everything to achieve excellence. Rory, however, came away with an eating disorder and some severe anxiety, and some serious issues with her mother-daughter relationship and boundaries. Rory, is also carrying a secret – because she was away so much as a teen at dance competitions and shows, she was a bit of a loner at school. Being lonely, she made up a boyfriend who she would write letters to, to keep herself company. He was based off of a cute boy she met as a teen in the mall coffee shop she worked at. When she realizes that Mike is that boy, and that she’s now falling for him in real life, she is seriously freaked out. A good chunk of their story is about boundaries and respect and consent. It explores grief and trauma and how we rebuild our lives and how we don’t have to be defined by one moment. It’s a powerful story line that is deftly woven in between their charming story.
The book takes readers through Minnesota and Manitoba. It will let Americans learn the definition of Canadian phrases such as “hoser”, “Toque” and “Double Double” while highlighting some of the cultural similarities and differences between our two countries. Like other past favourite Jenny books, Canadian Boyfriend has a fantastic cast of characters that support and push Rory and Mike as needed. Olivia, Mike’s middle-grade aged daughter is an absolute delight. She helps push the plot forward but is never a distraction. She helps both Rory and Mike grow and also keeps them on their toes.
Canadian Boyfriend is a must read romance, best served with a double double and a side of maple syrup!
Thank you Grand Central Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
