Canadian Boyfriend may outwardly seem like a fun hockey romance, but once you get to the guts of it all it’s a story about two people falling for each other while they separately navigate different kinds of grief and heal from traumas in their lives. It’s a pretty slow burn/low spice read, but the audio version of the book was entertaining and so easy to visualize as a movie. I think that this story definitely leans more heavily to the individual journeys of the main characters healing and moving toward love than an actual romance heavy read. Don’t get me wrong, it’s romance, but it’s definitely character driven and focused on Rory and Mike’s growth to a place where they can fall in love.

Aurora/Rory is one of the dance teachers at Mike’s daughter’s dance school. Not just any teacher though, she’s Olivia’s favorite teacher.  Mike is the recently widowed pro-hockey playing father, who is trying to navigate the loss of his wife and helping his daughter navigate life and that loss as well. All of this while these two come together and start to fall in love, unintentionally. Oh and unknown to Mike and uncertain to Aurora, they may have a past and some secrets to be revealed.

Emily Ellet and Joshua Jackson did a great job bringing Mike and Aurora’s story to life with their dual narration. The pain, joy, healing, friendship, and love these two characters felt on their own and with each other was translated well in the audio version of this story. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that I had to add Pacey Witter narrating a spicy scene to my 2024 Bingo card.

I would recommend the audio of Canadian Boyfriend to people who enjoy character driven stories where they work on healing and growing while they fall in love. 

CW: discussions of eating disorders, discussions of anxiety/panic attacks, loss of a spouse/parent, mentally abusive parent,