every book in this series i get closer and closer to losing it i fear it'd be one thing if they were like hmm i think rozanov might be a little gay but im gonna mind my business
it's another for them to be like this is clearly a heterosexual man

ur gonna sit here and tell me that no one chatted probably OUTSIDE of the locker room where scott hunter couldnt hear and was like "did u see rozanov at the club? the way he was dancing with those men? do u think he could be gay? ik he's a ladies man but he was really enjoying himself"

there are multiple clearly established straight men during this scene bc theyre celebrating scott hunter and not a single one is dancing w men bc theyre straight but ilya does it and SOMEHOW! SOMEHOW!! has no gay rumors
i KNOW scott hunter wasnt the only one seeing this

MIND YOU!!! MIND YOU!!!! ERIC WAS THERE FOR THIS

give me shane and ilya figuring out the intricacies of this newly formed relationship! u can even have a scene where someone's icloud gets hacked and both shane and ilya go into panic mode and go we absolutely cannot save pics of each other
like now uve established why this is a rule

this is part of the problem w tlg being a time jump is that there's things that are established in their relationship (we dont keep pics of e/o) that wasnt shown in the books so im left being like ok but why did u establish thing
if we saw the beginnings of their relationship this would help

im all for angst btw but i need the angst to make sense and not just added in
if hollanov have to delete all their pics tgthr i need an actual reason even if it's just paranoia and i need it to then be explained why the other options dont work either

they could also print the pics like they have money they can buy a printer that allows pictures to be printed
but this feels very unnecessary bc WHO is checking their phone
ilya keeps pics of them saved in a locked folder so that's also an option for them

i still dont understand in tlg why hollanov had to delete all their pics tgthr
do they also delete their text messages as soon as they send them?
is the assumption that someone could hack into their icloud?
someone will check their phone? i truly dont get it

now if this were 6 books about ilya i wouldnt complain!

and both of these are during a game!
i know shane isnt much of a chirper but if ur gonna mention him can we get him saying Something? Anything?
and if not then i dont think ilya needs dialogue during a game either! this isnt abt him!

i cant believe im saying this btw but there's simply way too much ilya rozanov in a book abt a team he doesnt even play on like Wow
it's made more annoying by the fact that shane gets mentioned but he gets no dialogue
meanwhile ilya gets actual dialogue

"why are we talking about ilya rozanov? i'd rather talk about you" ilya rozanov haunts the narrative

ilya both showed up to the gay club when scott hunter came out and then randomly when they were playing in nyc specifically to ask scott hunter to join his charity that's designed to be a safe space and they're like ok but he's straight right? when no other straight man is doing this

it's actually getting annoying reading them be like
[ilya does very obviously gay thing] "ah but he's such a lady's man there's no way he's gay" because it makes no sense! he hasnt been seen publicly with a woman in at least 2 years!

"[ilya] actually used the term safe space. how many hockey players do u know that'd use that term"
ur sooooo close to getting it

rachel reid im sorry u can write characters being like "i cant believe ilya and shane have a charity together" as many times as u want im not going to believe it

scott is so great it's unfortunate i hate his fiance

at a gay bar picking out men that look Similar to each other bc they dont want to admit they are attracted to e/o
welcome back ilya finding the woman that reminds him the most of shane in his phone to hook up with

"shane just wants to look after himself espc bc he's turning 30" compared to 41 year old eric who makes quips abt how he needs to take care of his body bc he's getting older but he actually seems to enjoy eating the food that he has compared to shane who is miserable

the way eric's eating habits are described compared to shane's is such a stark difference i have a hard time believing rachel reid had no idea she was writing disordered eating at least

the other unrealistic thing abt this book is that most of the hockey players are hot

out queer figure skater amber glenn is skating at the olympics in a few minutes if u care

very noble mindset i respect that unfortunately my parents raised a hater

i do not like him so im actually rooting for him to pop all his jumps

he didnt even do the 4A+3T! he didnt even attempt! he did a sloppy 3A and made me witness it with my own eyes

not even this

i'll also post my warning here if any of u plan to tune into figure skating at any point during the olympics please do not make an ilya/ilia joke please for my own sanity do not theyre not similar in any regard and u will make me cry

ilya's perception is like sherlock holmes my god

"rozanov is definitely into women" i just find it hard to believe ilya has NO gay rumors
none
he hasnt been seen with a woman in 2 years and not a single gay rumor?
he frequents a gay bar and is friends w a bunch of queer hockey players and he's straight?