CANADIAN BOYFRIEND

A dance teacher falls for a professional hockey player who happens to have been her pretend boyfriend in high school.

When she was 16 and working as a barista at the Mall of America, Aurora Evans met a Canadian guy in town for a hockey tournament. They hit it off, and for years afterward, she used the excuse of her “Canadian boyfriend” to get out of social obligations. Now, 13 years later, Rory has left behind a career as a ballerina and runs a dance studio for kids. When Olivia, one of her students, returns to class following the death of her mother, Rory meets the girl’s father, Mike Martin, a pro hockey player, and she senses something familiar about him. She strongly suspects that Mike may just be the original inspiration for the fake Canadian boyfriend she conjured in high school, and she covertly attempts to connect the dots. Holiday provides a brief content warning about potentially triggering material, but it doesn’t fully describe the depth of Mike’s grief and Rory’s experiences with a toxic upbringing and disordered eating as they’re explored in the book. Mike and Rory become friends, but Rory is increasingly worried that her longtime lie about her imaginary boyfriend will come to light. While the book focuses on healing from trauma, complete with some wonderful mentions of therapy, the romance feels secondary to Rory’s reckoning with her harmful childhood and her experience as a professional dancer. Mike is sweet and kind, but he serves primarily as the impetus for Rory to make some changes. Considering that Rory and Mike are now adults, the focus on a somewhat inconsequential lie from Rory’s teen years feels silly, undermining the emotional and nuanced portrayal of love amid loss and recovery.

Emotionally intense in a way that overwhelms the slow-burn romance.