Week in Review – October 4, 2026

Happy Spooky Season!

This was a bit of a stressful week, so I was glad for the weekend. I had to go into the office for two days to do some training, which always takes a lot out of me. I did have Wednesday off, though, so that was nice.

Michael is debating whether to stop going to his social skills group. He has been unhappy with it for a little while but isn’t 100% sure what he wants to do yet. They are playing D&D together today, so he is going to see how it goes.

We did get some good news from the neurologist that his bloodwork and brain MRI were clean. We had been referred to her based on the results of a study the GI doctor did. Now that anything neurological has been ruled out, we will likely be following up with a specialized motility clinic for help with both his swallowing and constipation issues.

My friend Kim was over on Saturday and we had lunch and watched a new movie called The Love Hypothesis. It is based on a book by Ali Hazelwood, whom I have not read. The movie was excellent! I think her books can be pretty steamy, but the movie only had one explicit scene, so that was good. We both enjoyed it very much.

I only finished one book this week – Time to Shine by Rachel Reid. It is an MM hockey romance and I really enjoyed it. It is a slow-burn romance but definitely has a lot of spice once it gets going. I especially liked the character of Langdon as he tries to figure out if he is asexual or demisexual.

I hope everyone is enjoying the change of seasons! I am very happy for fall to be here in Pennsylvania!

Game Changers Series

A few months ago, I started hearing a lot of hype about the Heated Rivalry TV show, and since then I have watched season 1 several times, along with many reaction videos on TikTok. I loved the show and decided to check out the books it was based on.

The Game Changers series by Rachel Reid consists of six books so far, with a seventh one due out in 2027. I especially loved the first two books because they are the ones covered in season one of the show. It was really nice to understand more of the thoughts and feelings behind some of the things the characters did and said. 

The next three books are each about another couple, and the sixth book revisits Shane and Ilya’s relationship. I enjoyed all of them and am looking forward to the next two seasons of the show to see how they are portrayed.

Note for anyone who isn’t already familiar with this series – the spice level is 5 out of 5!