Title: Heated Rivalry
Author: Rachel Reid
# of Pages: 372 (ebook)
Genre: Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: Pro hockey star Shane Hollander isn’t just crazy talented, he’s got a spotless reputation. Hockey is his life. Now that he’s captain of the Montreal Voyageurs, he won’t let anything jeopardize that, especially the sexy Russian whose hard body keeps him awake at night.
Boston Bears captain Ilya Rozanov is everything Shane’s not. The self-proclaimed king of the ice, he’s as cocky as he is talented. No one can beat him—except Shane. They’ve made a career on their legendary rivalry, but when the skates come off, the heat between them is undeniable. When Ilya realizes he wants more than a few secret hookups, he knows he must walk away. The risk is too great.
As their attraction intensifies, they struggle to keep their relationship out of the public eye. If the truth comes out, it could ruin them both. But when their need for each other rivals their ambition on the ice, secrecy is no longer an option…
Review: I was more addicted to this more than Game Changers, but it doesn't quite hit the 4 star bar.
I'm going to assuming making some high level comparisons with the TV show and commentary on the actions during the smutty parts do NOT count as spoilers. If you think otherwise, skip this review.
I read this book soon after binging the TV show (after it was all over my social media feed despite never hearing about this series). I wanted to see a more verbose version of Shane and Ilya's story (plus I wanted to read the other books to figure out what happens after).
The Heated Rivalry book delivered in both of these areas; since there's third person POV switching (similar to Game Changers), the reader gets to hear more details on their inner turmoil that is more subtle in the TV show. That being said, the POV switching is more noticeable than in Game Changers, likely because the characters are in different locations most of the time. For Reid's writing style, I think it's a necessary component (and translates well to TV), despite still not being my favorite form of story telling.
Another props to the writing (especially compared to Ali Hazelwood books where a lot of the same gendered main characters read similarly across books) is that the characters felt distinct: Ilya being the brash but well meaning, and Shane being innocent and neurodivergent (which was SHOWN rather than told, which is refreshing for a smutty romance).
Not sure how much of this was influenced by watching the show; Reid should give major props to the actors/director who made these characters even more likable than I could have imagined them being. I was pleasantly surprised by how many scenes and their dialogue were lifted straight from the book to screen and overall translated well (unlike some books->movies coughColleen Hovercough). All in all, props to Reid for writing a solid book in the smutty romance genre.
That being said, the common complaint between Game Changers and Heated rivalry is there's too much redundant sex. Of course for the sake of keeping down the total screen time, some of the sex scenes were consolidated in the show (and that already was a lot of sex!). I think the book could have made similar cuts, especially since them navigating the obstacles of their relationship are interesting on its own.
Special shout out to Shane being at least briefly grossed out at the thought of kissing Ilya after Ilya was licking Shane's butthole. Loved Shane for being so relatable since there's is 0 mention of them doing any prep.
If you're a fan of the show, definitely give this book a read! It's fast (finished in only a couple of days) and easy read (and ended up rewatching parts of the show as I read to simulate listening to an audiobook).
