Heated Rivalry

Heated Rivalry is a spicy MM hockey romance, the second book in the Game Changers series. Japanese-Canadian Shane Hollander and Russian Ilya Rozanov are rivals on the ice and captains of rival NHL teams. Wholesome family-friendly Shane and cocky playboy Ilya could not be more different, and their rivalry is legendary in the hockey world. But what the rest of the world don’t know is that they have been secretly hooking up since before they even in the NHL. Now after all these years of discrete casual rendezvous, both men come to realize what they feel may no longer be as casual.This book is everything BookTok promised it to be, and I was not disappointed. This was so freaking good and I absolutely loved it. While this is the second book in the series, you do not have to read the first book (I didn’t) and don’t need to know anything about hockey (I don’t) to enjoy this book. This was just sizzling hot and the spice was just so well done, well written, and never feels repetitive even though there is so much of it. The book is very sex forward and Shane and Ilya’s connection is purely sexual in the beginning.Shane and Ilya are just two complete, well rounded characters that just feel so real and raw and authentic, and we see them fall in love in between all that hooking up. We follow them and their on-the-ice rivalry for SIX YEARS starting when they were just NHL prospects in the junior league until all the way to being the best hockey players in the NHL. The chemistry, the banter, and the rivalry all just serve to make their rivals-to-lovers forbidden romance all the more steamy. I was completely hooked reading this book, and I’m pretty sure I had tears in my eyes because these two were so in love and wouldn’t admit it to themselves and to each other.Heated Rivalry is just plain fantastic.

I couldn’t put this book down. I loved this story! This was the perfect enemies to lovers romance. And I loved how the story had me falling in love with the main characters as they fell in love with each other!! I can’t wait to read more of Ilya & Shane!

started off really slow i was almost tempted not to finish it but it was soo worth it they’re are soo cute and portrays how hard it truly is to be open you know

I love this book. I wasn't familiar with M/M hockey romance, or this genre, but I have a feeling Rachel Reid set the bar very high. After reading this I read the other six she's written all within a month, and went back to read this again since I couldn't get enough of Ilya and Shane. Her character development is great, and you really fall in love with these characters - highly recommend the second Shane and Ilya book The Long Game as well. Can't wait for the TV series!

4.5⭐️After reading this novel, I'm so excited for the TV show more than ever!! I loved their chemistry, their banter, and their willingness to stand by each other.They started off as rivals who just wanted to let off steam and ended as so much more, as two people committed to each other and doing whatever possible to make their relationship work.I absolutely loved Shane's parents (Ilya's can go for themselves) and Hayden...what can I say... His and Ilya's banter had me LOL-ing so much. 🤣 I didn't get why the whole rivalry thing would be a problem if they'd announce they would together, but whatever lol 🤷🏻‍♀️I absolutely loved it!

I was pleasantly surprised to like this book as much as, if not more than, the first book in the series. I was worried at first. Kip and Scott’s story started off very cute and got stressful as it went on, whereas Ilya and Shane’s book started off stressful. I was scared it was going to be stressful and sad all the way through, but it got SO adorable.In terms of characters, I think Ilya and Shane actually had much better chemistry. Despite their shared career, they have very different personalities and it was magic seeing them come together. On the other hand, Kip and Scott had different careers but very similar personalities, making their relationship sweet but not as interesting.Can’t wait to see more from Ilya and Shane in later books.

I admittedly do not like third person point of view so I waited a long time to read this book but after the insistence of probably 25 friends, I finally did it. I do love this story. Shane and Ilya have a very honest love that you get to see over the course of eight years in this book. It seems very straightforwardand yet also painful to hide so much of yourself for so long. I’m excited to continue their story in the long game to hear how this plays out for them.

1. Hockey players are not this emotional.2. They’re still using condoms at the lake? They would have had that discussion already and they’d probably be on PREP.3. This is a story about men, written by a woman, for women.

It was really sweet. I loved both characters.The only thing that bothered me a bit was the pov. X

Ok, I so wanted to hate on Ilya, but every little bit of him pealed open just made me like him more. Rival lover Shane was so perfect for him, sweet, shy, and both men jealous for each other. Seeing them texting each other Scott and Kips was adorable.

Feb 2024 Reread: stayed up late to finish the book like i didn't know what was going to happen.May 2023 Reread. thank god for Shane and Ilya to help me process my hockey feelings.Dec 2022 Reread - audiobook was STEAMY, so be prepared. But I love Shane and Ilya so very much. they bring me so much joy to read. (moving on to The Long Game reread ASAP)Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander are at the top of the hockey world, and a little competition never hurts to keep pushing them further. Drafted numbers one and two overall by the Boston Bears and Montreal Voyageurs, perennial Hart Trophy contenders, and consistent all-stars. They also hate each other. And still, they can’t stay away from one another. Clandestine trysts when their teams play each other followed by long periods of silence over a decade mark their careers. But it’s just hooking up, right?Ilya and Shane have officially unseated Wes and Jamie (Him/Us) as my favorite hockey couple. First of all, Reid captures the Boston-Montreal rivalry perfectly, and making Shane and Ilya the captains of these Original Six Rivals works so well, pitting them as essentially mortal enemies in the media. Reid touches on important off-ice issues such as familial expectations and LGBTQ+ rights in Russia, Ilya’s home country.Ilya and Shane are each special characters with the same goal: excellence in their sport. This book is more character driven than plot driven, and the enemies to lovers tension remains high throughout. Again, the sport of hockey is a major plot driver, and a lot of the details feel comfortable and familiar to people who follow the sport. I think you can get away without reading book one, though you’ll appreciate Ilya’s arc (he shows up in books one and three that I’ve read so far) more if you read book one, and if you caught yesterday’s review, you know that Game Changer plays well as a set up for the rest of the series once Scott Hunter publicly comes out of the closet.

I don't really get the hype with this book. I read recommendations in MM readers clubs but apart from the "enemies" to lovers trope, it was not what I was expecting.Spoilers- Both MCs keep sleeping with other people, even after they started hooking up. Maybe that's not an issue for some readers, but it's not my cup of tea. If I'd known, I wouldn't have read the book. While the encounters with others are not explicit on page, you can still read that one of the MCs was in bed naked with someone else, or that he slept with X, Y and Z the previous days. I mean, Jesus, one of them gets a girlfriend while they had the arrangement with the other MC.- I have no idea when things changed for either of them. How they went from just hooking up, disliking the other, sleeping with other people, to pretty much "I can't live without you and let's make plans and we are now boyfriends".Also, the book is in 3rd person. This is a pet peeve of mine, so I really struggled to finish it. Of course I'm not deducting stars because of it, since it's my own fault for not checking before.Anyhow, plot wise, I don't think the story deserves more than 2.5 stars.

Where do I even begin? I absolutely love a good hockey romance. I adore a spicy M/M romance. The enemies-to-lovers trope is one of my favorites. And...I am wrecked in the best possible way by Shane and Ilya's love story. Heated Rivalry is, without a doubt, in the top three of my most favorite romance novels ever.Reid draws the reader in from the very beginning, changing things up and taking us along for the ride as we are given "glass seats" to Shane and Ilya's years long evolution from enemies/rivals with benefits, to secret friends/rivals with benefits, to eventually rivals as committed lovers/partners with a HFN ending.Ilya and Shane are such well-drawn, beautifully developed characters. Their chemistry from the beginning is palpable. With each chapter, I was on the edge of my seat, wondering if and when they might predictably be exposed and ridiculed, break it off, or otherwise implode. To my delight, none of these things happened.Reid's depiction of their immediate physical combustion contrasted with a satisfying emotional slow-burn is masterful. Reid artfully takes us through Shane and Ilya's individual realizations of what each means to the other, but in a thoughtful, poignant, and often humorous way. The juxtaposition of their continued physical interactions on and off the ice with their growing and tentative emotional tenderness toward each other over time is sublime. The spice is delectable.Shane and Ilya's back stories are given exactly the right reflection and treatment, never overtaking their larger story, instead contributing intrinsically to the fulfillment of it. This is not insta-love, and therefore, the reader can feel confident that Shane and Ilya's relationship will stand the test of time.Reid also gives us a stark reminder of the fact that love is not love in all parts of the world, even still today. The reasons for Shane and Ilya keeping their relationship secret are addressed in a believable and realistic way.There isn't a single contrived or gratuitous moment in the entire book. All of it is necessary, all of it propels the story forward. Such tight storytelling is very rare in much of the romance offered today.Another "character" that is beautifully rendered is the hockey season itself...though the team names are changed, Reid's time jumps centered around major hockey events (Junior Hockey Championships, entry drafts, All-star weekends, award ceremonies, playoffs, etc.) really shine as the backdrop for many of Ilya and Shane's encounters. I greatly appreciate this dose of comfort as a decades-long hockey fan.It is rare that I finish a book with a severe and prolonged ache in my chest, wishing that I knew its characters in real life, wanting to commiserate and celebrate every facet of their lives together after the HFN epilogue. The compassion (dare I say, compersion) I feel after reading Shane and Ilya's love story is overwhelming.Thankfully, Reid continues Shane and Ilya's love story in The Long Game. My dilemma? Do I skip the other books in the Game Changers series to get right to Shane and Ilya's HEA? Either way, I am excited to dive into the rest of Reid's books.

I loved this book so much! I'm kicking myself for waiting so long to read it. Heated Rivalry has been on my TBR forever and has been recommended to me countless times. There's not much I can say that hasn't already been said about this fantastic book, but here are a few highlights/notes:- Even though this is book 2 in the series, I jumped right in with this book and didn't feel lost at all. I'm sure I missed some Easter eggs and it was a bit spoilery for book 1, but this can definitely be enjoyed without reading the first book.- I didn't realize this story would span so many years. Ilya and Shane meet when they're teenagers and though it's instalust/attraction, it's very much a slow burn for them to realize they want much more than the occasional convenient hook up. They actually spend the majority of the book living in different cities/apart. I did find the dates at the start of the chapters a little distracting because my brain had to know how much time had elapsed between chapters. LOL- The tropes! Rivals/enemies to lovers, forbidden, sexual instruction/lessons, virgin MC*, cinnamon roll MC, grumpy + sunshine, opposites attract, sports romance, slow burn, and just a hook up all make appearances in this book.- The vulnerability and sexual exploration. I loved Shane's character arc and seeing him come into his own. His fears and feelings were so relatable and felt so authentic. Ilya was the grump with a gooey soft center. I loved seeing him humbled and laid bare. These two don't make sense on paper, but their connection from the start is undeniable.- The spice. Holy moly this book is hot. Like absolutely melt your kindle inferno levels. I haven't quite recovered yet ;) LOL- The angst! Oh my heart. Like I said, I didn't realize just how epic Shane and Ilya's story would be, but I will say that I appreciated the shift in the last quarter or so of the book. Readers had already gone through so much that I was glad there wasn't any push away/unnecessary drama at the end. Seeing them happy and *finally* together was everything <3This is my first book by Rachel Reid, but I'm already looking forward to continuing the series. Especially because we get more Shane and Ilya in The Long Game.* The MC has had sexual experiences with women, but not men.CW: death of parents (mentions of Alzheimers, depression, suicide - overdose), homophobia, grief

I didn’t expect to enjoy it that much. Enemies to lovers is a trope I rarely see well done–most of the time it’s pure lust and I never see a deeper connection. And for a long time, I had trouble rooting for Shane and Ilya.On top of being enemies, they’re both men with little to no experience with other men. They feel a deep attraction even when they’re pit against each other as rookies. They still admire each other, even when they play the roles of arch-enemies. They’re also complete opposite–Shane is a good boy, Ilya a bad one. When they finally succumb to temptation, it’s almost ugly. There’s little love here, and though hate sex can be hot, I felt it was just degrading. I felt like that for a long time.But at some point, there are more and more proofs of deeper feelings, but never in scenes where they’re together. And the denial… definitely more than just a river in Egypt. Still, it wasn’t enough for me to appreciate the couple. It was toxic. And then, almost out of nowhere, come gentle touches, sweet caresses, nice words. I fell hard–probably because there were no sign of them before. Well, almost no sign.In short, instead of a gentle slope from hate to love, it was more bumpy stairs with extra high steps.From start to finish, it’s them against the world. Against their families, who may or may not agree with their sexuality. Against the NHL, because even after Hunter’s coming out–that happens in book one in the series–they can’t admit their feelings as everyone thinks they hate each other. Maybe a bit melodramatic, but it works.The steam? At least five wow–once you forget the degradation, or if you’re into that. What I found the most interesting is actually how the intimate scenes go from barely consensual, or at least with a lot of power play, to passionate and meaningful. Since they rarely see each other, their contact are either on the ice, or in the bedroom, so most of the major shifts in their relationship happen around sex.Some tough topics are present. With Ilya being russian, the treatment of homosexuals in Russia is touched on. Dealing with a family member suffering from a degenerative disease and suicide of loved ones are also part of the story. With a forbidden relationship on top of heavy subjects, there were barely space for some humor and levity. Not that you’ll cry–there IS a happy ending of sort–but your heart won’t remain intact.

This spectacular book was recommended to me and I absolutely loved it. A sports MM romance with a love-hate relationship and some serious angst?? My friend knew just what I love. Ilya and Shane’s story is at times frustrating (for them not the reader), emotional, angsty, steamy, and so darn sweet! You can’t help but feel for these guys and what they go through to be together. And I’m so excited that their story is continuing in another book. They got their HFN ending at the end of Heated Rivalry, but I want so much more for these guys, and can’t wait to get my hands on the rest of their story.Heated Rivalry is told in dual timelines, how the guys met at the beginning of their careers and the present day. It begins with a literal bang that sets the stage for what their relationship is in the present – stolen moments of passion that leave both men wanting more from the other. In their world, gay men in the NHL is a dirty secret hidden behind homophobic trash talk on the ice. Shane and Ilya have instant chemistry at a time in their lives when they are too young to do anything with it, but as their careers collide over and over again both on and off the ice, they quickly realize that what they need is each other.I can’t put into words how much I LOVED this angsty and passionate love story. Both men had issues that kept them apart. Shane with his own insecurities about who is and smack talking Ilya that hides so much pain behind his over the top attitude. The only person who knows anything about Ilya is Shane – his lover and eventual friend that no one else knows about. These two are wrapped up in a rivalry on the ice that is only partially fabricated by the press that leads to so much chemistry off the ice. This book is all the things – sweet, oh so steamy, angsty, and on some level a little sad. You will be all in your feels reading this amazing love story.

“We were supposed to stand alone at the top, but we will always be there together. We will keep climbing until no one else can reach us, but it will always be together.”Shane is the golden boy. Canada’s hometown hero. He is as good on the ice as he is in everything he does. His only indiscretion is the feelings he’s fighting towards his nemesis on the ice.Ilya is known for his prowess and his hard work. He is held to high expectations coming from his motherland, Russia- and he has one goal in mind. To beat Shane in everything he does.“Heated Rivalry,” by Rachel Reid is book two in her Game Changers Series. It is an MM Enemies to Lovers sports romance, and is centered around the larger than life rivalry between Shane and Ilya. I loved that this story captured their past and went in a timeline of sorts to present- it showed how their arrangement started out as curiosity; to scratch an itch and how it stemmed into something more. It was hot and emotionally charged between the chemistry that they shared. I enjoyed this hockey romance and the banter that they had back and forth throughout the book. I also loved that through their language barrier that they were able to express an understanding between one another in other ways.

This is hands down one of the best enemies-to-lovers romances I’ve ever read! It kicks off with a bang and then takes us back to when (biracial Japanese Canadian) and Ilya (Russian) are 17 and meet for the first time at the World Junior Hockey Championships. They’re pitted against each other professionally and when they actually meet, they rub each other the exact wrong way, thus kicking off their mutual antipathy.The way this was structured fascinated me to no end. We know from the beginning that at some point they start hooking up but they really don’t like each other. On top of that, while Ilya knows he’s bi, Shane has never thought much about his sexuality being something other than straight until Ilya. He has a lot of internalized homophobia, in part because of the rampant homophobia within hockey and what coming out would mean for his career, and one of the best parts of his arcs is watching him grow to understand and then accept that he’s gay. Both men are closeted but there is no forced outing.Regardless of how much Ilya and Shane hate each other on and off the ice, there’s so much heat simmering under the surface and for much of the story, they don't understand why. I seriously loved these two goons as they tried to figure out why they were drawn to each other as much as they tried to resist each other. There are big barriers in place to a relationship: they’re both at the top of their game and don’t want coming out, much less admitting the biggest rivals in hockey are together, to overshadow or crush their careers. I loved how Scott coming out in the first book played a part in this one.After years of only hooking up in hotel rooms or an apartment Shane keeps just for that purpose, their intimacy grows and there are all these lovely hints that things are changing, even while they’re completely befuddled by their feelings and terrified of what they mean. They wind up spending two weeks together at Shane’s cabin and I swear my heart grew three sizes. It ends with an open-ended HEA, which I really appreciated. They may not be publicly out but they have a plan and they're working toward it. It felt honest and true to life. Bittersweet but realistic given their circumstances.The last 30% made me laugh out loud a ton, particularly Ilya's perspective. But make no mistake: this story is angsty through and through and gave me so many feelings. It really swept me away and I’ll be thinking about it for a long time to come.CW: homophobia/homophobic slurs on the ice, anti-LGBTQ+ laws and sentiment in Russia, internalized homophobia, Ilya’s father is emotionally abusive, mostly off-page decline and death of father (Alzheimer’s), complicated grief, Ilya smokes cigarettes, xenophobia/anti-Russian sentiment, male pejoratives, side character’s wife has multiple pregnancies over the years, brief concern of spinal cord injury, concussion, Ilya’s mother died by suicide when he was 12 years old and he was the one who found her

Heated Rivalry follows the relationship between the Montreal Voyagers Shane Hollander and his arch-rival Boston Bears Ilya Rozanov. The rivalry between their two teams is nearly a century old; and the rivalry between the two up and coming young athletes is really played up by the press. Shane and Ilya first meet at 17 when they are both eligible for the NHL entry draft and already considered to be the number one and two overall picks. They do start off as enemies to a degree, or at least rivals. Shane is a sweet, good-natured kid who just wants to be sportsmanlike and friendly. His first conversation with the more jaded, “bad boy” Russian Ilya, has him confiding in his parents afterwards, that Ilya is “kind of a jerk”.The attraction between the two is almost instantaneous but nothing happens for a couple of years. And then the hook ups begin. Shadowy, secretive hook ups that no one can ever find out about. For the longest time it’s just all about sex between the more experienced bisexual “rock star” Rozanov and the somewhat inexperienced, realizing he might just be gay “good boy” Hollander. From hook up to hook up, there’s decent banter and the on-page sex is not blow your socks off, but it’s realistic and well done. If you look for it, it’s clear early on that their attraction to each other is more than just physical and you can see the emotional connection building. Shane and Ilya can see it….and then they freak out…because sex is one thing, but they can’t actually like each other….or God Forbid….the other L-word. They’re supposed to hate each other. They’re respective careers sort of…depend on it.Heated Rivalry unfolds over 10 years. Shane and Ilya date and have sex with other people. They met at 17, they both need life experiences. They both need to grow up. But their connection remains a constant through the years and it matures as do they. When they finally do accept their feelings for each other and realize they need to find a way to have a real – if not completely public – personal relationship – they unfortunately turn into complete saps. Seriously. They make up for almost 10 years of never explicitly stating their feelings with near constant “I love you”s. Although it was kind of sweet as well; and it was only the last 15%. Shane coming out to his parents, not just about his orientation but about his real relationship with his “arch-rival” was a combination of funny and heartwarming. Shane’s Mom was a character – wish we could have seen more of her. All in all a decent hockey romance.