Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid
Series: Game Changers #2
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, LGBT
Pages: 372
Published By: Carina Press on 18th April, 2023
Format: eBook
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Book Synopsis:
Nothing interferes with pro hockey star Shane Hollander’s game.
Now that he’s captain of the Montreal Voyageurs, he won’t let anything jeopardize that—definitely not the sexy rival he loves to hate.
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. Publicly, they’re enemies. Privately, they can’t stop touching each other.
The smart thing to do? Walk away, once a few secret hookups turn into a struggle to keep their relationship out of the press. The truth could ruin them both. But for Shane and Ilya, secrecy is soon no longer an option…
Book Review
After seeing all the hype surrounding this series lately, in particular, the Heated Rivalry book, I thought I would give it a try… I haven’t watched the TV series either but I know that a lot of people love it. I feel bad writing this review but I personally don’t understand the hype after reading it. It was just… fine. This is also my first hockey romance book which I would definitely read more. However, this one just didn’t hit the spot for me.
The main thing that put me off was that I think it was too smutty. I like some spice/smut in my books but this was just too much. The book literally starts with a smut scene and for me it was just meh. I much prefer when characters are yearning for each other and it takes like halfway through the book for that to happen. This just felt a bit too insta-lovey which is a trope I don’t mind if done well and this… Well I don’t feel like it fit the plot especially when they are supposed to be enemies.
I really liked both main characters and don’t get me wrong, I didn’t want to put this book down. Out of them both, I preferred Ilya over Shane but I think they were both good characters who brought two different personalities. I was so intrigued with the enemies to lovers trope and wanted to see how it was going to play out. I’ll admit that it took me a while to really feel the connection between them though. I wouldn’t say this book is true enemies to lovers… it’s more just for show with a little bit of disliking each other as they are sport opponents.
The book is split into four main parts as well as there being time jumps throughout which I didn’t really mind. Part one was okay, it was nothing special but a good set up for the story. Part two was interesting as we got to learn a little bit more about each MCs backstory. Part three was quite disappointing as this is where the connection starts to develop between them but nothing really happens… Part four was just… I did not enjoy the abrupt ending and it felt very rushed. The smut scenes at times also felt way too long especially near the end.
I’m glad I’ve read the book to make my own opinion and I am not judging if you absolutely loved it. For me though, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting/hoping for. Overall, if you are someone who enjoys spicy, fast-paced hockey romances then I’d say to pick it up as you will probably enjoy it more than I did.
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