Heated Rivalry (Game Changers, #2)
About the book
Author: Rachel Reid
Publisher: Carina Press
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.
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My review
I'm the kind of girl who has to read the book before I watch the screen adaptation. When the entire world went wild for the Heated Rivalry television show, I knew I had to crack the book open before I could dive in myself. I started with Game Changer because I've been assured that reading order is important, but of course I enjoyed this one a lot more.
For anyone who has not figured it out from all of the memes online, Heated Rivalry is about two star hockey players on rival teams who are secretly hooking up whenever their teams play each other over the course of many years. Obviously, when something goes on that long, there's something deeper going on, and witnessing these two figure that out was a great joy.
Rachel Reid really found her stride in this book. It has none of the dialogue or prose issues that plague the first book, nor does it have anything close to the same degree of cheesiness. The steamy scenes also felt like they had a lot more of a purpose, and I felt like the emotional beats happened just when I was ready for them rather than after I had begun to feel impatient.
I'm feeling content with just the first two books of this series under my belt for now, but I will likely continue on as the TV show keeps going because I'm nothing if not a fan girl. Plus, Shane and Ilya stole my heart just like everybody else's.
Content and trigger warnings
Sexual content
Homophobia
Death of a parent
Depression/suicide (discussed, someone in the past)
Dementia (off screen)
