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Heated Rivalry (2019) - Simon - 12-19-2025
Based on the series by New York Times bestselling author Rachel Reid, "Heated Rivalry" is now streaming on Crave in Canada and on HBO Max in the U.S. Apparently,its quite explicit. Discover all 6 books in the series!
“Sexy, hot, funny and sweet, Heated Rivalry is a game changer in sexy sports romance.” —All About Romance
Nothing interferes with Shane Hollander’s game—definitely not the sexy rival he loves to hate.
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.
Quote: Romance fiction has surged in popularity recently, thanks in part to dedicated BookTok and Instagram communities, and several subgenres have emerged – gone is the tame bodice ripping of your grandma’s Mills & Boon novels. Now it’s romantasy, paranormal romance, dystopian love and, perhaps the fastest-growing of them all, sports romance. And then there’s a sub-subgenre: queer sports romance.
To get even more specific, one sport above others has been the setting: the uber-macho world of ice hockey.
No, I don’t know why, either. But fans – interestingly, mostly young women – were outraged when Heated Rivalry was initially set for release only on Canadian streaming service Crave. Following much online chatter among fans about how they could watch the series – piracy, setting up VPNs – HBO Max picked it up at the 11th hour.
The first TV adaptation in the subgenre, Heated Rivalry is based on the steamy book of the same name by bestselling author Rachel Reid, from her Game Changers YA series. Although this series is decidedly more A(dult) than it is Y(oung).
Set in Canada, in Major League ice hockey (a fictionalised version of the National Hockey League), Heated Rivalry is the story of a secret years-long love affair between two closeted gay players – the wholesome Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams), who plays for the Montreal Metros, and Russian player Ilya Rozanov (Texan actor Connor Storrie, doing a reasonable accent), who has been drafted to the Boston Raiders – who are the “two most talked-about prospects in the world”.
The pair meet before they make it to the big league, in 2008, and we follow their careers as they work their way up, becoming rivals on the ice – badmouthing each other before matches, WWF-style – and then secret lovers off.
The series is set across eight years of their clandestine affair, but it’s only 13 minutes into episode one before they’re alone in the locker room showers and furtive glances lead to the first of several very graphic sex scenes.
Across years, hockey seasons, and even countries – they’re in Russia for the 2014 Sochi Olympics at one point – Ilya and Shane studiously avoid each other in public while sexting in private, using false names lest anybody stumble upon their text messages (although those dick pics are something of a giveaway).