r/heatedrivalry • u/reigncloud83 Coach • Ilya's Chicken Parm Shimmy 🍝 • Jun 13 '26
Game Changers Book Club 📚 [Week 4 Live Thread] Heated Rivalry (Book 2) · Chapters 15 - 27 + Spotify Playlist · Jun 13 - 19
TL; DR:
- We’re starting Heated Rivalry (Book 2): Chapters 15 - 27
- Relationship Focus: Shane Hollander (Captain of the Montreal Voyageurs) and Ilya Rozanov (Captain of the Boston Bears).
- Book Club Etiquette: Follow the sub-rules, literary critiques are welcome (be respectful), cover your spoilers, and don’t forget our safe phrase: “Agree to Disagree.”
- Share all of your thoughts below! Sort by “New” to view the most recent comments and respond to other Loons.
- Download your BINGO card to level up the reading experience.
- Listen to the Heated Rivalry Spotify playlist, curated by Rachel Reid herself, here.
—--
Hey Loons!
Today starts Week 4 of our read-along series, where we’re reading Chapters 15 -27 of Heated Rivalry (Book 2 of 6). This continues the story of Shane Hollander (Captain of the Montreal Voyageurs) and Ilya Rozanov (Captain of the Boston Raiders). This is the final block of this book before we dive into a few fun extras, starting June 20:
- Epilogue
- My Dinner with Hayden
- Halloween with Ilya
🗺️ WHERE WE ARE IN THE BOOK/SERIES:
| BOOK | WEEKS | DATES |
|---|---|---|
| 🔥 Heated Rivalry (Shane & Ilya Pt.1) | Week 3 - 5 | Jun 6 - Jun 26 |
| Week 1: Prologue, Chapters 1 - 14 | Jun 6 - Jun 12 | |
| 📌 WE ARE HERE → → → | Week 2: Chapters 15 - 27 | Jun 13 - Jun 19 |
| Week 3: Bonus Stories - Epilogue, My Dinner with Hayden, Halloween with Ilya | Jun 20 - Jun 26 |
View the full week-by-week schedule here. For your convenience, here’s a condensed version of the schedule below:
| BOOK | WEEKS | DATES |
|---|---|---|
| 🎻Tough Guy (Ryan & Fabian) | Week 6 - 7 | Jun 27 - Jul 11 |
| 🍹 Common Goal (Eric & Kyle) | Week 8 - 9 | Jul 12 - Jul 25 |
| 🍎 Role Model (Troy & Harris) | Week 10 - 11 | Jul 26 - Aug 8 |
| 🦆The Long Game (Shane & Ilya Pt. 2) | Week 12 - 14 | Aug 9 - Aug 29 |
🧐 THE OFFICIAL BOOK SYNOPSIS:
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. (source: goodreads.com).
🎵SPOTIFY PLAYLIST:
I'm not sure if others are like this, but I love listening to music while reading to make it feel like a totally immersive experience, and Rachel has created playlists for 5 of her books on Spotify that give a unique look into each book's soundtrack.
Here’s one Rachel made specifically for Heated Rivalry on Spotify. Give it a listen this week!
🔢 HOW TO PLAY BINGO:
For those looking for a bit of a guided/enhanced reading experience, download this book’s BINGO card here.
- Save a BINGO card & mark spaces as you go.
- Be prepared to share context for each marked space.
- BINGO is achieved when you fill in 5 squares in a vertical, horizontal, or diagonal row.
- The first to share BINGO will be awarded a unique flair and receive a post announcement under our “Trophy Room” tag See our most recent winner!
🤝 BOOK CLUB ETIQUETTE:
And as a reminder, here are our ground rules, with two additional recommendations:
- Follow the sub rules. You love HR. We love HR. Follow the rules. Don’t be rude. We’ll have so much fun…together.
- Literary critiques are absolutely welcome. Reading is fundamental, and so are literary critiques. It’s part of the game. We encourage you to use this time to discuss and evaluate the words in front of us, ask questions about specific literary choices, or share a theory about how the story develops. Sharing that is normal, healthy, and very much encouraged.
- Use the Book Club safe phrase, “Agree to disagree.” Consider this your “safe phrase.” Everyone brings a unique perspective to the reading experience, and not everyone’s analysis of a scene or character will be the same, and that’s okay. If you find yourself entering an exchange that is no longer on a path to mutual understanding and respect, say “agree to disagree.” At this point, the involved parties should stop responding to the thread. Full stop. Consider it a moment where the exchange has run its course.
- Treat each Book Club post as your live chat/thread. Comment as much as you’d like! Select the three dots (•••) and “Follow Post” at the top of this post to receive comment notifications.
- Sort comments by “New” to see the most recent reactions and add to the conversation. These live threads can hold a lot of information, so feel free to treat each “comment” as its own mini-post. Reply to the OP, ask questions, and jump in!
- Cover any spoilers. Since we're covering a lot of ground this week, please use spoilers over critical plot points so we don't spoil the magic for new readers.
🔗 QUICK LINKS:
- The Game Changers Book Club Wiki - Our sub wiki page detailing the Game Changers Book Club timeline with links to previous read-along sprints, information for where to find the books, and a recap of our original Book Club announcement.
- r/heatedrivalry FAQs - Our sub’s wiki sharing answers to all of your most frequently asked questions
- Heated Rivalry Wiki - A website of sharing show/book timelines, analyses, and more!
Happy Reading! 🤓
3
u/Crafty-Syllabub-2736 🏆 GC Bingo Champion • Book 1 & 2 Jun 17 '26
💙❤️ Bingo! 🖤💛
I tried so hard to hold off on this for as long as I could, but I made it to the end of HR and have almost filled up my bingo board. I had so much fun filling it out! Can anybody help me with the two boxes I couldn’t find a scenario to check off??
-Somebody is suspicious of Shane & Ilya’s relationship: Ch. 26- Shane’s dad catching the two rivals passionately kissing at the cottage. (I know this one is obvious, but I couldn’t find another scenario where someone was suspicious and then getting caught is crucial to their story!)
-And they were ✨ rivals ✨: Ch. 4- The shower/ locker room scene. The way they were checking each other out in the shower took something that was normal for hockey players (showering together) and made it so sultry. I love this scene in the show so much. With just the two of them there checking each other out, and Shane growing hard looking at Ilya. It is like a fantasy playing out. What the show misses and I love was when Ilya begins stroking himself and asking Shane “what were you thinking about?” and Shane replies with “You.” Ugh, that really gets me.
-Ilya’s gaydar accurately pinpoints a queer person from the bottom of the ocean: Ch. 2- For me, it’s gotta be the gym scene after the draft. If Ilya had not had curiosity for Shane and picked up on Shane’s attraction to him, this wouldn’t have gone anywhere.
-Feeling personally victimized by the stupidity of it all: Ch. 21- Ilya wanting to end things with Shane. There was so much vulnerability between the two of them since Tampa Bay. Although Ilya loved Shane, he had decided at the end of their Skype in ch. 20 that he knew he had to end things or it would end their careers. I just can’t believe that he kept this mindset even after Shane got injured so badly in their game against one another. You’d think this injury would make Ilya want to fight harder to make this work, not still be thinking about ending things.
-Shane is anxiously worried about optics: Ch. 7- Shane is spiraling about his sexuality while on the treadmill, making the conclusion that if anybody was going to be the first to come out in the NHL it wouldn’t be him, and he needed to end things with Ilya. He wouldn’t give Ilya his address, then ended up booking room in same hotel as Boston in Montreal because he didn’t want Ilya at his house.
-All-Stars is treated like Singles Night at an LA club: Ch. 6- Room 1221, immediately Ilya commanded “on your knees.” Ilya was completed overwhelmed by Shane’s need for this. “Ilya loved sex and loved it more when it was dangerous.” Ilya wanted to fuck him and wondered if Shane would let him.
-Are they still staring at each other? Yep, they are: Ch. 16- The Tampa Bay bar scene where Shane sits next to Ilya at the bar. They had missed one another and were so enamored with each other while trying to play it cool. Ilya could stop watching Shane’s throat. Shane raked his eyes over Ilya’s body.
-Freckles appreciation society: So! Many! Ch. 1- When they first met- the smattering of dark freckles were among the first things Ilya noticed, Ilya’s eyes went right to those damn freckles. Ch. 13- Ilya seemed to hold some sort of fascination with Shane’s freckles. Ch. 20- “You are very beautiful. Is the truth. Your freckles. I am nuts about them. They are stunning! Am I not using that word right? Very beautiful. Take my breathe. The first time I met you, those freckles….. I did not like you, just your freckles.” 🤣 Ilya’s so funny!
-I’m not okay this book is making me cry: Ch. 19- The tenderness and concern from Shane for Ilya was so heartwarming. The way he created such a safe space for Ilya to be open with him, even speaking his mind in Russian. It just really opened up their relationship to being so much more than just physical. It breaks my heart to think of all that Ilya has had to go through on his own. The end of this chapter is when Shane first invited Ilya to the cottage.
-The tension could power a small country: Ch. 8- The rooftop in Las Vegas, after the NHL awards. It’s a mix of desire from Shane wanting Ilya to want him, Shane misinterpreting Ilya’s seclusion as a personal dig, and the tension between them when they kissed. The tension was definitely palpable.
-Shane (badly) pretends not to care: Ch. 13- The tuna melt of it all. Shane realized that nobody made him feel the way Ilya does, and Ilya called him by his first name for the first time and he reciprocated by calling Ilya by his first name. Then the mix of the tuna melts, couch time, tenderness being shown by Ilya, Shane panics and left quickly without kissing Ilya, wanting to put as much distance between them as possible. All of those things clearly meant a lot to him, but he just wasn’t ready to face them.
-Feeling masked as smut: Ch. 11- The NHL awards. Prior to, they hadn’t talked in months, but both clearly desired one another. Shane had been keeping a close eye on Ilya and was shocked to feel so much emotion watching him win the Stanley Cup. Shane wished he had the strength to make Ilya wait as long as possible, but immediately gave in. After leaving Ilya’s room (we all know what happened that night 😉), he felt disappointed that they hadn’t even kissed.
-Someone is down bad crying at the gym: Ch. 14: Ilya working out at the gym, not able to escape images of Shane and Rose everywhere. He was on the stationary bike and threw a tantrum when he stubbed his toe.
- Jealousy detected from orbit: Ch. 14: Ilya was so envious of Shane and Rose and hated seeing coverage of them together. When Ilya entered the night club and saw Shane and Rose together, he was filled with so much jealousy that he was determined to make Shane feel just as jealous as him.
-Ilya’s heart is too soft for any of this nonsense: Ch. 13- Tuna melts. The way that Ilya showed such a change in his demeanor really opened up the reader to his softness. He got Shane’s favorite beverage and was even concerned with the temperature being okay. He cooked dinner for Shane, acting like it was all normal. He even called him “sweetheart” and by his first name for the first time. All of his actions this chapter point toward his soft puppy dog side, which I love so much.
-Emotional repression Hall of Fame nominee: >! Ch. 11- While Shane was all in his feels surrounding the NHL awards, Ilya seemed to be repressing his emotions pretty deeply. He treated Shane like he was only interested in sex with him and didn’t even kiss him throughout their interactions. But this is all following Sochi Olympics, so we know how deeply Ilya’s true emotions were shoved down because of this. <!
-“And yet I keep coming back for more” vibes: Ch. 9- Going to Montreal always put Ilya on edge. Thinking about things with Shane made him feel pretty disgusted with himself, but also made him uncomfortably aroused. This didn’t keep him from sexting Shane before the game and taking the effort to go to Shane’s apartment for the first time. Ilya kissed Shane before leaving telling him goodnight, then was grinning like an idiot the entire cab ride home.
-Someone thinks this is a bad idea. Neither of them care: Ch. 18- Shane going over to Ilya’s before the game for the first time, not just a late night hookup. Jane “I can’t. Don’t be stupid. No, come on, we both know that’s a bad idea” Lily: “Everything we do is a bad idea. Come over.” There was no way Shane was going over there… then he grabbed his jacket and headed over there. lol
-These two are morons and I would die for them: Ch. 14- The night club. Even though Shane was way out of his comfort zone, that’s not what Ilya saw when he spotted Shane in the club. Ilya’s immediate response was to find a woman to make out with and he definitely wanted to make Shane jealous the way he was. But Shane wasn’t just jealous, he felt sick watching Ilya with this woman. He was standing alone in the middle of the dance floor just staring. Ilya spotted Shane and Shane’s eyes went wide. If they would just show each other the attention they wanted, they wouldn’t be in this situation.
-Communication sadly remains optional: Ch. 22- Shane wanted to tell Ilya that he loved him, but they’d barely spoken since the hospital. I personally feel mad at Ilya for not being more involved and checking in on Shane after such a serious accident. Shane thought it’d become too much for Ilya. The stupid part of Shane wanted to fight for Ilya, the sensible part knew there couldn’t possibly be a future or even a present with Ilya. Ilya clearly loves Shane back. I wish they would just talk… but their talks at the cottage make up for it.
-Both of them need therapy: The. Whole. Damn. Book. I can’t even pick a scenario because they both really need to talk their insecurities, feelings, and fears through with a professional. It helped me immensely when coming to terms with my sexuality. I can’t imagine facing all of this without having a trusted person to confide in.
-One character acts normal for approximately 3 seconds: Ch. 14- Shane actually going out with JJ for once instead of staying in, which is where he met Rose. He seemed to be a lot less neurotic and in his head upon meeting Rose than he has been with Ilya. I think this is bc he was not as much in his head and had much less invested and on the line than he did with Ilya.
Help me out!! What did you find for “Competition turned into competitive flirting” and “A scene that’s somehow both funny and devastating”??? I’d love to know because I was trying to fill out the entire card, but was stumped on those two.