So they’re committed, but still closeted.īut things can be fine until they’re not fine anymore, so even though Shane and Ilya have a whole plan that will give them their hockey career dreams and eventually the marriage they want, and even though they’ve been living that plan for three years, it’s not really a surprise that it turns into Not the Life Ilya Wants as the book opens.

With Shane and Ilya both being professional athletes and also rivals playing on rival teams, there’s more at stake for them than what we find in the usual M/M sports romance. But not everyone feels safe coming out, and sometimes it would legitimately harm someone’s career to come out, even if it’s technically illegal to discriminate against an employee based on sexual orientation. Typically in M/M sports romance in particular, part of the conflict is that at least one party is closeted and the couple can’t live their truth and be happy until everyone is out, the relationship is acknowledged, and we can all breathe a sigh of relief. Heated Rivalry has one of the best HFN endings I’ve ever read, and it doesn’t involve a coming out. (Not that they would have let us read a book with that much sex in high school, which is a shame.) And if you’re going to read Heated Rivalry, stop reading this review now. If I’d been asked to do literary analysis of Heated Rivalry in high school, I might not have hated English. And if you haven’t read Heated Rivalry, you should. I’m going to go ahead and say don’t read this book if you haven’t read Heated Rivalry. Overall: A relationship in trouble in which both parties really want to make it work, but are fearful that they won’t be able to Plot: Shane and Ilya have been secretly in a monogamous relationship for three years, and it was all going fine…until a confluence of components of Ilya’s life make it not so fine anymore Heat Factor: It’s sexy (like the rest of the series), but unlike in Heated Rivalry, most of the sex is at home, so it’s heavy on their emotional connection this time, and less about the tittilation of sexual awakening and sneaking aroundĬharacter Chemistry: Shane likes to be *rewarded* (wink) for the discipline of never letting on that he’s in love with Ilya, while all Ilya wants is affection

The long game reid