Book Summary: 

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…

My Review:

I initially read “Game Changer” and, while I was a huge fan of Scott and Kip, loved the overall story, and can’t even begin to describe the spice, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Rachel’s writing style. In that book, she had a tendency to repeat herself, and the redundancy irked me after a while, especially since her individual chapters were already exceptionally long. I wasn’t going to continue with the series, but in a MM Romance Facebook Group, someone raved about “Heated Rivalry” (Book #2 in the series). I disregarded it at first, until someone else mentioned it again. Curiosity piqued, I decided to check it out. I am so glad I did!!

I read the Prologue with a different mindset than what was required and thought it was absolutely depressing! I think the book summary gave the situation a more dramatic view in my mind than it warranted. I kept reading and realized that the book was a lot more lighthearted than I initially realized, so I went back and reread the prologue with a better understanding of the characters’ personalities – huge difference! I say this just in case someone does the same thing, as I would hate for them to miss out!

This book was – I don’t even know how to explain how captivated I was with it. I haven’t been this in love with a couple since Wes and Jamie from the “Him Series”! Ilya and Shane are like night and day in every way, except on the ice. Their fierce competition to be the best is what sparked a rivalry that fueled a hockey dynasty. On the ice, they wanted to kill each other; off the ice – well, that didn’t wane as much, but they destroyed each other in ways that were so scorching hot, you couldn’t help but fan yourself while giving Rachel a mental high five for bringing remarkable heat when spicy books are becoming a dime a dozen.

What I loved most about these characters is how much they fought their true feelings for each other, how long it took them to let their guard down, and their overall history. At one point, I had to grab a post-it and start tracking ages and timelines just to keep up with everything. I know Rachel had to cover A LOT of history, but it would have been a godsend if she had included dates at the top or bottom of the pages (with the book title or page number) because each time I started a new chapter, I always had to go back to see where we were on the timeline to determine how much time had passed and how it factored into their overall history.

My absolute favorite moment was when the HEA moment from “Game Changer” was inspiration for Ilya and Shane to be brave. I got so embarrassingly excited because, having read “Game Changer”, I knew what was about to happen and absolutely loved that part of Kip and Scott’s story (so be warned, there are spoilers for their story if you read this out of order). I think my all-time favorite thing about this book and why I will be skipping to book #6 to immediately read their sequel, is the banter and hard time they give each other.

Ilya is arrogant, mouthy, and absolutely hilarious with the attitude he gives people – especially for someone whose first language is Russian and who sometimes struggles to find the right words in English. What is endearing is that while he is the guy you want to punch on the ice (Hayden’s words), he is an absolute sweetheart, and you see this when Ryan is freaking out about flying and when he is around kids. His relationship with his father and the loss of his mother (as well as his waste of a brother) shines so much light on why he is so guarded but amplifies how all-in he is when the dam finally bursts between him and Shane. Ugh – this book gives me all the feels, and I can’t wait to see how it all ends in “The Long Game”!