Author: Rachel Reid
Year published: 2024
Category: Adult fiction (romance, LGBTQ, sports)
Pages: 368 pages
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Location: (my 2025 Google Reading map): USA (MA), Russia, and Canada
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…
Review: I don't have HBO, so I can't watch the TV series Heated Rivalry, and I wanted to know what all the hype was about, so I got the book.
This book starts with a bang and holds nothing back. Within the first 20 pages, there is a detailed sex scene, and it doesn't stop throughout the book (be warned if you don't want to read them). This one is steamy and becomes more tender as the book progresses. But we also get a look at the romance, which is acknowledged from the start. It was nice to see how their relationship changed as the novel progressed from "we hate each other publicly but enjoy sex privately" to "we are in love even though we can't be public (yet)."
Both characters bring good things to the table: family issues/close parent relationship; desire to be the best in their sport, and a heated public rivalry; and figuring out who they are and what they want in life. This is the big one. How does one navigate one's sexuality in a sport that is uber-masculine and homophobic? This is handled really well.
I am a fan of sports novels (as long as there isn't too much play-by-play detail) and contemporary romance so this one really worked for me.
Challenges for which this counts:
- Alphabet (Author)--R
- Alphabet (Title)--H
- Cover Lover--Ice in some form
- Immigration--from Russia to the US to Canada
- Literary Escapes--Massachusetts and Russia
No comments
Post a Comment