'Heated Rivalry' Fans Set Their Sights on a New Obsession

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After a month spent engrossed in Ilya and Shane’s lustful romance, Heated Rivalry fans are finding a way to fill the void.

The show, which follows rival hockey stars Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) and Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) as they enter an illicit, sexually-charged romantic relationship, became an instant hit when it premiered on Max.

In the wake of the show’s season finale, and while fans wait for season two, interest in hockey romance books has ramped up dramatically. The show, which was based on Rachel Reid’s book of the same name (the second installment of her Game Changers series), has bred new curiosity in a subgenre that is surprisingly filled with books for fans to sink their teeth into.

The Heated Rivalry book was catapulted to number 14 on the New York Times best-seller list in late December, a rarity for a title released over 6 years ago.

The rest of the series, Game Changer, Tough Guy, Common Goal, and Role Model, follow other hockey player couples but Shane and Ilya’s romance picks back up in the final book in the series, The Long Game, so naturally, readers are flocking to the 2022 release. But the interest doesn’t end there…

In data shared with Vanity Fair, library reading app Libby reported that activity around Heated Rivalry (including checkouts, tags, and hold requests) jumped 698% in the 21 days after the show’s premiere compared to the 21 days before.

As a result of the show, the hockey romance subgenre has never been more popular with interest building in similar books, such as Jenny Holiday’s Canadian Boyfriend or Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy’s Him. Seems like it’s never been a better time to be a fan of the sports romance niche!