Is there an audiobook of Heated Rivalry?

Yes. Heated Rivalry has an Audible audiobook edition, narrated by Tor Thom.

How long is the Heated Rivalry audiobook?

The Heated Rivalry audiobook runs 9 hr 32 min.

Is Heated Rivalry on Kindle Unlimited?

No. Heated Rivalry was not included with Kindle Unlimited when we last checked on July 24, 2026.

Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid book cover for the Book of the Day romance book review

Our score

4.8/ 5

Incredible

Listen to Heated Rivalry free with an Audible trial Narrator, runtime & our audio review

Buy on Amazon

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Prices may vary.

EDITION PUBLISHEDApril 2023

Genres

Fiction Romance LGBTQ+

Themes

Public performance versus private truthThe cost of staying hiddenRivalry as intimacy in disguiseLove against a high-stakes career

Heated Rivalry

Name: Heated Rivalry
Price: 9.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Rachel Reid

Rachel Reid

Heated Rivalry is the MM hockey romance that turned Rachel Reid into a phenomenon and is now a hit TV series: two rival NHL captains, Shane and Ilya, who loathe each other in public and can't keep their hands off each other in private, across years of stolen hookups that curdle, terrifyingly, into something real. Enemies-to-lovers with serious heat and a serious heart.

The Review

Our take

On the ice, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov look like they'd happily end each other's careers. They're the two best hockey players of their generation, captains of rival teams, and the loathing they perform for the cameras is completely convincing, all clenched jaws and press-conference barbs. It should be convincing. It's covering for the fact that in private, from nearly their first real collision, they can't keep their hands off each other. Rachel Reid could have coasted on that heat alone, because the heat is considerable. She doesn't. She makes every single hookup cost something.

Let me be clear about that heat, since Reid isn't shy either: this one is properly explicit, and the physical chemistry between these two is the engine of the early book. Ilya is arrogant, hilarious, relentlessly himself, needling Shane in blunt one-liners that keep landing somewhere between insult and invitation. Shane is buttoned-up, disciplined, quietly terrified of what wanting this could do to the career he's bled for. Put them in a hotel room and the whole page crackles. Reid writes desire like she means it, and she never once treats these men's bodies or their wanting as a punchline.

What lifts it above a very good hookup premise is time. The book spans years, checking in on Shane and Ilya between seasons, and that structure turns rivalry-plus-secret-sex into something that genuinely aches. They keep telling themselves it's only physical. They keep being wrong. Reid lets you clock the exact moment each man understands he's in real trouble, usually well before he'll say it out loud, and the widening gap between what they feel and what they can safely admit is where the whole novel lives.

Because these are closeted professional athletes, the stakes never feel like manufactured drama. A career, a reputation, an entire public self sits balanced on top of the secret, and Reid takes that weight seriously without ever letting the book go grim. She's far too funny for grim. But she also refuses the cheap version where love conquers everything by chapter twenty. She treats a sports-world coming-out as the genuinely hard, genuinely tender thing it would actually be, and that seriousness is exactly why the romance hits as hard as it does.

Why you should read

Fans of enemies-to-lovers and forbidden romance
Sports romance readers, hockey a bonus
Slow-building MM love with real heat
Viewers of the HBO Max adaptation wanting the source

What to expect

Explicit, high-chemistry heat
A years-spanning, check-in structure
Humor balanced against real emotional weight
Closeted-athlete stakes handled seriously

By the end, the rivalry that gives the book its title has become almost a cover story, a language two men use in public because the true one is still too dangerous to speak. Reid brings it to a close that's equal parts swoon and gut-punch, then leaves just enough unfinished that you understand instantly why readers tore straight into the rest of the series. Shane and Ilya spend the entire book insisting this means nothing. The pleasure of Heated Rivalry is watching them slowly, helplessly lose that argument.

Reviewed by Sloane · How our reviews are written

Our verdict

4.8/ 5

Incredible

Listen to Heated Rivalry free with an Audible trial Narrator, runtime & our audio review

Buy on Amazon

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Prices may vary.

Where to read or listen

Is there an audiobook of Heated Rivalry?: Yes. Heated Rivalry has an Audible audiobook edition, narrated by Tor Thom.
Listen to Heated Rivalry free with an Audible trial
We earn from qualifying Amazon purchases.
How long is the Heated Rivalry audiobook?: The Heated Rivalry audiobook runs 9 hr 32 min.
Is Heated Rivalry on Kindle Unlimited?: No. Heated Rivalry was not included with Kindle Unlimited when we last checked on July 24, 2026.
How much does Heated Rivalry cost?: On Amazon: Kindle $9.99, Paperback $13.02, Hardcover $18.99. Prices as of August 28, 2026 at 3:20 AM EDT and may change.

Filed underRomance LGBTQ+Browse the archive →

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Common questions

What is Heated Rivalry about?: On the ice, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov look like they'd happily end each other's careers. They're the two best hockey players of their generation, captains of rival teams, and the loathing they perform for the cameras is completely convincing, all clenched jaws and press-conference barbs. It…
Is Heated Rivalry worth reading?: We scored Heated Rivalry 4.8 out of 5. Heated Rivalry is the MM hockey romance that turned Rachel Reid into a phenomenon and is now a hit TV series: two rival NHL captains, Shane and Ilya, who loathe each other in public and can't keep their hands off each other in private, across years of stolen hookups that…