Summary
To the world they are rivals, but to each other they are everything.
Ten years.
That’s how long Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov have been seeing each other. How long they’ve been keeping their relationship a secret. From friends, from family…from the league. If Shane wants to stay at the top of his game, what he and Ilya share has to remain secret. He loves Ilya, but what if going public ruins everything?
Ilya is sick of secrets. Shane has gotten so good at hiding his feelings, sometimes Ilya questions if they even exist. The closeness, the intimacy, even the risk that would come with being open about their relationship…Ilya wants it all.
It’s time for them to decide what’s most important—hockey or love.
It’s time to make a call.
Review
At the end of Heated rivalry, I was content with the happy for now the author had written. There was much potential in Ilya and Shane’s future and they had a plan. It would have been easy to keep it that way. But the author decided to give them a real happily ever after while tackling a couple of heavy topics. Clever.
To be honest, I still don’t know what to think of Ilya. He clearly has deep feelings for Shane and is usually the first and the loudest at expressing them. But he’s also a pain in the ass. I understand his professional persona–the pest who likes to tease everybody–but why is he like that with his partner in their personal life too? It didn’t make him likeable at all. Of course, once we learn that he has the same mental health problem as his mother, I saw him differently. Maybe it’s a wall to protect himself from pain when his feelings and emotions are so fierce. Yet, by the end of the book, I still had mixed feelings about him.
Shane is more pleasant, but sometimes a bit too wholesome. And also a bit insensitive at times? While Ilya is more of a free spirit, Shane needs a plan and sticks to it. That sure makes for a dynamic couple. But I wasn’t surprised as they were basically the same as they were at the end of the previous book.
Hockey had a place of choice. The interactions inside a team, on and off the ice, what makes one win or lose, the whole schedule for a season, some actions on the ice…all of that makes an appearance in the story, with a purpose, highlighting how Shane and Ilya manage to have a relationship. But the aspect most developped was the toxic masculinity inside the league, mostly through the Commissioner. The man was seen before, in Troy and Harris’s book, where he asked Troy to stop posting about sexual harrassment. Here, he states that having players coming out distracts from the game. It would be only a character flaw if several players didn’t appear to have the same issue. The author has written it as a league problem, not an individual problem. Without spoiling, I’ll say that she also offers hope for better times by the end of this book.
The other heavy subject was mental health. After Ilya’s revelation about his mother in the previous book, the author would have missed a major opportunity by not treating the topic here. And let’s say she did good. From Ilya’s reluctance, the stigma of seeing a therapist, the expectations and delusions of a therapy, the eventual need for medication, she touched upon every aspect and gave a positive though realistic view of therapy.
Oh and the hotness? Still here. Shane and Ilya are very creative. Incredible after more than ten years together! I sometimes felt that intimacy was their only way of communication though. They still have some meaningful conversations, don’t worry.
This book together with Heated rivalry is what a good MM romance should always be–sexy, insightful, and with a lot of heart.
Quickie
- Series: Game changers #6 (makes little sense without reading Heated rivalry first)
- Hashtags: #MM romance #hockey romance #gay #bisexual #secret relationship
- Triggers: mention of homophobia, depression
- Main couple: Shane Hollander & Ilya Rozanov
- Hotness: 5/5
- Romance: 4/5
- + the topic of depression was beautifully treated
- – I still feel that Ilya’s constant teasing takes from his deeper feelings
Stalker mode
You can check Rachel Reid’s website.
You can also follow her on Instagram.
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