Sexy hockey players. Hot sex scenes. Secret lovers. Yes please! ~ Leigh, Guilty Pleasures
Blurb:
Nothing interferes with Shane Hollander’s game—definitely not the sexy rival he loves to hate.
Pro hockey star Shane Hollander isn’t just crazy talented, he’s got a spotless reputation. Hockey is his life. Now that he’s captain of the Montreal Voyageurs, he won’t let anything jeopardize that, especially the sexy Russian whose hard body keeps him awake at night.
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. They’ve made a career on their legendary rivalry, but when the skates come off, the heat between them is undeniable. When Ilya realizes he wants more than a few secret hookups, he knows he must walk away. The risk is too great.
As their attraction intensifies, they struggle to keep their relationship out of the public eye. If the truth comes out, it could ruin them both. But when their need for each other rivals their ambition on the ice, secrecy is no longer an option…
One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!
Sexy hockey players. Hot sex scenes. Secret lovers. Slow burning romance. Enemies to lovers. Two amazing, totally different men. Any of these would be enough for me to pick up a book, but all of them in one story? Yes please!
Heated Rivalry was the second book in the Game Changers series but certainly could be read as stand alone. It followed the story of Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander, two up and coming hockey stars growing from rookies starting out in the league, to seasoned players famous in the game. From the very beginning, the media positioned these hockey stars as the ultimate rivals on the ice, but no one knew of the relationship that these two shared in private.
I truly loved it when Shane and Ilya were together. They could not have been more different from one another, but they worked. From Shane’s nervousness to Ilya’s confidence, Shane’s boy next door persona to Ilya’s bad boy image, I adored these men together and loved watching their admiration and affection for one another grow. Their romance was a slow burn over a period of years, and drew me in, rooting for them from the start.
My problem here was frustration and repetition. Don’t get me wrong. I could have read the sex scenes between these two all day. But it was the way they came about: Hockey game against one another. Media positions them as bitter rivals. The game happens. After the game, Shane reluctantly goes to Ilya wishing he didn’t want to. Hot sex. One asking the other to stay, the other wanting to but can’t. Wait for the next game. While I could certainly appreciate a slowly growing romance and intense attraction that kept them coming back for more, I felt as if this didn’t need to be repeated so often for me to understand what the author was trying to communicate. The start of the relationship and the culmination of years of longing were fantastic. I just felt that the middle because a bit rote.
Rachel Reid was a new author to me with this series and I love her writing of the M/M genre. I avidly look forward to anything else she puts out because her stories are cleanly written and the language flows nicely. This book hit a lot of my hot buttons and I really enjoyed myself. I just wish there was not so much repetition in the process of getting us to the ultimate destination.
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