Book-to-screen: Heated Rivalry

By Naomi

Heated Rivalry has been everywhere. The book was published in 2019, and while it has been a steady recommendation in gay sports romance, it didn’t really make its way to wider readership until a few months ago. It took almost everyone by surprise. While fans of the book had high expectations for the TV adaptation, apparently the book’s publisher did not see the buzz coming. The book was out of print when the TV show first aired, and it’s been selling out in our stores ever since. If you’ve managed not to see anything about this on your social media feeds I’m impressed (or concerned), and I must warn you there are mild spoilers ahead.

I read Heated Rivalry for the first time in 2020, and I loved it. I have reread the book many times, probably once a year or so. Luckily, it still holds up after every reread. The book is not without its issues, but it is a deeply romantic, entertaining, and comforting story. The writing itself is not the best, if I’m being honest. It’s mostly simple and straight-forward; Rachel Reid is just not a particularly lyrical or poetic writer. In a way, the simplicity reflects the characters, who are hockey players, and emotionally stunted ones at that.

But the characters. This is where the book’s magic really comes from. I’m not sure I really need to recap the story for anyone, but just in case: Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander are the best players in professional hockey and they are notorious rivals. Secretly, however, they’ve been hooking up since (before) their rookie seasons. Over the span of almost a decade, their hookups become more personal, emotional, until they realize that they have actually fallen in love with their greatest rival. Most of the book is from Shane’s point-of-view, but Ilya is really the character most readers love. He makes an appearance in almost every book in the Game Changers series, like some sort of bisexual Yoda, dispensing advice to other hockey players in love. As a character in his own book, however, he is a bit underdeveloped. His backstory and private life aren’t fleshed out in the same way as Shane’s.

That’s definitely something the TV series worked on, and it is also its greatest strength. Heated Rivalry the book stands great on its own, and Heated Rivalry the TV show is a true adaptation, hitting the right emotions and plot points, and remaining true to Ilya and Shane’s love story. The TV show also fleshes it all out, expanding on the story and characters (Ilya in particular), giving fans of the book everything they asked for (the cottage, anyone?) and so much more that they didn’t even know they needed. One example is episode three, which gives us Scott and Kip’s story from the first book in the series, Game Changer, in about 45 minutes. Even though I did not care for this pairing (I rated their book two stars while the rest of the series are four or five star reads for me), the added value of the episode is clear. It lays the foundation for the fifth episode, it shows how important the climax of that episode is and why it matters so much. Not only to Scott and Kip, but also to Ilya and Shane (and queer people everywhere, let’s be honest).

It’s very, very clear that the show’s creator, Jacob Tierney, really cared about the story and bringing it to life. The love for Ilya and Shane shines through, but also the love for the romance genre as a whole.* You will experience all the emotions while watching, and it is truly heart-wrenching at times (see episode four), but the emotional payoff is absolutely worth it. While watching, you feel safe in the knowledge that everything will be okay and that this was truly a passion project by all the people involved.

The actors also did such a good job, it’s no surprise that Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams (Ilya and Shane, respectively) basically shot to stardom overnight. Storrie learned Russian for this role, and it’s so good that people were shocked to learn that he’s not. Williams plays Shane with such vulnerability; he’s awkward and it’s clear he’s struggling with his sexuality, and with his and Ilya’s relationship. So much of the book is internal dialogue, and they managed to translate it to the screen while keeping the depth of emotions. The performances are so understated yet powerful; this is a TV show that requires your full attention while watching (which you’ll be happy to give!), because so much of the storytelling comes from the yearning glances, and the music, and the cinematography.

In short (not really), Heated Rivalry is the rare case where the adaptation is as good as the book. It’s a beautiful love story that got made into a beautiful TV show, and I highly recommend everyone to watch it so that we can get more shows like this.

* (There’s a whole aside on mainstream media underestimating the importance and popularity of the romance genre, and how starved the romance readership and the queer audience is for a good adaptation. HarperCollins US not having the book in print is a great example of this, as is all the surprise about the popularity of this show.)