Here’s Exactly What Happens In The ‘Heated Rivalry’ Book (In Case You Want Show Spoilers)
Heated Rivalry, a new romantic hockey drama, is taking over the Internet, and for good reason. The show revolves around Asian-Canadian Shane Hollander and Russian Ilya Rozanov, the top two most promising players in the NHL and arch enemies—who miiiiiight be more than rivals, actually. Because it doesn’t take long for the two to start hooking up on the DL, though neither are willing to let their love affair come to light—not to their friends, certainly not to their fans, and not even truly to themselves.
The show was created by Canada’s app Crave but syndicated on HBO Max, but it started out as a best-selling book series—so well-selling, it turns out, that once the show aired, the book almost immediately sold out in the U.S. and Canada. Which is a pretty big bummer for fans who want to know what happen with Shane and Ilya but don’t have the patience to wait for the next few weeks.
So whether you can’t get your hands on the book or you don’t really care to read it but want to know what happens, don’t worry—I read it so you don’t have to.
Here’s what we can look forward to this season, according to the books.
Spoilers ahead, obviously.
The first two episodes of the show laid the groundwork for Shane and Ilya—it showed their first meeting, their first flirtations, the first time they ever hooked up. We see Shane’s nervousness about the relationship (not that he would ever admit there was a relationship involved here) and Ilya’s hot and cold nature, especially when he’s reminded of his home country, Russia, and his dysfunctional family. But we also see moments of genuine connection between the two: Ilya trying hard to flirt with Shane over text, Shane’s emotional breakdown after seeing Ilya at an awards show (after Ilya had ghosted him for 6 months), and we also see concern for the other from both sides, even though they only show it in the moments they’re together. The foundation has been set—which means the more complicated aspects of the story are about to come into play.
Shane, Ilya, And Some Tuna Melts
Okay, stick with me here, because this is the pivotal next step in the show. When Shane’s team plays against Ilya’s in Boston, he sneaks off to Ilya’s apartment to meet up as planned—but things don’t exactly go the way Shane expected.
After they’re done hooking up, Ilya asks him to stay.
Shane is shocked but warily agrees, and Ilya makes them both tuna melts to eat while they watch a game on TV and talk. It’s the first time they’ve ever really hung out, and even though Ilya seems hell-bent on telling Shane about his other intimate relationships, it’s clear that their own is evolving. It’s even more clear when Ilya calls Shane by his first name for the first time ever.
Shane is so shaken up by this that, even when Ilya asks him again to stay, he leaves the apartment soon after.
Shane’s First Celebrity Girlfriend
While out with friends one night, Shane meets Rose Landry, an actress, and is surprised by how well he gets along with her. He decides to take her out, and soon the two begin dating.
It doesn’t take long for reporters to leak the relationship, much to Ilya’s dismay, and both Ilya and Shane continue to avoid one another. However, one night while in the same city, they both go out with their respective friends and end up at the same nightclub. Ilya shows up while Shane is dancing with Rose, and immediately finds a girl he can dance with on the other side of the room. When Shane sees Ilya, he freezes, stunned; and when Ilya realizes Shane is watching him, he also feels a jolt, but decides to try to make him jealous. However, Shane ends up leaving quickly, and Ilya goes home alone.
A few weeks after that, Rose and Shane have a serious conversation, where Rose asks point-blank if Shane is gay, and Shane finally lets himself accept that yes, he is. Rose is supportive and the two promise to remain close friends, though they end their relationship there.
Shane And Ilya Reconnect At The All-Star Game
Shane and Ilya don’t see each other again until the All-Star game, where, for the first time, they’re playing on the same team. While they’re both excited to see the other, Ilya is especially nervous, since he believes Shane is still dating Rose. However, when Shane finally admits to him that he and Rose broke up, Ilya can’t contain his glee.
When it’s finally time for the game, the two of them feel the adrenaline rush of finally getting to play together, so much so that Ilya kisses Shane on the cheek in the middle of the game—and plays it off as him just being playful and excited.
Later, after the game, Ilya finds Shane on the beach, and Shane asks if they can go back to the hotel and talk. When they get there, Shane admits to Ilya that he has come to terms with the fact that he’s gay and brings up the last day they spent together. Shane asks if Ilya would want to be with him, and Ilya says they can’t be together because of Russia’s stance on homosexuality and his own family’s compliance to that. He finally begins to open up about his life, telling Shane that his mother had died when he was young, that his father now has Alzheimer’s, and that his brother and stepmother use him for money.
Ilya’s Father Dies And Shane Gets Injured
Soon after the All-Star game, Shane and Ilya begin texting more casually. They meet up before a game they’re supposed to play against one another, and Ilya admits to Shane that his father is dying. Shane doesn’t hear from Ilya after the game, but learns the next day that Ilya isn’t traveling with his team to the next city. He ends up calling Ilya and finds out he’s gone to Moscow for his father’s funeral.
Shane continues to check up on Ilya, leading to several phone calls between the few (and one in which Ilya admits that he’s fallen in love with Shane and is unsure what to do about it, but he says it in Russian, so Shane doesn’t understand).
Later, while Shane and Ilya play their final game of the season together, Shane gets injured by one of Ilya’s teammates. He’s knocked out cold, though he comes to when the medical team shows up—and that’s when he notices that Ilya stays by his side, panicked, until Shane’s carried out of the arena for medical attention.
The next day, Ilya doesn’t travel with his team and instead goes to visit Shane in the hospital. He tells Shane how scared he’d been, and when Shane asks if Ilya would stay with him at his cabin over the summer, Ilya tells him he’ll consider it.
Scott Hunter Comes Out
Shane fulls believes that Ilya is planning to end their relationship, but all of that changes when New York wins the Stanley Cup. Shane and Ilya text back and forth while watching it, and they’re both floored when, on national TV, Stanley Cup champion Scott Hunter kisses a man in celebration.
(To be clear, yes, this is Kip from the third episode of the show, but Ilya and Shane don’t know that. There’s a reason the third episode focused on a different couple.)
Ilya immediately calls Shane and says he’ll spend the summer with him at his cabin.
Shane And Ilya Finally Admit Their Feelings
At Shane’s cabin, Ilya finally admits to Shane that he’s in love with him, and Shane says it back. The two spend the rest of their time there together brainstorming how they could work as a couple, committed to trying to make it work.
While at the cabin, Shane’s father walks in on Shane and Ilya kissing but quickly leaves. Shane and Ilya decide to visit Shane’s parents to finally come clean, with Shane coming out as gay and also admitting that he and Ilya are officially a couple. His parents are shocked, but they are immediately supportive and help the two come up with a plan that will allow them to see each other more often: They decide Ilya should sign on to a new team, and that Ilya and Shane will start a mental health charity together to change the narrative about their rivalry. While they’re still secret about their relationship, they’re officially together.
So, that’s that. But truthfully, if you get the chance to read the book, do it. It may be hard to get your hands on, but if you’re a fan of the show, you’ll probably love all the extra context the books give—including more insight into Shane and Ilya’s minds and why they act the way they do.
