JANUARY BOOK CLUB: RACHEL REID’S ‘HEATED RIVALRY’

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Image: Harper Collins Publishers Australia

Our January Book Club pick is Rachel Reid’s Heated Rivalry.

We’re reading what every other person in the world is reading, Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid. As someone of the mind that one must “read the book” before you watch the series/movie, I’m so glad I did. I love a good hockey romance and this definitely sits well within the realm of enjoyable sports rom read.

Whilst yes, I felt the text itself lacked depth and emotional connection particularly towards the start, upon reflection it could be indicative of the maturity level of the characters over the 10 year span of the story. This could also be because I’m of the “slow burn, over 300 pages, Mariana Zapata” energy. 

There were some really cute scenes between two male main characters, Ilya and Shane, especially towards the end of the book. I was laughing and crying, during some really sweet and emotional moments. I started to really enjoy the repartee between them, however the first half of the book I would say is a tad repetitive. 

Towards the end I was chuckling a lot more. The sweet discussions between the two really spoke to me. Again, perhaps I didn’t enjoy the beginning as much because it kinda reflected that youthful energy that wasn’t as mature as what I’m used to (when it comes to romance reads). We know that women mature faster than men, so perhaps that element was there and the reason why I didn’t initaially connect with the characters. Once we reached the late 20’s, they’ve obviously been through life and I feel the reader can connect more with how they’re feeling. 

I would be intrigued to see if the timeline changed how that might affect the story. Personally I don’t traditionally like stories that include long timelines and flashbacks. I feel like the ten years covered in the book have been the longest that I’ve encountered with any character, and perhaps things haven’t been fleshed out enough for it to warrant ten years. Perhaps a bit more of an edit would have helped with this factor. For that amount of time I imagine a book more in the 400-500 page range. Which isn’t needed for this story, so again, I would have liked a shorter timeline. It does make sense towards the end of the book but it just took too long to get to the reasoning behind it. That being to show the connection the characters had over a decade. 

I really like where this sits in the realm of romance, the societal impact this book and series have had of late really shines. It’s brought so many people together, I know so many people were excited this book was selected as our book club pick. I even found myself looking at what came before this book and what follows. I’m looking forward to enjoying more from this world. 

Rachel Reid’s Heated Rivalry is available through Harper Collins Publishers Australia.