Rachel Reid Teases a ‘Romantic, Sexy and Fun’ Season 2 of ‘Heated Rivalry’ (Exclusive)
The author reveals what’s next for Shane and Ilya—and fans will swoon!
Key Takeaways
- ‘Heated Rivalry’ became a bestseller after popular HBO’s adaptation.
- Author Rachel Reid says Season 2 will stay ‘steamy,’ emotional and deeply romantic.
- Shane and Ilya will return as Season 2 explores stories from later books.
Spice, steam and star-crossed lovers abound in Rachel Reid’s hit novel Heated Rivalry. The story, which was adapted into a record-breaking HBO series earlier this year, follows hockey players Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov through the highs and lows of their relationship. Woman’s World recently caught up with Reid at an event celebrating Books on Spotify to discuss that book-to-screen process and learn what viewers can expect from the highly anticipated second season of the HBO juggernaut. Read on for more.
Rachel Reid discuss the success of ‘Heated Rivalry’
Published in 2019 as the second book in Rachel Reid’s Game Changer series, Heated Rivalry was already a fan favorite. But once the TV adaptation was announced, the hype exploded—sending readers racing to the page-turner. Since then, the novel has sold more than 2.5 million copies and spent 17 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list.
“It’s just such a big change for the way that romance is adapted, and I think that that’s been huge,” Reid tells Woman’s World of the book’s success. “I know a lot of romance authors, especially authors of queer romance, have really been excited about the success of the show and the way that the whole world has responded to it, because it’s just created a much bigger audience for everyone’s books.”
With that success came larger conversations surrounding queer love stories on the page and on the screen, especially since historically, these stories haven’t ended happily.
“It’s very important to see queer love stories with a happy ending,” Reid says. “It was important to me and to Jacob [Tierney, the show’s creator]. In his first phone call with me he said he just wanted to show queer joy. He loved that these stories had happy endings, that nothing horrible was going to happen to the characters. They weren’t punished for loving each other.”
“It means a lot to me, and it means a lot to a lot of people,” the author continues. “So many people have told me that it means a lot. So many people were scared to watch this because they were sure something awful was going to happen to them [Shane and Ilya], and they were so surprised when there was a happy ending.”
Rachel Reid reveals the inspiration for Shane and Ilya
“Shane and Ilya popped into my head, fully formed like none of my other characters really did,” she says. “They were definitely two specific types of hockey players: this nice Canadian boy and then this flashy, obnoxious European.”
As for how she felt about Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, the actors who brought Shane and Ilya to life, Reid says she loves them!
“They’re as wonderful as everyone wants them to be. They’re lovely people, they’re funny and they’re really hard-working and they took these roles seriously and respected the source material and the characters, which I really appreciated,” she exclaims. “They’re just incredibly talented and incredibly smart and funny, and I think they’ve handled the sudden fame really well. I’m just really impressed with them.”
Rachel Reid teases ‘Heated Rivalry’ Season 2
Since the Heated Rivalry Season 1 finale, fans have been begging for a Season 2 update. And now, Reid is ready to give one! She says part of it will be based on Role Model, the fifth book in the Game Changer series, which centers around hockey players Troy Barrett and Harris Drover.
“I’m really excited to see those characters brought to life,” Reid says.
The author confirmed that Season 2 will include Shane and Ilya, who continue to appear throughout the entire Game Changer series.
“I think it’ll still be very steamy. I don’t think you’re going to see less steam,” Reid teases. ”It’s going to be very emotional. I think if anybody’s read The Long Game [book six in the series], they know that it’s kind of a rough ride for poor Ilya, especially. They definitely still have a lot of trials ahead of them, but it’s also very romantic, sexy and fun. If you liked Season One, you’re probably going to like Season 2.”
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