Heated Rivalry: Books vs. Series
Heated Rivalry is Jacob Tierney's 2025 series, adapted from books by Rachel Reid. It stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie and has run for 1 season and 6 episodes on Crave and HBO Max, with a second season on the way.
From Books Adapted
Which books each season covers
Season one combines the first two books
The series takes its title and its main couple, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, from Heated Rivalry, the second Game Changers book. It also brings in Scott Hunter and Kip Grady, the couple from the first book, Game Changer.
| Season | Books |
|---|---|
| 1 | Heated Rivalry, book two, with Scott and Kip from Game Changer, book one |
| 2* | The Long Game, book six |
| A guide, not an exact match: shows move scenes and storylines between books and seasons. | |
* Crave renewed the series in December 2025, with HBO Max returning, and filming began in August 2026. Casting for it also names the leads of Tough Guy and Role Model.
Tough Guy, Common Goal and Role Model have their own couples and haven't been adapted as stories. A seventh book, Unrivaled, continuing Shane and Ilya's story, is due in June 2027.
How it was adapted
Shane is played as autistic, as Reid intended
Hudson Williams played Shane as autistic after Rachel Reid confirmed to him that she wrote the character as on the autism spectrum. Reid is a consulting producer on the series.
The book's epilogue was left out
Season one doesn't adapt the book's epilogue. Crave's creative executive Rachel Goldstein advised against it, because it could have promised a second season that hadn't been ordered.
How everyone voted
- Books or series, which was better?
- 100% believe the books are better than the series. 1 answer
- Do you recommend the books?
- 100% believe the books are worth reading. 1 answer
- Do you recommend the series?
- 100% believe the series is worth watching. 1 answer
The books, in order
Details
- Author
- Rachel Reid
- Year
- 2018
- Pages
- 368
- Audiobook length
- 11 hr 32 min
- Narrator
- Cooper North
- Series
- Game Changers, book 1
Scott Hunter, captain of New York's hockey team, has kept his sexuality to himself his whole career. Then he falls for Kip Grady, who works at the smoothie bar he keeps going back to.
Details
- Author
- Rachel Reid
- Year
- 2019
- Pages
- 368
- Audiobook length
- 11 hr 19 min
- Narrator
- Cooper North
- Series
- Game Changers, book 2
Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov are the biggest young stars in professional hockey and rivals on the ice. Away from it, they start a secret relationship that goes on for years.
Details
- Author
- Rachel Reid
- Year
- 2020
- Pages
- 304
- Audiobook length
- 7 hr 49 min
- Narrator
- Tor Thom
- Series
- Game Changers, book 3
Ryan Price, a hockey enforcer newly traded to Toronto, runs into Fabian Salah, a musician from his past who can't stand hockey.
Details
- Author
- Rachel Reid
- Year
- 2020
- Pages
- 320
- Audiobook length
- 9 hr 53 min
- Narrator
- Cooper North
- Series
- Game Changers, book 4
Eric Bennett, a veteran New York goalie facing retirement after his divorce, starts seeing Kyle Swift, a graduate student who tends bar.
Details
- Author
- Rachel Reid
- Year
- 2021
- Pages
- 336
- Audiobook length
- 10 hr 15 min
- Narrator
- Cooper North
- Series
- Game Changers, book 5
Troy Barrett is traded to Ottawa after calling out a teammate. While he tries to fit in on the league's weakest team, he falls for Harris, its social media manager.
- 6
The Long Game2022Details
- Author
- Rachel Reid
- Year
- 2022
- Pages
- 448
- Series
- Game Changers, book 6
Years into their secret relationship, Shane and Ilya want to be together openly, but going public could cost them everything they have built in hockey.
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