The Quick Answer
If you’re a parent, a teacher, a friend lending a copy, or just a reader who wants to know what’s inside before you start, this guide is for you. I’ll be matter of fact and give chapter numbers. I won’t describe anything in detail.
The short version: Heated Rivalry is an adult mature romance, and the sex is on the page and explicit. It is also full of swearing, and it includes the death of a parent by suicide. It is not a young adult book.
Spice Level
How spicy is it? On a five point scale, I’d say five. Sex is on the page, in clear, anatomical language, and it is a big part of the plot. I counted explicit scenes in more than ten chapters of the book.
They are mostly between the two main characters, Shane and Ilya, who are both men. There are no scenes between more than two people. The book mentions a threesome once, as something Shane flatly refuses.
Where the Sex Scenes Are
Here are the chapters. The Prologue, in October twenty sixteen, opens with a scene. Chapter Four, in July twenty ten, is their first time together. Chapter Six, in January twenty eleven, and Chapter Seven, in February twenty eleven, each have one.
Chapter Nine, in December twenty thirteen, has one in Montreal. Chapter Eleven, in June twenty fourteen, has one in Las Vegas. Chapter Thirteen, in November twenty sixteen, has one in Boston.
More Scenes
Chapter Seventeen, in January twenty seventeen, has a scene that fades out, and Chapter Eighteen, in March twenty seventeen, has an explicit one. Chapter Eighteen also has a solo scene.
Chapter Twenty is a video call that turns sexual. Chapters Twenty-Three and Twenty-Five, at the cottage, have the longest scenes, and the one in Chapter Twenty-Five includes sex during a phone call with a friend. The bonus story after the epilogue has another.
What Is Not On the Page
Some things are not on the page. There is no scene before the two main characters are adults. In Chapter One they are seventeen, and they only meet and compete. Chapter Two, on draft night at eighteen, ends with a brief, non graphic mention of Shane thinking of Ilya. Their first kiss and sex are in Chapter Four, when they are nineteen or so.
There is no non consensual sex between the main characters. Early on, both men have other partners, mostly women, and those encounters are mentioned more than shown. Shane dates Rose Landry in Chapters Fourteen and Fifteen, and the book says only that they slept together a couple of times.
Coming Out and Fear
A big theme is fear of being outed. Shane worries about scandal. Ilya says in Chapter Seventeen that he could not go home to Russia, and that his father and brother are police officers. The book never shows an outing or violence from this, but the dread runs through it.
Shane first says out loud that he is gay in Chapter Seventeen, to Ilya. His parents find out in Chapter Twenty-Six, and react warmly.
Other Partners
For years, neither man is exclusive. Ilya has several partners, mostly women, including Svetlana in Chapter Fifteen. Shane has a relationship with Rose Landry, and the book says it ended because they were not compatible in that way.
That fades. By Chapter Twenty-Two, Ilya has stopped inviting Svetlana over, though the book doesn’t say why outright.
Language
The language is heavy. I counted more than four hundred uses of one strong swear word across the book. It’s in dialogue, in thoughts and in the narration, and it shows up on nearly every page after the first chapter.
Other strong language and crude insults appear in hockey locker rooms, and teammates speak crudely about women and bodies.
Slurs
Slurs appear, and they are not endorsed. In Chapter Twelve, an opposing player uses an anti gay slur on the ice, and Ilya answers with a joke. In Chapter Eighteen, Shane recalls a player who used homophobic slurs, and Ilya and Shane are glad when he is cut from the league.
There are also many jokes about gay men that are told by characters who do not know about Shane and Ilya. The book treats them as part of what the two are hiding from.
Death and Suicide
This is the most serious content note. In Chapter Nineteen, Ilya’s father dies, and Ilya travels to Moscow for the funeral. The relationship is painful, and Ilya wishes it had been different.
In Chapter Twenty-Four, Ilya tells Shane that when he was twelve, his mother died of an overdose, that his father called it an accident, and that Ilya found her. The book returns to this in Chapter Twenty-Five and the epilogue, where the main characters create a mental health charity. If suicide is a trigger, skip these chapters.
Injury and Violence
Violence is mostly hockey. In Chapter Twenty-One, Shane takes a hard hit to the head and is taken off the ice on a spinal board. He ends up in the hospital with head and collarbone injuries, and the recovery lasts into the summer. Fights and hits come up as part of the sport.
In Chapter Twelve, Ilya holds a man against the boards, and a defenseman threatens him. There are no weapons, no abuse of children, and no domestic violence in the text I read.
Alcohol, Smoking and Mental Health
Characters drink beer, wine and vodka, and Ilya smokes cigarettes and chews nicotine gum. Hayden’s kids appear, and Shane drinks very little. No hard drug use appears.
Mental health shows up in other ways. Shane has panic over being found out, in Chapters Four and Twenty-Six. Both men hide who they are for years, and the book shows the fear and shame that come with it. It also shows relief and acceptance, in Chapter Twenty-Six, when Shane’s parents respond with love.
Should a Teen Read It
Should a teenager read it? That’s a family decision, and I’m not going to tell you. The publisher’s imprint is an adult one, and the sex scenes are explicit. If you’re a parent, read the Prologue and Chapter Four and decide.
If you want a gentler way into the same world, the show is described by reviewers as intimate too, so check its rating before you hand over a remote.
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