Sophie was actually napping. Like, genuinely napping. Not the fake-out where she goes quiet for twelve minutes and then starts screaming about her sock. Real, deep, drooling-on-the-crib-sheet napping. So I did what any rational adult would do: I grabbed my headphones, sat on the kitchen floor next to the baby monitor, and binged three straight hours of two hockey players pretending they don't have feelings for each other.
That's how Heated Rivalry got me.
Two Stubborn Idiots on Skates
Here's the thing about Shane and Ilya — Rachel Reid wrote them as genuinely different people, not just "good boy vs. bad boy" cardboard cutouts. Shane is wound so tight about his reputation and his captaincy that you can practically hear his jaw clenching through the audio. Ilya is this walking contradiction — all public arrogance and private tenderness — and watching him realize he wants more than secret hotel room hookups while Shane is still white-knuckling the closet door? That tension carried me through an entire week of school runs.
The rivals-to-lovers arc here isn't rushed. They've been circling each other since they were teenagers, and Reid drops in enough backstory that you understand why this particular secret feels catastrophic for both of them. That slow-burn weight of consequence is something I also felt in Until You're Mine, where the tension works precisely because the characters have just as much to lose. The stakes aren't manufactured drama — it's professional hockey, it's public scrutiny, it's the very real fear of losing everything you've built. When Ilya finally starts pushing for something real and Shane keeps pulling back, I wanted to shake them both. In the best way.
And yes, there's spice. Plenty of it. I had to yank my earbuds out at pickup once because I misjudged where a scene was headed. Standing there smiling at Emma's teacher with Tor Thom's sultry bass still ringing in my ears. Cool cool cool.
The Narrator Situation (Let's Talk About It)
Okay. Tor Thom. I have thoughts.
His voice is genuinely perfect for this — low, warm, the kind of voice that makes romance audiobooks work. When he's doing Shane, it's natural and grounded. The emotional beats land. But Ilya's Russian accent? It's... not great. Someone online compared his delivery to "Kronk narrating graphic sex scenes" and I ugly-laughed because that's weirdly accurate. The accent wobbles between vaguely Eastern European and something I can't place, and it pulled me out a few times.
Here's my honest take though: I got used to it. By the halfway point, my brain just accepted "that's Ilya's voice" and moved on. The female character voices are more distracting — they sound exaggerated in a way that made me wince — but thankfully they're not the focus. And I already listen at 1.25x, which actually smoothed out some of the flatness other people complain about. So if you're a fellow speed-listener, you might dodge the worst of the pacing issues.
Not a perfect narration. But not a dealbreaker either.
Survived 47 Pauses and Still Made Sense
This is a nine-and-a-half-hour book that I finished in five days, which for me is practically speedrunning. The chapters are structured around hockey seasons, so there are natural breaking points everywhere. I paused mid-scene to referee a fight over who gets the blue cup (it's always the blue cup), came back twenty minutes later, and picked right up without confusion. That's the structural sweet spot for my life right now.
The ending gave me exactly what I needed — satisfying, earned, hopeful without being saccharine. Did I tear up a little in the garage during my sacred 45 minutes of car time? Yes. Was it the ugly-cry kind? Almost. But I held it together because I had to go inside and pretend I hadn't just been emotionally wrecked by fictional hockey players.
Not groundbreaking, but sometimes you don't need groundbreaking. Sometimes you need two stubborn men to figure out that love is worth the risk, and you need it told well enough that you're sneaking extra listening time during bath prep.
Who Should Listen (And Who Should Skip)
If you loved HIM by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy, this is the grown-up, higher-stakes version. If you've already read the book and want to know if the audio is worth it — it is, with the accent caveat. If you need every narrator voice to be flawless, maybe try the ebook instead. And if slow-burn M/M romance isn't your thing, or you need zero sports context to care about the characters, this one probably isn't for you.
My book club would love this. If I ever have time for book club again.
Car time approved. Nap time approved. Just maybe don't start chapter twelve at school pickup.
