I am OBSESSED with this book! I’m an adult woman who’s currently giggling to herself like a lovesick schoolgirl while trying to write this post because it means I'm thinking about Shane and Ilya 🥰

Have we figured out how to put into words that giddy feeling where you want to scream into a pillow because you have too much love in your body and it feels like your heart is about to explode with happiness? An emoji maybe? That was me reading Heated Rivalry and it is also me currently. I'm not even kidding, I had a full-on support group because I had to constantly be screaming about this book or it would consume me more than it already did.

The sheer delight I got from Shane and Ilya insulting each other, first for real and then as foreplay is unparalleled. This book hooked me right away even if it initially seemed like it was just hot hate sex between two young rival hockey players. The characters were so compelling and had such chemistry, I had to try really hard to pace myself while reading because I wanted to savour it. Seeing Shane discovering who he is and who he wants to be was so powerful and wonderful. I'm so proud of him for how far he came in this book and I love him so much. And Ilya? Ilya Rozanov, my beloved. He is everything to me. This dumb brute isn't dumb or a brute, he's actually the sofest baby to ever exist and I love him more than life itself.

Their chemistry? The sex? Ilya getting to teach Shane about what he likes in bed? Their rivalry on the ice? The hate sex for years and years? That then morphed into something so much more? The sneaking around? The cottage? The love declarations? The casual mentions of marriage? Shane with his family? Ilya realizing Shane is *his* family? Them opening up to each other? Being vulnerable and honest with each other? Them being so deliriously in love? I AM HERE FOR ALL OF IT!!