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Lace up your skates and get back on the ice, there’s more Heated Rivalry literary content coming later this year!
The phenomenon that started with Nova Scotia-based writer Rachel Reid continues with a new novel published by Harlequin.
Reid has announced a new instalment in the Game Changer series to be released on Sept. 29, 2026.
Unrivaled, the seventh book in Reid’s hockey romance series, revisits the relationship between two hockey players, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov.
The pair are no longer rivals — and their love is no longer a secret.
Readers were first introduced to this pairing in book two of the series, Heated Rivalry, and the upcoming instalment will immediately follow the sixth book, The Long Game.
Heated Rivalry, the adaptation directed by Montreal filmmaker Jacob Tierney, debuted this past November as the most successful Crave Original Series to date and appealed to audiences both new and seasoned in the world of queer hockey love stories.
The enthusiasm for the show has catapulted its leading actors, B.C.’s Hudson Williams and American Connor Storrie, into stardom seemingly overnight with both of them presenting at the 2026 Golden Globes this past weekend.
For the author herself, the global response to her distinctly queer Canadian characters has been a surprising “hit of dopamine.”
“I wanted to contribute to the thankfully growing number of queer stories that have happy endings,” said Reid in a recent interview on The Next Chapter with Antonio Michael Downing.
“I’m just very happy it’s happening right now. I think it’s good timing for it and the response has been really uplifting for me.”
In Canada, the literary industry is taking note too, as Heated Rivalry made the Canada Reads 2026 longlist and topped the weekly bestseller list according to Bookmanager six years after it was first published in 2019.
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In the latest book, Unrivaled, the celebration of queer love continues as Shane and Ilya enter new phases of their lives. Firstly as newlyweds and then, for the first time in their hockey careers, playing for the same team.
While a movement dubbed #TakeBackHockey led by popular hockey podcasters stirs around them, Shane and Ilya stand firmly rooted in their love for each other and their sport.
With more than 1.3 million copies of the Game Changers series sold in North America and a second season of the show confirmed, fans are apparently still clamouring for more. Reid has six other novels, five of which explore different romantic pairings in her heated hockey universe, including Role Model, Tough Guy and Common Goal.
Unrivaled is set to release on Sept. 29 and available to pre-order now.
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