Corina's Reviews > Heated Rivalry
Heated Rivalry (Game Changers, #2)
by
by

Corina's review
bookshelves: mm, sports-romance, enemies-to-lovers, sexy, epic
Dec 08, 2019
bookshelves: mm, sports-romance, enemies-to-lovers, sexy, epic
Read 2 times. Last read May 31, 2020 to June 1, 2020.
Check out my most FAVORITE ENEMIES TO LOVERS ROMANCES
UPDATE: Second read was as good as first time around - love these two so much ♥︎
___________________________________
Wow what a book!!
Epic, sexy, and one of the best MM stories so far!!
It's also one of the best enemies to lovers novels I ever read.
I finished Heated Rivalry in one sitting. Actually read until 1am, thanks to it being a Saturday and I didn't have to stop reading. I was hooked from the very beginning, actually vibrating with the tension and overall epicness of it all.
This book is to 90% about the two main characters, and it covers 10 years of their passionate, but also forbidden relationship. Most of the time it was about keeping whatever they had a secret. And I really enjoyed that the author did not go the usually route. Because I expected certain things to happen and was pleasantly surprised when cliches were circumvented.
But I also should mention, that they didn't have a real relationship until later in the book. So please don't except a white picket fence. Ilya and Shane start out with hook-ups, and continue that for a long time. They lived in different cities for 99% of the book, and rarely saw each other more than a few times a year.
Heated Rivalry had a good amount of sexy times. Teasing and banter were also very well done. But what I loved the most was how much those two were drawn to each other - from the very first time of meeting.
I thought the character of Ilya, a Russian native was incredibly well done. From start to finish there was a kind of otherness to him. His language skills grew, but small tidbits here and there always reminded me that he was still learning and not as comfortable with the English language as a native speaker would be. I thought that was something that really showed the author's skill of keeping it authentic and following a character's personality to the end.
The overall feeling I got from this story was amazing. It's hard to put my finger on exactly why this book was such a game changer for me. Maybe how the author structured the plot. Or that she concentrated most of the book on Ilya and Shane. The story had less outsider interference, and more character building. Heated Rivalry was the epitome of an enemies to lovers novel, and I must say I was enthralled.
The only thing that I felt was missing was a smidgen more tension in the last quarter of the book. It was rather low on angst - which I love - but it could have used a little BOOM at the end.
___________________________________
Find more reviews and book recommendations on my blog.
Find me on Bookstagram.
UPDATE: Second read was as good as first time around - love these two so much ♥︎
___________________________________
Wow what a book!!
Epic, sexy, and one of the best MM stories so far!!
It's also one of the best enemies to lovers novels I ever read.
I finished Heated Rivalry in one sitting. Actually read until 1am, thanks to it being a Saturday and I didn't have to stop reading. I was hooked from the very beginning, actually vibrating with the tension and overall epicness of it all.
This book is to 90% about the two main characters, and it covers 10 years of their passionate, but also forbidden relationship. Most of the time it was about keeping whatever they had a secret. And I really enjoyed that the author did not go the usually route. Because I expected certain things to happen and was pleasantly surprised when cliches were circumvented.
But I also should mention, that they didn't have a real relationship until later in the book. So please don't except a white picket fence. Ilya and Shane start out with hook-ups, and continue that for a long time. They lived in different cities for 99% of the book, and rarely saw each other more than a few times a year.
Heated Rivalry had a good amount of sexy times. Teasing and banter were also very well done. But what I loved the most was how much those two were drawn to each other - from the very first time of meeting.
I thought the character of Ilya, a Russian native was incredibly well done. From start to finish there was a kind of otherness to him. His language skills grew, but small tidbits here and there always reminded me that he was still learning and not as comfortable with the English language as a native speaker would be. I thought that was something that really showed the author's skill of keeping it authentic and following a character's personality to the end.
The overall feeling I got from this story was amazing. It's hard to put my finger on exactly why this book was such a game changer for me. Maybe how the author structured the plot. Or that she concentrated most of the book on Ilya and Shane. The story had less outsider interference, and more character building. Heated Rivalry was the epitome of an enemies to lovers novel, and I must say I was enthralled.
The only thing that I felt was missing was a smidgen more tension in the last quarter of the book. It was rather low on angst - which I love - but it could have used a little BOOM at the end.
___________________________________
Find more reviews and book recommendations on my blog.
Find me on Bookstagram.
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Reading Progress
December 7, 2019
–
Started Reading
December 7, 2019
– Shelved
December 7, 2019
–
Finished Reading
December 8, 2019
– Shelved as:
mm
December 8, 2019
– Shelved as:
sports-romance
December 8, 2019
– Shelved as:
enemies-to-lovers
December 8, 2019
– Shelved as:
sexy
December 8, 2019
– Shelved as:
epic
May 31, 2020
–
Started Reading
June 1, 2020
–
Finished Reading
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Lina
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rated it 5 stars
Dec 08, 2019 01:01PM

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