Honestly, the less I know about famous people, the better.
Chapter 24 - The Long Game.
Whatever happens. I am with you.💔
Just remembered that I have in fact fucked a hockey player, and am feeling inordinately amused by this.
we have been chatting…
Chapter Eleven, Role Model (2021) by Rachel Reid
*My favourite sport, quite frankly, is tracking every Ilya and Shane mention across the Game Changers series. I don’t read — I analyse.
I can't believe there's people who watched heated rivalry and thought "that was good" and then just went on with their lives. Simply could not be me. I have not thought of anything else since.
The entire series is about high-profile people not feeling safe/comfortable coming out because the world is incapable of being normal about their lives and their sexuality. So maybe just sit with that a minute and try not to be an active part of the problem.
Heated Rivalry Book Things That Didn't Make It Into The Show
- After having their Moment™️ together in the hotel gym, Shane immediately starts thinking about how he's overdue to break up with his girlfriend
- Shane King of Denial Hollander is specifically attracted to how manly 19 year-old Ilya is - but he's definitely into women
- Ilya finds English difficult, especially at the start, so he is constantly bitter about Shane being perfectly, fluently bilingual
- The first time they hook up in a hotel room, Shane is so paranoid about being caught that he makes Ilya check the hallway is empty before Shane will leave
- For many years, the two of them really, genuinely get under each other's skin and piss each other off just by existing and being good at hockey
- Shane feels really bad about the messes they keep making in hotel rooms, and he always leaves a huge tip for the maids
- Bears told Ilya to quit smoking, so now he tastes like nicotine gum instead of cigarettes
- Shane Mr. Real Estate Landlord Businessman bought an entire 3-unit building as an "investment" so he could lie to himself about wanting to have a comfortably empty building to meet Ilya in without fear of getting caught
- Ilya fully realizes that that's what Shane has done, and he feels touched that Shane bought a building for them
- The first time Ilya fucks him, Shane King of Denial Hollander thinks, "OH! So this is why everyone's always raving about sex being so good!" - but he's definitely into women
- Ilya 100% intended to sleep with that woman at the club, but she turned him down because she's there with her boyfriend who likes to watch her make out with other guys on the dance floor
- When Shane King of Denial Hollander sleeps with women, he prefers blowjobs, because it's easier to get off when he can shut his eyes, though he really doesn't enjoy reciprocating - but he's definitely into women
- The first time Ilya mentions marriage, he suggests that *both* of them find understanding women to settle down with, because then Shane will be able to have a family like he wants
- Shane's sexual history eventually includes two other men, and he admits that those encounters weren't as good because they weren't Ilya
- Ilya is slightly obsessed with getting to see Shane's home, particularly his bedroom; when they're at the cabin, he feels like he's finally gotten his wish
- When Shane suggests "let's be honest with each other this week", Ilya's first thought is about saying "I love you"
- When Ilya says his mom died by "accident", he's parroting the line that his father insisted on when she died
- Part of the appeal of Ilya playing for a Canadian team is that, unlike America, Canada offers feasible paths to citizenship that don't involve marriage
- In the epilogue, Ilya sells most of his expensive car collection and Shane sells his "investment" building, and they use the proceeds to kick off funding for their charity
I wish to read more books, now that I am done with Game Changers. Please rec me more queer romances. I am especially interested in romances involving trans masc and nonbinary characters.
