‘Unrivaled’: Rachel Reid Reveals New Update About Next Shane & Ilya Book
What To Know
- Rachel Reid’s third book about Shane and Ilya, titled Unrivaled, has been confirmed.
- The reveal of the next Game Changers book comes after the success of the TV adaptation of Heated Rivalry.
- The author has revealed a new release date.
Shane (Hudson Williams) and Ilya (Connor Storrie) won’t just live on in Heated Rivalry Season 2 — they’re also getting another book written about them. Author Rachel Reid’s upcoming Unrivaled will continue the romance of everyone’s favorite hockey couple, seeing them navigate marriage, playing for the same team, and new foes.
Reid has been sharing new details about the third Hollanov book steadily since it was announced in January 2026, and about a month later, she revealed that Unrivaled’s release date had been pushed. In an Instagram post, the author explained that her “life has gotten very different in the last couple of months” since the show adaptation of her book premiered.
“Although it’s all good, it’s also taken away my ability to have quality time to write,” she said. “And there’s nothing more important to me than Unrivaled being the best book it can possibly be. And I also think when good things happen sometimes the universe hands you some worse stuff to balance it out and for me, that’s been that my Parkinson’s symptoms have gotten a bit worse, and it’s made it difficult physically to write.”
Rest assured, Reid promised that the book will be worth the wait. Find out when you’ll be able to catch Shane and Ilya in their newlywed era, as well as all of the plot details released so far, below. Swooon has everything you need to know about the seventh book in Reid’s Game Changers series.
What is Unrivaled‘s new release date?
It looks like you’ll now be able to chase Heated Rivalry Season 2 with Unrivaled. The book is now coming out on June 1, 2027, which is a short while after the show’s new episodes are anticipated to drop. Unrivaled was originally slated for a September 29, 2026, release.
“I do think that this book will be worth the wait, ultimately,” Reid said. “It’s gonna be a much better book, and that’s the most important thing to me. And I think, yeah, it’ll be better for the readers, and it’ll be better for the characters, so I am really excited about this book. It’s going well. I just need a little more time.”
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What is Unrivaled about?
In the wake of coming out and being a public couple, Shane and Ilya will face a divided hockey world, per the book’s synopsis. After a decade of keeping their love a secret, they don’t have to hide anymore. They’re both playing for the Ottawa Centaurs and enjoying married life. While they’ve received plenty of support, not everyone has reacted positively to them.
Unrivaled’s description reads, “While fans celebrate them, others in the hockey world are still reeling from the reveal. A growing backlash—led by the popular hockey podcast Top Shelf and the #TakeBackHockey movement—is making its presence felt. Standing together in the light was everything Shane and Ilya ever wanted. Now, they may be facing their biggest challenge yet.”
The book will also explore Shane and Ilya experiencing a “whiplash” in their relationship now that they have nothing to hide anymore. “They’ve never really been a couple in a normal way, so suddenly they’ve gone from grabbing time secretly wherever they could to being married and living together and everyone knowing about them and being teammates, and they’re basically never apart now,” Reid told Matthew Francis.
She added, “I can say that it starts right where The Long Game left off. So, it’s going to follow their first season playing together. It is not going past that point.”
Rest assured, after putting them through their paces in The Long Game, Reid won’t give Shane and Ilya too tough a time in Unrivaled. “I’m not doing anything awful to them,” she told Matthew Francis in a January 14 interview. “I don’t want people to worry about that. That is not what this book is for. It is actually nice. I had no interest in writing about them again if I had to like drag them through hell. It’s not about that. It’s really a good versus evil story.”
She also told People that the characters from the other books in her series will make appearances. “I’m writing this one for all the Hollanov fans, old and new,” she said. “I can’t tell you how much the love my characters have received over the years means to me. It has been a blast writing these guys again and revisiting the entire Game Changers cast.”
Is Unrivaled the last book in the Game Changers series?
Harlequin’s official press release for Unrivaled doesn’t mention that it’s the last book in the series, though Barnes and Noble’s website does. Many assumed that The Long Game is where the Game Changers series would end, though, and that obviously isn’t the case anymore. We’ll have to wait and see what Reid herself says about the future of the Game Changers series after the success of the TV adaptation.
Will Heated Rivalry Season 3 be based on Unrivaled?
The Crave series, which airs on HBO Max in the United States, has already been renewed for Season 2, which is set to follow The Long Game. Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, aka Shane and Ilya, have both signed on for Seasons 2 and 3, which is standard for television shows.
If the show is renewed for Season 3, then it’s highly likely Heated Rivalry will explore the events of Unrivaled. Show creator Jacob Tierney has already optioned the rest of Reid’s novels!
What do you think will happen to Shane and Ilya? What do you want to see in their next book, for that matter? Tell us your Unrivaled theories in the comments below!
