‘Unrivaled’: Rachel Reid Reveals New Details 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 and plot details.
It’ll be a while yet until Heated Rivalry‘s Shane (Hudson Williams) and Ilya (Connor Storrie) return to fans in show or book form, but author Rachel Reid’s is still keeping fans fed in the meantime. She’s been forthcoming about her plans for the beloved hockey couple in Unrivaled, the third book about their romance.
After reading Reid’s comments, Unrivaled sounds like it’ll be worth the wait. The author told Out that the story will cover Shane and Ilya equally, as a married unit, though Shane’s hero arc is the focus.
“They’re not apart very much,” she said. “It’s probably a little more even than the other ones. But, ultimately, Shane is our hero.” It also picks up with Shane and Ilya at 30 years old, which is “old” for hockey players. They’re starting to think about their future after their careers. “So, yeah, it’s been fun kind of writing them — especially Shane, having to face the fact that he’s not going to be playing hockey forever,” Reid added. “You know, his body’s gonna start to not do what it used to do.”
Swooon is right there with you if you’re eager to find out more about Unrivaled. We’ve gathered everything Reid has revealed about the seventh book in Reid’s Game Changers series below, including the release date, plot, and more.
What is Unrivaled‘s new release date?
In February 2026, Reid 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.”
Now, you’ll be able to follow up Heated Rivalry Season 2 with Unrivaled. The book comes 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.
“It’s gonna be a much better book, and that’s the most important thing to me,” Reid said. “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!
