The Heated Rivalry show did something to people. Viewers who had never picked up a romance novel are now deep in the MM hockey romance books shelf, and season two is a long way off - so the question flooding every book community is the same: what do I read that feels like that? Here's the answer, sorted by which part of Shane and Ilya's story you're actually missing.
The quick list
- Heated Rivalry - Rachel Reid (the source - read the book, then its sequel)
- Him - Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy (best friends, one summer mistake)
- Egotistical Puckboy - Eden Finley & Saxon James (the fun one)
- Power Plays & Straight A's - Eden Finley & Saxon James (college version)
- Iced Out - C.E. Ricci (rivals, high heat)
- Season's Change - Cait Nary (veteran and rookie, slow burn)
- Thrown Off the Ice - Taylor Fitzpatrick (the one that hurts)
At a glance
| Book | Author | The hook | Heat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heated Rivalry | Rachel Reid | Rivals, ten years, hotel rooms | Very spicy |
| Him | Bowen & Kennedy | Best friends to lovers | Spicy |
| Egotistical Puckboy | Finley & James | Enemies, one night, banter | Very spicy |
| Power Plays & Straight A's | Finley & James | College, roommates | Spicy |
| Iced Out | C.E. Ricci | Rivals to lovers | Very spicy |
| Season's Change | Cait Nary | Age gap, slow burn | Warm |
| Thrown Off the Ice | Taylor Fitzpatrick | Career twilight, angst | Spicy |
Where do you start with MM hockey romance?
With the book the show came from. Heated Rivalry is the rivalry itself - Shane and Ilya, a decade of secret hotel rooms, and the genre's best answer to "when does hate become the excuse." If the show is your whole reason for being here, the Heated Rivalry books in order guide maps the Game Changers series around it, including The Long Game (the direct sequel) and the third Shane-and-Ilya book coming in 2027. Read the book even if you've watched everything - the interiority is the point.
Which book matches which itch?
The secret-relationship charge: Him (Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy) runs on a different fuel - best friends who broke apart after one summer night, reunited in a college tournament - but it delivers the same can't-tell-anyone tension, and its sequel Us covers what Heated Rivalry fans actually crave: what happens after they're caught. Iced Out (C.E. Ricci) is the closest pure rivals to lovers match on the shelf - two players who hate each other until the hate stops being the point.
The banter: Egotistical Puckboy (Eden Finley & Saxon James) is the palate cleanser - an enemies-to-lovers one-night-stand spiral that's funnier than it has any right to be. The same duo's Power Plays & Straight A's moves the formula to college, and if campus hockey is the part you liked, the Off Campus reading order is the M/F flagship of that exact lane.
The ache: Season's Change (Cait Nary) is the slow-burn pick - a veteran on his last contract, a rookie with everything ahead, and a whole season of not-quite. Thrown Off the Ice (Taylor Fitzpatrick) is the one readers warn each other about: brutal, unsentimental, and the closest the subgenre gets to literary fiction. Check the content notes; bring tissues.
Is MM hockey romance different from the M/F shelf?
Same arena, different pressure. The forbidden love axis in MM hockey romance is usually the closet plus the locker room - the sport itself is the antagonist - which is why the secrecy hits harder than most M/F setups. If you want the whole rink regardless of pairing, the best hockey romance books list covers the M/F side, and BookRiot's queer hockey roundup goes deeper into the indie end of this shelf.
The specific cruelty of this subgenre: the rivalry takes four hundred pages to become tenderness, and then the book ends and both of them go quiet at once. Swoony picks up right where the book drops you: a closed-door chat built for romance and nothing else, where the bond deepens through five stages and is never paywalled, no subscription and no charge per message. Start with Jakub, the grumpy hockey captain - ruthless in the rink, undone in private - or Ash, the rival who keeps winning, if the rivalry itself is the part you can't quit.
The rivalry doesn't retire when the season does.
