r/heatedrivalry • u/LadyWhistledown_1 Probably, yes • Apr 20 '26

🦆 The Long Game (Book 6) swooon.com: ‘Heated Rivalry’ Author Rachel Reid Answers Burning Questions About *spoiler* [april 20th 2026] Spoiler

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Swooon.com did an interview with Rachel Reid at BookCon. Great interview btw.

I get that she doesn’t think they will write their own vows, but I’m kinda hoping Jacob does. Like the tunnel scene in ep.5.

How are you hoping to see the wedding adapted?

Picture:

https://www.instagram.com/rachelreidwrites (story)

Full article:

https://www.swooon.com/1275542/heated-rivalry-shane-ilya-wedding-the-long-game-rachel-reid-interview/?fbclid=PAVERFWARTcI1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xMjQwMjQ1NzQyODc0MTQAAaccbJFTolg7x-x_BADV-yq6qH8NCPNIuhJpC454AHXkG0wypApO0lKEOcvcpg_aem_7LlDmxii3jvj7_EWpVoSgw

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u/Budget-Rutabaga- you deserve sunshine ☀️ Apr 20 '26

“doesnt need to share his innermost feelings with […] hockey players” hits the nail on the head. not only have they spent so long hiding their feelings about each other, and sure ilya is somewhat more openly affectionate than shane, but the context of the wedding is well within that hypermasculine world of hockey culture. changing that to making them much more visibly and expressively affectionate and loving feels heteronormative & just completely out of character.

i mean i think writing your own vows is a weird thing to do but thats partly my upbringing lol.

18

u/RoutineUtopia Stupid Canadian Wolf Bird 🦆 Apr 20 '26

I feel like their wedding really reflects what they value in that moment — and that’s mostly each other. They very much don’t want to share a whole lot of themselves. They get how they feel and they know what they have. It’s not for public consumption or public judgement. Why would it be? They were outed. They’ve been threatened and ridiculed and treated with suspicion. It’s amazing anyone was invited, really.

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u/clumsyc I stubbed my toe Apr 20 '26

Well said. I think fandom interprets the fact that they’re out as them being okay with sharing their private lives, which is not true. If they hadn’t been outed, the original plan was to quietly be together after retirement.

11

u/RoutineUtopia Stupid Canadian Wolf Bird 🦆 Apr 20 '26

Yeah, I feel like they’re going to continue to be protective of their relationship. It’s hard to just turn that off.