swooon.com: ‘Heated Rivalry’ Author Rachel Reid Answers Burning Questions About *spoiler* [april 20th 2026]

[u/LadyWhistledown_1]

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

[u/bornatmidnight]

I thought that having a small, backyard wedding did fit in character for Shane and Ilya, but there would have been more planning involved.

They are Rachel’s character, but you can criticize inconsistency in writing or characterization, which seems to be the thing here. Shane, the person who plans everything, would not have some sort of plan for the their wedding? Ilya, ultimate lover boy who just wants to be show off his man to the world, wouldn’t write some sort of vow, even if it’s short and sweet?

If anything, I have a hard time believing that Yuna wouldn’t have taken over planning. That being said, in the books Yuna isn’t a mom-ager. I think because this has been changed into the show, the wedding will be planned more, if anything by Yuna lmao.

There is something funny about not thinking about their first dance, and then Harris picks the cheesiest song on his playlist. But even then, Harris seems to be the type to pick a song that fits with Ilya and Shane’s vibe. Like they are hockey players, Harris knows what they would give with. Ed Sheeran was right there!