Author Rachel Reid is asking fans of Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander to hold on just a little longer.
The author behind the “Game Changers” hockey romance series announced Tuesday that “Unrivaled,” the seventh installment in the franchise and third chapter in Shane and Ilya’s arc, has been pushed from its planned Sept. 29 release date to June 1, 2027. Reid shared the news in a video posted to Instagram, citing both the seismic life changes that followed the runaway success of the “Heated Rivalry” television adaptation and a worsening of her Parkinson’s disease symptoms.
“It’s been absolutely incredible. I can’t really put into words what any of this feels like for an author,” Reid said in the video. “It’s beyond a dream come true.” But she was candid about the toll that newfound fame has taken. “It’s also been very, very busy and overwhelming. My life has gotten very different in the last couple of months, and although it’s all good, it’s also taken away my ability to have quality time to write.”
Reid was equally open about her health. “When good things happen, sometimes the universe hands you some worse stuff to balance it out,” she said. “For me, that’s been that my Parkinson’s symptoms have gotten a bit worse, and it’s made it difficult physically to write. So I’m definitely a lot slower, and that’s just something I need to learn how to navigate.”
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However, she was quick to reassure fans that the book itself is progressing. “The writing is going well,” Reid said. “I just need a little more time.” Pre-orders, she noted, will not be canceled.
The delay comes as the literary universe Reid built over the last eight years has exploded into mainstream interest. “Heated Rivalry,” the Crave original series that brought Shane (Hudson Williams) and Ilya (Connor Storrie) to the screen, became a phenomenon after its release on HBO Max, earning a Season 2 renewal in December and sending its two leads to the Golden Globes and Fashion Week. Williams has since been named a friend of the house at Balenciaga and is set to star in an upcoming Crave original, “Yaga.” Storrie, meanwhile, is hosting “Saturday Night Live” this weekend and is attached to star in A24’s upcoming comedy “Peaked.”
Season 2 of “Heated Rivalry” is expected to begin production later this year, with a 2027 premiere planned — meaning the show and “Unrivaled” may land in the same calendar year.
“Unrivaled” picks up with Ilya and Shane newly married and publicly out, navigating a homophobic backlash in the professional hockey world led by a podcast called Top Shelf and a movement called #TakeBackHockey. It will be the first new book in the Shane-and-Ilya universe since “The Long Game” in 2022, and it’s the seventh entry in the broader “Game Changers” series, which includes “Game Changer,” “Heated Rivalry,” “Tough Guy,” “Common Goal,” “Role Model.”
“There’s nothing more important to me than ‘Unrivaled’ being the best book it can possibly be,” Reid said. “I think it’ll be better for the readers and it’ll be better for the characters.”
She also hinted at an upside coming soon, teasing that “some announcements” would be made later this week “about some things that I think people have been hoping for.”
From Variety US