Passionate rivalry Author Rachel Reid hit the road on a book tour for the deluxe edition of the hockey romance novel. She’s a little stressed about it, but not for the reason you might think.
Filming of the second season of Passionate rivalry — the show created by Jacob Tierney adapted from that of Reid Game changers series – is ongoing. And while the author was preparing, she tries not to reveal any spoilers.
“Going on tour right now is risky because there are a lot of things I can’t talk about,” says Reid. The Hollywood Reporter behind the scenes of his literary event in Los Angeles. “It’s been really fun so far, and I think people are happy to talk about things they already know.”
In some ways, things have changed significantly for Reid over the past year following the television adaptation of his 2019 novel, Passionate rivalryhas become a cultural phenomenon. Before the series, Reid’s fictional hockey universe already had legions of fans—it’s one of the things that drew Tierney to the novels in the first place—and attention to his work has only multiplied in the year since the series premiered.
The book and series focus on the complicated romance of Canadian hockey prodigy Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Russian phenom Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), who are fierce rivals on the ice and the best players in the league. They are the only two characters in Reid’s fictional hockey universe to receive two books: His 2022 novel The long game serves as a sequel to Passionate rivalry.
While the second season of the series, based mainly on The long game, is getting closer, as is the next chapter in the Game Changers series, Unrivaled. The next book, scheduled to be released in June 2027, continues the story of Shane and Ilya. Reid can’t say much about it either.
“I’m sure people have some very burning questions to ask, but obviously I can’t talk about them,” she says. “But by this time next year, we will have all of these answers.”
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It’s been a crazy year, obviously. How are you feeling at the moment?
I think right now I’m feeling really excited about a lot of things because there’s so much on the horizon. The first season coming out – even knowing there was going to be a show and then it would be announced – it was all exciting and wild and unpredictable. But being able to start again is really cool. Filming is happening right now, so I can enjoy it now. But then (there’s) I’m looking forward to the release of season two and also the release of my new book next year as well. Right now there is a lot to look forward to and I feel more comfortable with everything now too. Especially (because) I know the people who do the show now, so it starts to feel a little more normal.
As if this is your new reference?
Yeah. I mean, it’s still amazing every day, but I also think I’m starting to accept it as normal.
While you were still writing for UnrivaledWas there a supporting character that you found a new path or appreciation for this time around?
I may have written a little more about Scott Hunter in this book than in other Ilya and Shane books. He’s more of an important supporting character, so he certainly is.
Where do you think it comes from?
I really like the way he interacts (with them), especially with Ilya. I think that dynamic is a lot of fun. I left it in The long game like maybe having this budding friendship (with Shane and Ilya), and I wanted to play with that. He’s certainly a character. I also tried to do a little more with Yuna. And honestly, all women. Like Rose and Svetlana, I like to try to include a little more in the story. I think a lot of the side characters are popular.
With so much focus on books these days, has anything opened up a new point of view for you?
Yeah. It’s been a challenge writing this book, knowing how high the expectations are, so I’ve spent much of this year trying not to focus too much on it. But I’m interested in other people’s opinions on what I write. I wouldn’t say I’ve made major decisions based on what fans say, but I try to think about it while I’m writing.
When the show first started airing, did you kind of realize something was happening?
Honestly, when the trailer dropped because people were watching it so much. I did a bookstore event, I think it was the day after the trailer came out, and we played the trailer at the event. Everyone in the audience knew every word of the trailer. I told everyone on the show and I was like, “I think this could be a hit.” » I’ve never seen people memorize a trailer like this in a single day. Certainly, and when HBO picked it up too, just before it aired, that was a good sign. But I think from episode three onwards it was like, “OK, this is really striking.” It was only the second week because the first two came out in the first week. It was fast.
Jacob often said that from the beginning he wanted to take books seriously. I guess as an author that’s what you want, right?
He told me that right away when we first talked about it, that he wanted to take it seriously and he wanted to do it for adults. He didn’t want to shy away from the sex scenes and he wanted to make sure they were an important part of the story. It meant a lot to me as an author. But also as a fan of romance as a genre, which doesn’t get a lot of respect outside of the romance world, it meant a lot.
How has your relationship with social media changed during all of this?
I would say the hardest part to get used to is that I can’t just post a little offhand joke or really say anything without thinking, “Do I want this to go viral as a headline on a bunch of media outlets or social media accounts?” Even on this tour, at every event I do, quotes are taken from it and turned into headlines. It’s just something to think about. I have a very dry sense of humor, sometimes a little dark or a little nasty. Sometimes I want to make a joke, but then I’m like, I don’t know if people will understand this as a joke. Or even if they do, when it turns into a headline it no longer feels like a joke.
It must then be a little frustrating, especially when you say something in context.
What’s out of context is what you should be most wary of and just know that it’s going to happen. Just be careful. I’ve definitely learned this lesson several times this year and I’m trying to improve. It’s just amplified. I went from having, I think it was something like 7,000 subscribers. Maybe it was a little more than that. Actually, I don’t remember. But now it’s, I don’t know, over 400,000, which is a lot for an author. There’s a huge difference between saying something that 7,000 people are going to see (and) 400,000, so (that’s) something to keep in mind.
You published all the way through the editing process. I saw your Instagram story the other day about putting three fingers in your mouth. (Laughter).
It’s just a phrase I came to in one of the scenes. I was like, wait, this is terrible. I’m going to do two, so when you see this, that’s two now.
We thought about three hours.
Yeah, originally it was three o’clock. I was like, this is too much. Take it out.
What made you want to come back to Shane and Ilya?
I always did it, but I didn’t want to do it trying to make money. I wanted to make sure there was a real story to tell. Initially, I thought the only way to continue the story would be to use short stories. I just didn’t think there was a full novel there, but this one turned out to be the longest book I’ve written so far. There was definitely a story there. Part of the desire was knowing that filming on the show was about to start because it made me think of them a lot. I was reading Jacob’s scripts. This often brought them back into my head, causing them to speak in my head. I started writing early last year, I just started playing around with a few scenes to see how they worked. I used to be trying to write this Luca Haas book that I had to abandon because Ilya and Shane kept picking it up. I was like, okay, obviously I want to write about them again, so I’m going to do it.
I still have hope for Luca’s book.
Me too. I really hope that a really good idea comes to me. I’m sure it will because Luca is a lot of fun writing.
One of the coolest things about the popularity of the series has been the fact that so many people come to the books and show such love for these characters, like Luca, who, truth be told, isn’t in the book much.
No, barely there.
They become such favorites and beloved. Was it enriching for you? How did it go?
Over the last few weeks there has been a real increase in the number of people demanding a book about Luca and just wanting to know more about Luca. Part of this is probably the casting of Edvin Ryding, who has a huge fan base. This must be a contributing factor as there aren’t many in the books. But I always wrote this character as, “Hey, would you like a book about this guy?” I know I was doing that, so it’s definitely my fault. But I think it’s nice. There are also other characters. People really like Wyatt Hayes. There’s been interest in a book about him or the (Ottawa) coach – these happily married characters they want me to break up. For me, there are some characters that I think maybe have a book about them and others that are just enjoyable side characters.
Gn entert
