Heated Rivalry Reading Vlog

Hello. Hello everyone. My name is Laura. This is my channel, Laura's Little Library, and welcome to today's video, which is a Valentine's Day reading vlog. So, today I have started reading Heated Rivals by Rachel Reid. Obviously, I've seen this everywhere with the new TV show coming out and everything like that. I do not have access to the TV show because I do not have a Crave account, nor do I have HBO. However, I'm very strongly considering doing a uh free trial so I can binge the whole thing. Um, but for now, I'm starting off with the book. So, I'm reading Heated Rivals. I just started. I'm about a quarter of the way through it already because I started it and I just could not put it down. This book starts with a bang. And it just is banger after banger after banger. And I'm I'm loving it. I It's It's interesting because I'm kind of waiting for there to be more of a plot to kick in because I'm sure there is one. Um but for now, it's been a lot of setting the scene of the relationship of these characters. Like it starts and they're kind of in a routine and then it goes back into how they first met. There are two hockey players. One is from Russia and one is from Canada. and kind of how they become rivals because they're the kind of top two hockey players of their their age and then they both get signed to the NHL for rival ring teams and kind of the NHL of course keeps pitting them against each other as rivals because they are the best two rookies of the year but at the same time they kind of have this secret twist going on I would more so call it because they're not in a relationship they're not like in love, but they are getting together after every time they play each other in the hockey games. And I can't I can't It's also just so interesting to see like anytime that there's a Russian hockey player because um um Lisa K. Adams did this in the Bromance book series as well. Just kind of hearing the narrators do the Russian accent but then also trying to pick out all the like elements of Russian culture that are interesting. As somebody who used to live in a post-siet country, it's very interesting to me to see and hear all of these elements. So, I'm trying not to let that get in the way of my love for the character. But, that is something I'm having to overcome is I cannot I cannot with this narrator's Russian accent. It's driving me up a wall. But our other character, the one from Canada, he is such a little cinnamon roll. I love that he's kind of like the the cutesy. Everybody loves him, but at the same time, he's just like, I can't be gay, but also I'm gay, but also I The fact that he is not okay with himself being gay, but then he had that one line at the beginning where he was like, I kind of knew this about myself for a while now, but I'm still not super sure. It's just like everybody's journey is different and it's always complicated. And I just I just love seeing kind of that representation, but not necessarily in the most negative like selfharming kind of way. So, I'm interested to see how this develops. Yeah. So, I'm starting off with Heated Rivalry. Like I said, I'm a quarter of the way through it. I I love the characters. I love the hockey, of course. Um but I'm interested to see where it goes from here. Okay. Hi, friends. Quick update. So, I am just about halfway through A Heated Rivalry. And here's Okay, here's the thing. I am enjoying it. However, I feel like the entire first half of the book has just been smut, which is not bad, but I know there's plot. Like, there's got to be plot somewhere. And I think we're just starting to really get into the plot. Like, we spent all this time building up and seeing kind of what their relationship was um in terms of just intimacy, but there hasn't really been a lot outside the bedroom that our characters have done. They they very briefly mention hockey and things like that, but then it's just right back into this mut, which again, I'm not nec I'm sorry for the shaky camera. I'm not necessarily complaining about it. But I do wish there was a slightly earlier introduction to the plot than there has been just to just to break it up and to build my my love and interest in the characters as human beings rather than just reading smut after smud after smut. So, I will say I'm not super thrilled with that, but it is still very good. So, I'm about halfway through. I'm enjoying it. And those are my two thoughts so far. So, we're starting to see uh where I like his family situation. Like, we're getting a feel for his family situation versus like Hollander just kind of feels like the good boy. like, you know, just the little cinnamon roll, which is not giving him much. Like, the only kind of human humanizing thing about him is kind of his battle with sexuality and like how he explores it and what labels he's interested in versus if he wants labels at all, which is fine, but I just feel like there is no exterior conflict with him or character development. It's all just his sexuality and his sexual acts as opposed to Yeah, we got a little bit more with his family. But yeah, that's what I think so far. I'm going to keep reading. Okay, I am a little over 75% of the way through Heated Rivalry. And it felt like as soon as I made the update, my most pre my most previous my previous update where I was like, it's all sex and there's nothing else. It feels like it changed. Don't get me wrong. There's still lots of good smutty scenes and I like them, but they feel more rewarding to read now that they're interspersed with just other life events. And I'm not just talking about like the relationship between the characters, more so just that there's other things happening. Like I got really excited that we were actually going to get a description of a hockey game more than just this week they played this place and they won or they didn't win. But then it was to explain an injury, to explain Shane getting injured. And while I loved the whole hospital scene and everything, of course, I wish we had gotten a little more hockey between the smut scenes cuz that would have made it a lot easier to read and a little bit more like sports romance. Cuz while it's like hockey is their passion, it's what they love, we don't actually get a lot of hockey as readers. So, but it is starting to change. We're starting to get some more life. The thing is is that it's still more about the relationship between them now that they're actually forming a loving relationship and not just hooking up, which again I'm all for. I'm here for it. I just wanted more life events in between the smut scenes. We are kind of getting that, but I I still wish there was more hockey. But, uh, Hunter just basically came out very publicly, and I love that. And there's a part of me that's like it's kind of nice to that it's not necessarily the main characters who are like the first, you know, so that they don't have the actually we're gay and also actually us rivals love each other, you know, like it feels like two big revelations, which I wouldn't necessarily have a problem with. I Yeah, I wouldn't mind it at all, but it is interesting that they are not the first ones in the NHL to come out. So, it is it is interesting that they that they went that way. But yeah, I'm still I'm starting to enjoy the book a lot more now because of it and it makes me happy. Hi, Bubba. Oh, can't reach. Hi, sweet boy. Hi. So, yeah, I'm still very much enjoying it. I really want to watch the TV show. I don't have HBO, so I can't necessarily watch it, but I am probably going to get like a week-long trial or something and just try to binge it. Uh, cuz there are a couple other shows I want to watch. But yeah, so I'm very much enjoying it. I'm probably gonna finish it very soon because I only have like an hour left in the audiobook and I'm just becoming so much more obsessed with it now that it's it's just moving along nicely. I would like to film more like things in my life so it's not just reading update after reading update, but I'm not doing much interesting stuff. Uh, tonight is the Super Bowl. Hi. Tonight is the Super Bowl, which is kind of interesting. and I'll see if I can film clips, but we're going to our landlord's house for it with a bunch of people we don't know. So, uh we'll see how how it um if I collect clips. But I feel it feels like the sporting event is very fitting even though it is technically a different sport. I am a fan of hockey and so I am excited that hockey season is still going on and that I'm reading this. It's still going on. It's February. But I will I will also say um I think it was Hollander's team. Yeah, Shane's team lost to the Detroit team. And I know I'm supposed to feel sad because it's, you know, the main character, he lost, his dreams are crashed, blah blah blah. I'm from Michigan originally. And so I am a Detroit Red Wings fan. I am Detroit fan for everything. Lions, Tigers, Red Wings, you know, everything. Grand Rapids Rise fully. So, I actually was kind of like, yeah, if they're going to lose to somebody, lose to Detroit. Thank you. But yeah, so I'll see if I can film some other like fun, interesting, cutesy life things. But living in a camper, my life is not fun and cutesy. I'm tempted to romanticize it though cuz it'll help me with living here if I romanticize it. But it's just really hard to do when it's really cold outside and the only thing keeping us alive are two heaters and the fact that we can get water at the local cafe cuz we do not have water again. But that is beside the point. So yeah, I'm probably going to finish this book. I'm so excited. I really hope I'm Yeah. And then we'll keep going on. So yeah, they want to start a nonprofit together. That is so cute. I love that they're dreaming. I Oh, and they just said, "I love you." Oh, and like I like how they say he said it in Russian and then they say it in English and I'm like you have to be blue. Like that that's how I know it in Russian. Um so it it is fun when they're like he mumbles this in Russian and then says it in English or like you don't quite know because I have learned Russian. I try and come up with what those phrases might be, but they want to start a nonprofit together. That is so special and so sweet. And oh my goodness, I am so close to finishing this book and it's really starting to kick up on the wholesome scale. I'm still waiting for like the kind of big exposure moment, but cuz I mean that's going to come. I mean I I assume it is, but do you agree? Do you agree? They said the Russian They said the Russian version. Oh, and I was right. I was right. Yellow blue tuba. Cuz sentence order isn't like the biggest thing because of the case language, but yellow blue tia. Oh, it's so cute. Oh. Oh, I love it. I love it. I love it. Oh, spicy. Okay, my friends. I finished Heated Rivalry. I finished it. It's done. Um, that ending I it was kind of unexpected for a couple of reasons. One, I feel like the big ball never dropped. You know, there was there was the moment where the parents found out, and that was like this whole moment, but I feel like that wasn't quite as like pressure as it would have been if they had been exposed to the entire hockey world or to the entire team or something like that. So, I feel like it didn't quite have that moment that I was expecting for the end of the book because I just don't think the parents finding out is what did it for me, but I do think I that could be cuz I got a little spoiled for that scene um beforehand on like YouTube shorts and stuff. I don't know if that was cuz I got a little bit spoiled or if it just didn't amp up in the same way that I'm used to when it comes to like that third act like panic freakout moment. I do like that there was no third act breakup. Thank you. But I'm intrigued by the ending because it did not necessarily resolve the story. Like they came up with a plan and they started to enact that plan, but you know, we didn't quite get it to fruition. Because with a lot of these books, I feel like you always get this epilogue of like, "All right, now they're getting engaged, getting married, having a kid, whatever." That's typically what the epilogs in these kind of romance books go like. But we didn't have that with this one. You know, it ended with them actually starting the nonprofit and announcing the friendship and like going through the plan, which I kind of like because it is something different and it's refreshing to see them make a plan, follow through with the plan, like it all works out. But I also learned that there is a second book that follows them specifically and then a third book that is projected to come out later this year that still follows them cuz the game changers there are other books in this series that follow other hockey players. Like I just read Heated Rivalry. It's the second book but it's the first one that I read. So I think I want to go and read the other books because I really enjoyed the writing and everything. But I am nervous about the next book following them specifically and then the third book to come out following them specifically. So ah but but I did finish it and I did like it and I liked that it was a little bit of a different pace than what we would what I've been reading. Um but I'm still nervous about the books to come and I'm sorry it's so shaky. Thank you all so very much for watching. If you like this video, give it a thumbs up. heated rivalry. I want to know your opinions now that I read it. Let the spoilers flow. And if you have any other comments of books that you're reading this Valentine's Day, let me know down below. Make sure you subscribe to the channel and hit the bell to be notified for when I post videos. I also have bookish social media like Goodreads and a Bookstagram linked in the description below that you can follow me there and keep up with what I am reading. Again, thank you all very much for watching and until I see you in the next video, I wish you happy reading. oophoo.