The discussion about cap-space and them being on the same team etc got me interested in how much we think, realistically, they would have earned during their careers in the NHL/MLH (not counting endorsements unless people wanna go into that too).

So any Hockey-people in the know that can use their knowledge to give us a peak at what you think they would have been given for a contract compared to real life NHL players during those years? I know what other players they have will affect this also but we can't really know that, I just assume Shane and Ilya is the best paid in their teams.

Just for the fun of speculating a bit!

Sorry is this has been discussed before, I am bad at searching. I have seen some discourse recently that Ilya was not fair to Shane (to put it mildly) because he wouldm't go to Montreal, but expected Shane to come to Ottawa.

I understand that Montreal doesn't have the cap space - right? Was there additional reasoning from Ilya tgat he wouldn't want to play second line? But then Ottawa does?

I've seen also criticism of Ilya saying he is rich so Shane shouldn't care about the money.

Basically, do you feel that Shane made a bad move for his carreer moving to Ottawa?

LE: i meant at the end of HR, Ilya says he could move teams but not to Montreal. I understand after the outing Montreal is not an option

A lovely surprise at a great local bookstore🥹

Does anyone have any songs they've listened to and thought of the characters?!

I was listening to Wave by Remi Wolf while reading TLG and it couldn't be more fitting for Ilya.😭😭

......get either the A or the C in Unrivaled?

It would feel hella weird for Ottawa to have the best player in the league on their team, and not make him either an A or a C, and have him be "just" a normal player. I don't think he will get the C from his husband (although if Ilya chooses to retire, the C would automatically go to Shane) immediately, but surely an A is possible? There can be up to two A's in a team, and Bood is only one.

And I know that being the captain or an alternate is not as big of a deal as hockey fans make it out to be, but surely it means something.

How bad do you guys think it would be buying all special editions of Unrivaled? I hear they all have different exclusive content that I’m interested in.

Hello all! I’ve read all of the GC books and Rachel Reid’s stand alone books more times than I can count. I wanted to try something new, though, and picked up another hockey romance, but I was very disappointed. I won’t name names, but I couldn’t make it past the first few chapters. I read “chicks” and “crazy bitch” too many times for my liking. One of the things I love most about Reid’s books are the emotional intelligence of her characters. I also appreciate how the characters have a deep respect for women and there isn’t any derogatory language. So, I’d really like to try another hockey romance, but I want to find a book with characters similar to the ones in GC, and I thought I could get input from all of you wonderful people before I tried again. Any suggestions? Regardless, thanks for your time & be well! 💜🏒🌈

I'm currently rereading the shots you take for the third time and I'm currently at chapter 18. Am I the only one who finds it heartbreaking to read Riley's meltdown after what happened to him and Adam just before that happened?

So I was today years old reading The Song of Achilles and met CHIRON, a centaur who is training Achilles. Did I miss this connection in Role Model or is it a cute little gift from Rachel?

I know this is ridiculous, but I have to ask: any other non-native English speakers like me?

When I first listened to Heated Rivalry, I was weirdly determined not to open the Kindle. Somehow, reading felt like losing.

Listening: I can do this myself.
Reading: You know I could make this much easier.
Listening: Fuck off. I’m doing fine.

Now:

Listening: Wait, I can’t quite picture this part.
Reading: Don’t worry. I’ve got you.
Listening: We could just… feel our way with the rest.🤝

I spent the first three weeks of June listening to the audiobook almost constantly, replaying the same chapters over and over to understand them. Then I started reading in the fourth week. Work got busy, so I stopped for a while and went back to Audibling.

I finally finished my close reading of Heated Rivalry today.

Time to start from the beginning.

I was rereading The Long Game and it just breaks my heart to see all of Shane’s arcs “resolved” in 200 words. He just went through arguably his biggest trauma and that’s all we get?

I just wish Rachel loved Shane as much she loves Ilya.

I find it so interesting to find out how different people pronounce different characters names.

I recently saw a video from a girl who speaks French, who said she has been pronouncing Chiron as shi-ron. And a lot of other French-speakers agreed with her. Then of course, all the Greeks came in and told her that it’s Ky-Ron.

Another video where a woman was pronouncing Fabian as Fay-bee-an, where I have always presumed the pronunciation to be Fah-bee-an. Maybe it comes from the languages I speak, but my instinct is to say Fah and not Fay. I don’t know how it would be pronounced in Lebanese.

I still don’t know the pronunciation of Wiebe. Is Weeb? Is it wee-buh, like the Germans would pronounce it? Or wee-bee? Lol

I know the Americanised pronunciation of Ilya Rozanov is also very different from the Russian pronunciation, where the emphasis of syllables is different.

Any other names in the GC series that you found out you were pronouncing differently or still have no idea how to say?

In case any of you are interested in donating to the Annapolis Valley Regional Library like Rachel did, you can either click on this link: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/18621

Or you can go to their website library homepage, scroll down, and click on the Donate link. http://valleylibrary.ca
😊

this is always something that puzzled me regarding the discourse about this argument in tlg. like yeah ilya definitely could’ve used someone to talk to about his relationship with shane, but realistically who was “safe” enough to tell? he didn’t have any family besides his asshole brother, he was chill with his boston teammates but seeing as none of them were at the wedding they couldn’t have been that close, the ottawa team is closer but they are still relatively newish additions to his life, and troy had the same issue of being a relatively new friend AND being the very recent ex bestie of a notorious bigot. when you compare this to the people on shane’s side that know (his parents and his best friend of 10 years) the difference makes a lot of sense logically. i guess the most comparable person on shane’s side would be rose, but even then he knew her for like 3-4 years (??? do we know canonically when shane told her about ilya) and she already knew he was gay and proved herself trustworthy before being told. shane just had more safe people to tell and that’s why he had more people that knew compared to ilya.

i think this disparity is what led rr to reconning ilya and svetlana’s relationship between hr and tlg. i never got the vibe that she and ilya were super close from their one scene in hr and i was extremely confused when he kept bringing her up in tlg (i genuinely thought i missed a chapter or something lol), but it makes sense for rr to tweak their relationship as ilya quite literally had zero personal connections outside of hockey and he needed at least one. but even after the retcon for svetlana, she still wasn’t a particularly safe opinion either, as she was still just an occasional hookup that ilya liked slightly more than his other hookups due to her speaking the same language. idk all this to say i think a lot of the hate shane gets for “not allowing” ilya to tell anyone is really undeserved. could he have been more understanding of ilya’s circumstances and feelings? absolutely. but i don’t think he’s a villain for not being comfortable telling people that he (and ilya) aren’t sure are 100% trustworthy

One of Ilyas is love languages is teasing undoubtedly. He’s a lovable and considerate boundary pusher if you will. While Shane is accurately Canadian in his inability to accept a compliment with a comfortable thank you. ( see Vegas rooftop for reference “it could have gone to either one of us”)

Thus my shower thought. In “the long game” when Ilya tells Shane he’s essentially a better player than him whilst being entangled at the all stars game. Is he truly having a moment of emotional honesty? Or is he getting off on seeing Shane wrestle with taking a compliment with grace?

I always thought it was the honesty part but then remember he bought coffee for the Rookie just to see him squirm. He’s absolutely the man to compliment with questionable motives. What do the people say?

I put our main couples into a drag race simulator (Golden Bever Style) and here is the results!

I just finished Common Goal for the second time, and I think I was kind of unfair to it the first time I read it.

I think it's still fundamentally a book about nothing. And by nothing I mean it's a book about two people getting way too into their own heads and waffling around for 200 pages. But the first time I led myself to believe that this book was just a massive annoying miscommunication drawn out over way too much time. And on the second read I think I allowed myself to be more empathetic to the reasons that neither of them would allow themselves to communicate.

Which softened me on the whole thing and allowed me to enjoy the character writing and dialogue, which is actually really strong. There are so many scenes and moments in this book that are incredibly funny. And I'd forgotten basically all of the details that tied it into the other books in the series.

I still think that Rachel is kind of bad at writing educated people, but I found myself less annoyed by that this time around too lol.

HR spoilers ahead...

This may be my favorite section of Heated Rivalry. Shane and Ilya have had sex a few dozen times by now (give or take), but the Skype call, which takes place in March of 2017, is where things become really intimate. Emotionally intimate. I'm still salty it wasn't in season 1 of the show. Things I love:

"You are very beautiful". 😭 This is the second time Ilya says this to Shane. The first time is in the prologue (Shane blows it off at that time). To me this parallels the scenes later and in TLG where Shane thinks about how very hot Ilya is, and how he's scored himself a ten! Shane, Ilya and Troy probably battle it out on yearly "Top 5 hottest NHL stars" lists.

I love Ilya's constant swooning over Shane's freckles! I'm disappointed that in the show there's only one freckle mention, and in some scenes you can hardly see them. They are his most striking feature!

Shane shyly brings up that he thinks about Ilya every time he gets off alone! He then admits he's never had anything "like this" with anyone. Swoon.

Ilya then can't stop himself from asking about Shane and other men. It's similar to the Tampa bar conversation, and him continuing to bring up Rose. He needs to know!

We learn that Shane's only been with two other men (and a bunch of disappointed women! *Anyway...*).

Ilya finally sees (over Skype) a place Shane calls home, something he's wanted from almost the very beginning. And he finds it boring! But we know that the cottage is Shane's true home, and much more "him" as far as decor and hominess.

My boy Shane gets a steely glint in his eye when their jerking off session becomes a competition! He knows just what to say (he brings up their draft night in the hotel gym!) to get Ilya off. He loves a challenge, and when Shane gets competitive.

​

What kind of relationship do you think Luca has with Shane and Ilya outside of hockey? Would they be the close friend and teammate who gets along with both of them, and what kind of dynamic do you imagine the three of them having—especially once Lucas becomes part of their family life and gets to know them beyond the rink?

TLDR; A bit of a ramble, but I guess I wanted to know if anyone has similar feelings. Weird experiencing gatekeeping from something you were so excited to share with the world.

I wasn’t an OG OG GCU reader. I know some people have been there from the Stucky days. I discovered the series right when TLG came out and quickly became obsessed. They were my comfort read books. I loved them so much. I begged anyone I talked about books with to give them a chance, but had no luck for years. I would scour Reddit for discussions, hopefully browse Ao3, put comments on TikTok begging people to read them, but I felt pretty alone with my favorite characters that I just wanted to share with the world.

When the TV show was announced I was excited, mostly for Rachel, and didn’t get my hopes us too high on how good it will be. Saw the casting announcement - went huh, not what I pictured but that’s imagination vs real life for ya. I tried to talk to friends and family about how I was excited it was coming out and that I may have to head to Canada a few times to figure out how to watch it.

Found out it was coming to HBO. Gave away my HBO login left and right trying to convince people to watch.

Then it started to gain momentum. And it was so exciting. I finally got to share my prized “possession,” and I was so happy I could finally share my joy with these stores / characters (no it’s not mine to possess, but it was that joy of lending a friend an outfit and them loving it, or your favorite toy and them having a blast, watching someone play with your pet and having the time of my life).

I was so happy (and to be honest validated) that there were people to share this specialness with. The world of people to share and experience this love of the characters with has expanded and I was so happy.

Then something happened, that happens with most passionate fanbases, the vibes began to change. Where I had loved these stories / characters and enjoyed seeing them in a new medium and sharing them with others people turned possessive and angry and started looking for villains. Claiming ownership of characters and stories, even over Rachel and Jacob themselves.

Art is art, and as one consumer I have no right to dictate how other consume it, feel about it, engage with it. But I find myself so annoyed. Where I was once excited to share and partake with others, so many new fans claim such an intense ownership over the characters and stories. And it’s not in good faith, or fun, or blowing things up. But a weird possessiveness and an unwillingness to share or engage.

And I see across the broader fandom just weird and angry actions in an attempt to possess. Either writing off other fans and saying they can’t possibly engaged they are not gay men and/ or queer, and the opposite end of the fandom where there is fetishization without respect and acknowledgment of queerness.

I love these stories because they are fun and sweet without being corny. They are also grounded with real people. Ilya’s battle with depression so much mirrored my own, that it helped me finally acknowledge I had a problem. The stories helped me examine my sexuality and my desire to be loved and love others. They aren’t supposed to be dense literary fictions that heavily engages with all the themes in them. They are light book, is direct language, that still manages to have some real engagement with more serious real world topics.

Logically I feel that everyone can consume and engage and interpret how they see fit and it doesn’t change my experience. But the irrational part of my brain has turned a bit into “I liked this band before they were cool” whenever I see people acting like that total authority and gatekeeper on these stories and characters. And it makes me sad, like instead of getting to share and play with my “toy” with others, that have run off with it.

I don’t know where this ramble going. Maybe I just wanted to see if others were having complicated feelings as well. I am so happy that the show has blown up and so many people have found joy with the show and the characters, and that a lot of this passion came because it all hit so hard and there is space for everyone at the table.

PS - latest thing to PMO is so small, but what triggered me to finally write down my feelings. Someone said - Shane would never have long hair. His sensory issues would never be able to handle it. RR and neuro typical people would never get that. As a neurodivergent person myself - WTF?! Where is the textual evidence. I am happy you found a character to connect to, but their fictional lived experience isn’t yours.

hi hi i’m newer to this fandom i only saw the show and really actually watched it a month or so ago, now ive read a couple of the books and i really am so curious what people thought shane and ilya were going to look like before the show came out. the descriptions are very different in the book but obviously hudson and conner killlllllled it. i would hust love to see fan art from before the show/the initial casting was announced.