Who wrote ‘Heated Rivalry’? Meet Rachel Reid now
Rachel Reid wrote Heated Rivalry. The 2019 novel that exploded into a 2025 HBO Max hit started with a Canadian writer who kept her hockey romances quiet until the rest of the world caught up. Her real name is Rachelle Goguen, and the pen name was chosen because it was simpler for readers to remember. The story of how she got here runs through secret fanfiction chapters, a Parkinson’s diagnosis, and a sudden adaptation that turned her into the face of a very specific kind of romance.
Early life in Nova Scotia
Reid grew up loving hockey but noticing how little room the sport made for anyone who didn’t fit the usual mold. She carried that tension into her fiction years later. The Game Changers series began as an outlet for her frustration with the league’s culture. Heated Rivalry became the second book and the one that caught the widest attention once the show arrived.
She wrote the first chapters without telling her family. The explicit scenes in particular felt risky. She posted them on fanfiction platforms and watched the responses grow before she ever considered a traditional publishing path. The decision to keep it private shaped how she handled the later spotlight.
By the time Carina Press released Heated Rivalry in 2019, she already had a small but loyal readership. Sales climbed steadily. When the adaptation news broke, the backlist numbers jumped again, pushing the series past 650,000 copies before the second season even started filming.
Marriage and family balance
Reid has been married to Matt Reid since 2008. They have two children. The household stayed separate from her writing life for years. She has said the shift to public recognition still feels strange, especially when strangers recognize her in airports or at events.
She now appears at BookCon and industry panels where the audience asks about both craft and the logistics of writing sex scenes that her relatives might read. The adjustment has been gradual. She admits she likes some of the attention and tries to ignore the rest.
Her Instagram account, @rachelreidwrites, sits at roughly 404,000 followers. She posts about upcoming releases and occasionally about the show’s casting. The feed gives readers a steady stream of updates without turning into a full publicity machine.
Parkinson’s diagnosis timing
In August 2023 Reid received an early-onset Parkinson’s diagnosis. Days later, filmmaker Jacob Tierney slid into her DMs about adapting the books. The coincidence still registers when she talks about that period. The health news and the career news arrived almost on top of each other.
She has described the overlap in interviews as both overwhelming and oddly stabilizing. The adaptation gave her a new professional focus while she adjusted to treatment. She has continued releasing books and appearing at events, though she now schedules around medical needs.
The timeline matters to readers who followed the show’s development. The same months that brought the series to HBO Max also marked a major personal shift for the author. The two threads run together in most recent profiles.
From book to HBO Max screen
Heated Rivalry centers on Canadian captain Shane Hollander and his cocky Russian rival, Ilya Rozanov. The enemies-to-lovers arc drives the story and the later television version. The show, which premiered in Canada on Crave in November 2025 and on HBO Max shortly after, pulled in strong streaming numbers from the start.
The adaptation blends the second book with elements from the first. Newcomers Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie play the leads. The on-screen “Hollanov” pairing quickly became the dominant fan conversation online. Reid has noted the pressure of writing while millions watch the characters she created years earlier.
A deluxe hardcover edition with fan-art endpapers is scheduled for September 29, 2026. The timing aligns with renewed interest from the series and gives longtime readers a physical edition that reflects the show’s aesthetic.
Why the hockey setting works
Reid has said the series attacks NHL culture directly. The books examine how homophobia operates inside locker rooms and front offices. The romance between two closeted captains lets her explore both the sport’s appeal and its limitations at the same time.
Readers have cited the emotional vulnerability between the leads as the element that keeps them returning. The explicit scenes sit inside a larger story about growth and risk. That combination helped push the subgenre of hockey romance into wider visibility after the show aired.
The upcoming seventh book, Unrivaled, moves the timeline forward. Shane and Ilya are now out and married, playing on the same team. Reid has teased additional characters, including Troy and Harris, who will expand the circle around the original couple.
Industry recognition and events
Reid received a Hollywood Reporter Women in Entertainment Canada Changemaker award in 2026. The recognition placed her alongside producers and executives rather than solely within romance circles. It reflected how far the adaptation had traveled beyond the original readership.
She has appeared on the TODAY Show and several podcasts discussing the shift from quiet releases to red-carpet events. The conversations often return to the same point: authors rarely expect to be recognized on the street, yet the show made that outcome inevitable for her.
Bookstore events and Spotify panels have become regular stops. She signs both the original paperbacks and the new deluxe edition. The crowds skew younger than traditional romance signings, a direct result of the streaming audience discovering the books after the series.
Reader and fan response
Goodreads ratings for Heated Rivalry sit around 4.26 from hundreds of thousands of reviews. Many readers say the book introduced them to hockey romance as a category. The show has amplified that effect, turning casual viewers into buyers of the full series.
Online, the “Hollanov” tag continues to trend whenever new episodes or casting news drops. Fan art and reaction videos circulate widely. Reid has acknowledged the volume of content without trying to police it, noting that the engagement keeps the property alive between seasons.
She has also fielded questions about how the adaptation handles the explicit material from the page. Early reviews suggest the show balances the source’s tone while adjusting for network standards. Readers who came for the steam have largely stayed for the character work.
Market expansion and sales
Pre-adaptation sales already placed the Game Changers series on the New York Times bestseller list. Post-premiere numbers pushed several titles back onto the chart. The spike has prompted Carina Press to accelerate reprint schedules and special editions.
International interest has grown as well. The show streams in Australia and Latin America on HBO Max, and rights deals for additional territories are reportedly in discussion. Reid’s backlist benefits from each new market the series enters.
Merchandise tied to the show remains limited so far. The deluxe hardcover and a small run of character prints represent the main official tie-ins. Reid has said she prefers keeping the focus on the books rather than flooding the market with unrelated products.
Future projects and health
Reid continues treatment while writing Unrivaled. She has described the process as manageable with adjusted schedules and support from her publisher. The second season of the show remains in development, with no firm premiere date announced yet.
She has mentioned interest in exploring side characters who appeared only briefly in earlier books. Those threads could extend the series beyond the original core couple. Readers tracking the Instagram account receive the earliest hints about which directions she is considering.
Where the story heads next
The author who once posted chapters anonymously now navigates awards, streaming deals, and medical adjustments in the same year. Heated Rivalry sits at the center of that shift, the book that introduced the characters and the property that brought the wider audience. Reid’s next moves will determine whether the series settles into a long-running franchise or stays a sharp, contained success tied to one specific rivalry and the writer who refused to let it stay secret.
