Boozy Bookgasms - Love in the crease: Heated Rivalry Part 2

Episode Date: April 22, 2026

Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid  Someone sedate Miranda! Things get heated once again as the ladies break down episodes 3-6 of Jacob Tierney's series, heated Rivalry based on the novel by Rachel Reid. We're talking tuna melts, the ginger ale of it all and forbidden love. So pour yourself a signature cocktail and join us for some laughs as we wrap up season 4!   Signature Cocktail: Rivalry Reignited Today’s cocktail is called Rivalry Reignited. Unlike our last episode’s drink, which was sweet and a little deceptive, this one doesn’t pretend to be nice. Smoky mezcal, sharp grapefruit, and just enough spice to let you know things have escalated. Because once a rivalry crosses the line…there’s no going back.   Ingredients:  2 oz mezcal 1 oz fresh grapefruit juice ½ oz fresh lime juice ½ oz agave syrup 2–3 dashes orange bitters Tajín or chili-lime seasoning for rim Ice Instructions Rim a rocks glass with lime juice and Tajín. Fill the glass with ice. In a shaker combine mezcal, grapefruit juice, lime juice, agave, and bitters. Shake well and strain over ice. Garnish with a grapefruit wedge or charred lime.

Part of it, too, was me talking about dating the loser man who can't swim. No, and mind you, he's texting me like, do you still want to see each other this weekend? Like, am I going to see you? Brother, I hope I don't even see you in the afterlife. Like, oh, my God. Buckle of literature fans, we're in for some boozy bookgasms today. Join three cousins creating a titillating headspace where steamy romance novels collide with strong cards. So sit back, sip slow and enjoy the ride.

Welcome back for another episode of Bozy Bookgasms. I'm Lynn. I'm Jen. And I'm Kim. We still have our special guest, Miranda, here with us, another cousin. We're so glad she's back for the second episode of Heated Rivalry. We are recapping the show, the six episode series. Miranda is a super fan, has been keeping us up to speed on all of the lore. It's a lot of full, long looks, rivalries, affairs, and a sweet ending, or two or three or four. A lot of ending. But before we get going, Kim, what are we drinking tonight?

Today's cocktail is called Rivalry United. Unlike our last episode's drink, which was kind of sweet, little deceptive. This one doesn't even pretend to be nice. It's smoky mescal, sharp grapefruit, and just enough spice to let you know things are escalating. So once a rivalry crosses. that line, there is no going back. So we've got mescal, grapefruit, lime juice, cigarave, orange bitters. And then, you know, we've been using taheen a lot lately in our drink.

I love it. We know how much Jenny likes a good rim. Oh, rim job. Yep. Rimming. So, yeah, rim jobs are always, always popular here. We'll rim this one with some tahin for you. Yum.

Thank you. Yeah. I love mescal. Tasty. So we are recapping episodes four through six. We finished episodes one through three in the last one. So if you didn't listen to that episode, please go back because we will have tons of spoilers. So we opened up episode four.

The first little bit of this episode is a cascade of years, like a montage. And a good one at that. It's really good one. So they're playing in 2014, in between seasons, kind of running, texting each other. They're very different in-between season attitudes. Hollander is working out. He's doing promo deals, quiet, nice at home. Rosanoff is partying in club.

with his friends, Fetlana, and then we go into the next season where they're fucking the whole time. Then we move on. One of them wins the Stanley Cup, watching each other on TV. Now we're in the summer of 2015. Both of them working out, Rosenoff still partying and fucking his life away. And Miranda told us in the last book, he was sleeping with a lot of women. He's a fuckboy. Yeah, I think they try to do the catch up of like, he's partying.

He's still doing that. But he's not sleeping with men. He's only sleeping with women. He dabbles. It's unclear. In the book he dabbled, but the men, it's less safe because it's like, oh, what if they blab? Because he can't be gay. So it's few and far between, but like, yeah, he dabbles.

He goes back and forth. Mostly women, though. Their lives are hyper speed, but they're still keeping track of each other. So then there's the next season. There's more sex. Just little snippets of them kind of getting together. It's really, I feel like trying to build, they've been hooking up for years. So it's like they're more familiar with each other and more comfortable.

It's not insta love. Yes. Like, it's trying to show that they've been. hooking up and they are familiar with each other for a while. And I think that that's where I struggle with episode one and two was it just felt somewhat transactional and not really a relationship. So I guess this is meant to help us get to that, see how long term it's gone. So Hollander wins his second Stanley Cup. Rosenoff is still watching lots of banter via text. And we get a glimpse of Rosenoff's dad. So during one of the summer breaks, Rosanoff is back in Russia. He's with his dad.

There's medicine bottles. He's like trying to take care of him. So we know that that's going to come back up. They hinted at the fact that he, the dad was a bit sick in the first half of the series. We start the episode, really, in October 2016. So you'll remember these guys met in 2008. So it's been eight years of this sort of on again, off again, romance between them. Hayden is one of Shane's friends and plays hockey with him. And what I didn't realize in the first half of the series was they share a room a lot, I guess, when they're on the road.

That's his best friend on the team. That's very common for athletic teams. You're usually a rookie. You're usually a rookie will room with a more senior member of the team. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you read the first book of Scott and Kipp, Scott kind of touches on the only person who really gets their own room is like the team captain. Everybody else shares, okay, when they're traveling. That was definitely interesting to me.

But Hayden tries to set up Holliner on a date at the aquarium. Yeah, and all these kids. How many kids did this guy have? They were hanging off him. Like four or five, yeah. There's like wife was pregnant with her four. Another running joke is that they have like a thousand kids. So he tries to set up Holliner on a date, and he kind of acquiesces just to sort of get him out of his hair.

Back in Boston, Rosenoff is watching Hollander on TV, promoting his new cabin on the lake or cottage. In Canada, they call them cottages. And he's doing some sort of like 2020 or something. And they're doing this B-roll with him doing yoga in front of his cabin on the lake. Hollander goes to Rosenoff. They're there for a game. The tuna melt scene. Yes.

Hollander walks into the house and is kind of like, wow. And he's like, should we talk? And Rosenoff's like, no, after. And then they have a lot of sex. After the sex. Right, right. Rosenov asked Shane to stay the night. Do you have anywhere to be tomorrow?

We don't play till the afternoon. And he says, no, I don't have anywhere to be. And he's like, great, just stay here. So they do wake up. He's in the kitchen. He's like, hey, would you like a tuna mouth? And he's like, ah, a tuna mouth. He's like, well, I'm making one for me.

I can make two. And he's like, sure. He's trying to be all nonchalant. And he just wants to cook his meal. I guess he goes to make the tuna melt. Then we're on the couch. Don't skip over the ginger ale. Oh, he does offer him ginger ale.

The gingerail of it all is huge. Is it? It became a thing that I couldn't figure out why it was so huge. Clock this, clock this. The whole series, every time that Shane is at a restaurant with his friends, he always asked for a ginger ale. In the last scene where he's at lunch with his family, he asked for a gingerail, and the waiter says, no, we don't have that.

We only have sparkling water. And he's like, oh, okay, that's fine. Yeah, that's right. It's like, okay, fine. It's a symbol of being taken care of and understood. And I know people are going to be like, you're reaching. I'm not. It's literally.

Very confident. I'm not reaching. Hayden makes a comment about it too because Hayden's like, oh, if you want my wife to keep stocking our fridge with ginger ale, that's Shane's thing. Because he doesn't drink because he's very like OCD the diet. Ilya having ginger ale knowing like he had to stock his fridge with ginger ale because he knows that that's what Shane drink. But he tried to play it off there. He's like, you want a ginger ale? rail or, you know, whatever.

Yes. Like, he was like, oh, like, I have it in my fridge. Like, it's whatever. And him being like, oh, is it cold enough? He's taking care of his man. But he's trying to be nonchalant. I totally missed that. That was so sweet.

It's very cute. Unbelievable, Jen. Unbelievable. Pay attention. There are multiple times where Shane will ask for a gingerail and people don't have it. And the only person that has it and it's cold and it's like ready for him is Ilya. Oh, I just got chills. Heart flutter.

I know. Because he's taking care of his man. Well, and in the book, it's from Shane's POV. Ilya's favorite drink is a Coca-Cola. And Shane has the recognition of like, Ilya knows my favorite drink. And then he was like, well, I guess I know Ilya's favorite drink. I like's Coca-Cola.

I guess we know more about each other than I thought. We're paying attention. Once again, it's kind of building that like, this is more than sex. As a reader or like a viewer, you can start to clock, oh, yeah, you're trying to be nonchalant about this, but it's very shalong. I think that's right. But yes. I'm still confused why they made.

tuna melts in the morning. It's in the book. Everyone is horrified by the tuna. It's like so gross. Heavy breathing into each other's tuna breath. Yeah. I just love. No. They are on the couch. They start to talk about each other's lives. For me, this was like first date talk. Small talk. And they've never had this before in eight years. It's a little awkward. It's awkward because they're literally asking first date content. This is not a hookup. This is a date. We're spending time together. We're getting to know each other. We're getting closer. It's taking sex out of the equation and then it's like, okay, what is there now that there's no sex? Now what do we talk about?

Not tuna melts. Romanov gets a call from his dad and so he excuses himself is talking in Russian so Shane can't understand what he's saying. But he's obviously very frustrated. We get the closed captions more insight into the dementia, like how far it's progressed. And that no one's there taking care of him. Ilya feels badly that he's not there to help. And also, I'm paying all this money for you to be taken care of and like you're not being taken care of. Gilt.

He sends to the brother a lot of money. and the brother has a co-cabbit. And parties. And it's just generally awful. In the first part of the series, too, we see some interactions between him and his brother where his brother's out parting, asking for more money. Throwing the fact that he's got a kid in his face and you make all this money. Oh, you're so rich and famous. You can't share it with your family.

It's a lot of that. Before the conversation with his dad, Elia brings up, do you like girls? There's lots of pretty girls in the cities that we go to. And Shane's like, oh yeah, I guess. And you can see in his face, he's like, why the fuck is he asking me about girls? I don't like girls. That's when you learn, oh, Ilya is bi. Ilya and Shane are not the same in the sense that Ilya does like both.

And he admits to Shane and is very open of, yeah, I like both. Shane gets clammy of, oh, yeah, I like girls. And you're like, the closet is glass, girl. Like, you do not. I think he is still really struggling. He's not super sure. I got, I know I'm gay, but I can't be gay because it's not the right thing to me. He knows he's gay. I don't think he does yet. I think he knows he's gay. And I think

I'll always feel. I think that he isn't very sure yet. And maybe he's questioning like, maybe I could go both ways. And maybe that's what opens him up to his next relationship. Rizzov comes back from his call with his dad. And he's obviously feeling a bit vulnerable. And Shane cuddles him. And this is a very vulnerable moment for them where they're finally getting past the fuck buddy relationship, you know, really cuddles him. But then Shane mounts him and great couch sex scene with some jacking off. Yeah. I think at some point the tuna melts come out.

The tuna melts come out. There was a big discourse of like, what are they doing? Because in the book, they are fucking. It's not like a jerking off situation. And then the show, people are like, I think it's frocking. Start to the net. Frogging? That's weird.

They put the penises together. And then you jacked them both off at the same time. Yes. You like touch tips, basically. And a lot of women were getting their eyes opened. I have questions. You'll raise your hand. I don't understand.

I did a visual. She was checking both of their penises off at the same time. That's what it is. It's rocking, I think. Someone Google that. Someone's going to correct me, and I'm fine with that. What's your question, Kim? I'm just trying to visually figure out how that works.

With the single ounce of spit. I thought there's some pre-com in there somewhere. And is there any safe sex in this story at all. Yes. In the book, there is. They always use condoms. In the first scene that they have sex, he pulls out the condoms from the drawer, and that's when Ilya's like, oh, do you have enough? I do remember that part.

They fuck with condoms. That's the only time, no. Okay, yes, but I feel like that's like them saying they use condoms. It's like implied. The only other sex is all like montagey. True. Every scene in the book, they use a condom. She's very specific about that.

That makes me feel better. Thank you. No disease spreading guys. We're good. I appreciate that. Is that your only question, kept? That was my only question. Thank you for us.

The most interesting part about this scene on the couch with the dual dick jackoff is they use each other's first names for the first time. Oh, yes, it is the first time. They have a very intense first name sexual moment. And it's so pivotal, which is what freaks Shane the fuck up. He really starts freaking out. After Ilya says it, you can see the bliss on Ilya's face. Him being like, oh, I'm in love with him, this like post nut clarity.

Did you just say postnut? I just want to clarify? Yes, I did. I'm stealing that. Postnut. We'll sauce that nug later. He's like glist out. So intense.

Him admitting Shane's name is him admitting I'm in love with you. And then Shane says Ilya. And then immediately is the opposite reaction. Shane's immediate reaction is, oh, no, no, no, no, no. This is too serious. Oh my God. I might be in love with him and I have to leave. And usually what happens when Shane starts freaking out is Rosstaff becomes kind of a dick,

just like puts up a wall. He's so confused by the whole situation. Because he was vulnerable. He just says, okay, and like, let Shane walk out. And it was actually quite heartbreaking. Oh, his face was like, what is happening? Miserable. It was sad.

The way he's like, Shane, he says it twice. And the second one is like, don't do this. The first one is like, hey, calm down. Don't go. And the second one is like, you know what's happening. Don't go. Oh, my God. It like literally was like, it was heartbreaking.

Oh, I had to pause. So Shane does rush out. Next scene, he's at lunch with his parents talking about his promo deals and his career. And the mom is talking to him about Rolex wants to have him in the Wimbledon box. There's going to be a Swedish princess there. And I kind of thought they're probing. They're trying to figure out what's going on with their son. Yeah, they're trying to figure it out. I also got the same vibe, Lynn. Because he's not with anyone. Like, wouldn't you want to be excited about a Swedish princess? And he's like, no, I don't want to talk about this. I appreciate his mom and dad dynamic. Shane's

mom is like, momager mode. His dad is always checking in on him. How are you doing? Always testing the waters. Yeah, what's going on. Shane finally just says, no, I only have so much time in the summer to take a break. I don't want to spend a week in Wimbledon. And the parents are like, but it'll be so great. And he's like, then you go. And they're like, well, we can't go without you. That was a little icky. I didn't like that. Was I the only one? We need to force you to go because we want this vacation. That's what it felt like. Oh, I didn't get that vibe at all. Oh, I totally did. You could have gotten that vibe. I would never do that to my kid. I mean, we'll see. I was like, the dad obviously rounds out the conversation of, if you want to go, I think it would be fun. Shane says, let's talk about it. It could be fun. And he acquiesces. Yeah, he just kind of concedes.

To me, that was sad because, like, he didn't want to go. You know what? I felt the same way. I felt like it was forced upon him and he was doing all of this because that's what they wanted him to do. Cut scene. He's at home at night by himself, which is par usual. Like, he's kind of a homebody. He gets called up by one of his player friends.

and says, hey, I'm at this cool party. Jay, Jay. Our chef friend at this restaurant, throwing this after-hours thing, all the actors and actresses from the show that's being filmed in Montreal are going to be here. X- Squad. You must come.

Yeah, very ex-minish. He gets convinced to go. And flirts with the bartender. He orders to drill. The bartender goes, we do have it. But he makes him feel weird about it. And Ilya would never. And he's like, fine, I'll take a beer.

So he drinks a beer, probably just because he's sad about the Ilya thing. He also got peer pressured. He ends up in the booth with this actress named Rose. I think he's, like, trying to escape. He just kind of sits and then he's like, oh, fuck, someone else is sitting here. She was eating fries. Because she's so different and quirky. She's so quirky.

She's eating fries. I loved her. I liked her, too. Stop hating on her, Miranda. I'm not hating. I think she's, like, kind of cringe, but I think it's just of the time. It was refreshing to see an actress eating French fries. Right.

I think that's where it's like, she's so different. I'm like, girl, it's not. that whimsical. I like her. I'm an actress eating fries in a public place by myself enjoying the fuck out of these fries, but I can't eat them also. Why don't I share with this average Joe who's pretending to be straight? Average Joe. That's what happened. Why don't I share with this hot-ass man that I want to fuck? No one can blame her. The entire story arc with her. She was amazing. I like her a lot. And I think she is the perfect friend. Like he needed her. Oh, 100%.

So they end up playing poker with all the friends at the bar. And she puts her hand on his leg and he puts his hand on her leg. He flirts with her first because he makes the comment when they're in the booth of like, oh, you know who I am? Oh, they have a total cute banter. And they end up talking for hours. And then he makes the comment, are you going to be in town for a while? Wait, I kind of like her.

This could be the girl. This could be the girl that I finally date. This is how I can prove that I'm not gay. as I could be with this woman. So now they're in a relationship, right? We're fast forwarding. And the media catches it. And the media picks up on it, right?

And we're very much hockey player actress. They're hard launch. Hard launch. And Rosenov's in the locker room and all his teammates are like, oh my gosh, have you seen it? Hollanders with this Rose actress, finding out that he is now dating a woman. He's fraught. He gets off the bike.

He bought her and jealous. That is his man. He hits his foot on the thing and curses. and I stub my toe because he's just so sad. But it's all over the place. And we've all been there, girl. Yeah. And then she goes to the games, gets tons of press, everybody's looking at her,

where's this jersey? And she's like a huge super fan. Don't piss me off. The Taylor Swift of it all. Yeah. They are the A-list couple. And they're everywhere. Everybody's obsessed with them, the fans, the media, all of it.

Yeah, and he's a darling, right? I mean, he's been popular. One, two cups already. The captain. He's a golden boy. So they're still dating, but Montreal and Boston, the two teams that Shane and Ilya play for, play against each other. All you hear is the talking heads who are like, where the hell were they? They didn't show up to the game because each of them are so in their heads about each other that they can't show up on the actual race.

It's like going to a dance and seeing your ex there. Now you're like, fuck him. I'm going to dance better. I'm going to look better. I'm going to do better. Yeah, my girlfriend's in the stands with my jersey on. Uh-huh. Well, I don't think that Shane felt that way.

I think Shane was proving it to himself, not to Ilya. And Ilya was so hurt. Then he was like mad. He's jealous. That's his man. So Rose had texted Shane before the game and said, I can't be there, but come meet me after. So he goes, which he typically doesn't do, shows up with this club. Once again, not being himself, drinking, partying.

That is not Shane. Orders a beer. And she says, I won't make you dance. But of course, as soon as he shows up, she's like, dance with me, dance with me. and he doesn't obviously want to do that, but he does. And Ilya shows up at the club and sees him with Rose. Oh, my God, girl. He, like, is twitchy.

And he's in his room with his roommate and he's like, I got to get laid. Call the boys. We're going out. But of course they end at the same place. Of course. If y'all want to know some, like, background info because we know I'm, like, actually crazy and not normal about this show at all. The actor who plays that roommate, he's also the one who showed Ilya,

like look who Shane's dating at the same person. That's a trans actor. And so like inclusivity, yay. That's cool. How do you find this stuff out? Because I'm crazy. She has watched every single thing about this show ever. That's funny.

So they're at the club. He's dancing and Ilya sees him there, grabs a blonde, starts dancing with her. Ilya sees Rose's friend first. And that's how Ilya knows. Because you see him clock the friend first and you can tell in his brain he's like, Shane is here. If that friend is here, Rose is here. and if Rose is here, Shane is here, and then he starts scanning.

And the same thing happens to Shane because Shane sees Ilya's friend on his team and he sees him. And then he goes, oh, fuck, Ilya's here. And he starts scanning. Oh, my God, girl. This scene is so, it's so important to me. Like, I cannot. Ilya's been the hard ass the whole time. Now he's the vulnerable one and it's so hard to watch.

But he grabs the blonde, very Ilya style, starts basically making out with her on the dance floor. Sucking on her ear? You slut. I wouldn't turn that away. He's hot. But Shane's, he's dancing with Rose. And this is the weird part, right? Like the gay best friend of Rose comes up and starts dancing behind him.

Because the gay best friend has already clocked the fact that he's gay. And this is fascinating to me. Does not happen in the book. But I've always wondered about this. It was interesting. Is there a vibe? Is there some essence that you give off? I'm sure there's a vibe.

There's got to be something there where you spot your people. You know your people. I know that girl's a bitch. We're going to be friends. That kind of thing. In the book, when they're all sitting at that booth, the friend is flirting with Shane and Shane clocks it. Shane is like, oh, I'm getting uncomfortable because her friend is flirting with me and they go dance

to get away from him. It bothers me because I was like, that doesn't make sense for Shane's story. This is the only thing that I do not agree with in the show is Shane would never do that. If the friend was dancing on him, Shane would have freaked the fuck out. I thought that was so weird that he didn't. Even Shane was uncomfortable. And he walked away very quickly, but they didn't make as big a deal about that. In the book, he's like panicking where he's like, oh, her friend is flirting with me.

I don't know what to do about this. And then they go dance by themselves because he's like, I don't want to be around this friend. Can we talk about what a shitty friend this is? That you're out on the dance floor with your date and he's all up on him behind him. I would literally be like, you're trying to fuck my boyfriend. And he was, obviously. Yeah. I'd be pissed. I didn't like it.

So Ilya's dancing with the blonde. Shane sees him. He walks away from Rose and the friend and stares at Ilya dancing with his blonde. But then you get snapshots of later in the night with Shane with Rose in his apartment with her taking her clothes off and walking up the stairs and him being very torn about following her up the stairs. Like, oh, do I stay? And he finally goes up the stairs and starts fucking Rose and you cut to Ilya on his own in the shower. jacking off, thinking about Shane, did not go home with a blonde all by himself, cut scene end of episode four. And that was crazy. So we cut to episode five and she's getting ready to leave his house and he apologizes. He couldn't perform. He couldn't perform. And she's like,

it's totally fine. But maybe you just, you and me get together for dinner later this week. Okay. He's like, yeah, I know what you are. You get the sense that this is not the first time that this has happened. I have never been in this situation where a man cannot perform, but I felt like she handled it very well. Oh, so well. Settle flex from Kim. She's like, every man always wants to fuck me. What do you do? Are you like, okay, so this isn't happening. Let's watch a movie. It's awkward for everybody. But she's like, maybe it was just a weird night. Yeah, she's not ready to totally out him. But she wants to be sure. She's like, I think we have a great time together. But the sex is not clicking.

Are you gay? She was so beautiful about it with him. And she basically says, this is okay. And she asks, have you been with another man? And he says, yes. He outs himself. And she says, is it better? He not.

Oh, he is. Yes, it is better. She was a class act. And this is why, when Mandy, when you were trying to dog her a little and I was like, I can't, she was too classy. She was awesome. And then acted like his bestie. She said we're going to be best friends. I want to hear all about it.

You're going to call me. You're going to let me know. It's just like, oh, it was so sweet the way she handled it. She said 70% of my boyfriends have been gay. And he's like, what? She's a theater girl. It's 70%. He has flashbacks.

While she's having that conversation with him, she's like, oh, have you been with a man before? Only thinking about Ilya. It's showing scenes to the viewer of him and Ilya. It's different footage. You feel like you're in. in his memories. It's the same scene, but it's a different cut of the scene. Like his point of view. Now you're feeling like you're in his memories of these flashbacks. Oh my God, Hudson Williams, the man that you are, the actor that you are, like, he is such a perfect Shane. Shane is so

inside of himself. Yeah, he's very insular. He doesn't have a lot of dialogue. All of his stuff is so internal. And I feel like Hudson Williams does such a great job of showing that in Shane. Yeah. And this scene, is such an indicator of that. You can see all of it on his face. I'm like, where is his Oscar? Where is his Emmy? Like, oh my God. So their dinner is very supportive and obviously very pivotal for Shane. Love Rose Down. He realizes that he is probably just gay. They leave the restaurant and she says, if you need somebody to talk to, I'm here for you. Let's be friends. And he's like, really? And she's like, yes, like best friends. You won't get away for me now. She could not have done that better. And he needed that because Ilya has Spetlana and Shane. had nobody. Very lonely. So now Shane's single again. They have the East versus the West, the All-Star game, because it's Montreal and Boston. And then Scott Hunter gets a little nod here, who's in New York, are all on the East Coast team, play the West Coast team. So they get to play together for the very first time. So they meet in the bar. Poor Shane has hired a stylist. So he has different clothes on. Ilya's kind of making fun of him. But they sit there and kind of start to be friends. He was so vulnerable.

Ilya was so guarded. He didn't know that him and Rose had broken up yet. So he's probing. And poor Shane, who's awkward already. Where Ilya's like, did you come with anyone? He says, my family's not here. But he doesn't say Rose. Because Ilya is probing.

Did you bring your girlfriend? And he does it like three separate times. Alone. Can we meet up? It's going right over his head. Where's Rose? Did you bring Rose? Where's Rose finally gets there.

So they're playing together. And there's a couple of really cute hockey scenes where they're like on the same side. They're working really well together. Like, they practically kiss on the rink because, like, they made a goal. It was really, really adorable. They are at the pool at the same time. Shane watches Ilya play with these kids in the pool and, like, falling deeper in love. They end up together on the beach.

Oh, the beach. Their hands are right next to each other. The sunset. There's a room number switch. Well, and mind you, in this episode, there has been little to no sex. Right. This is just their relationship. And I remember watching it and being like, okay, when are they going to fuck?

Not to like sound like a freak. I mean a little bit, but that's okay. The relationship becomes deeper. Showing like, okay, yes, they're having sex. That's not the focus. As a viewer, focus on the fact that this is happening. And I actually really love romance novels that we do that are like this, right? Whereas the relation becomes deeper, there's still sex at the end, but it becomes more about their relationship versus just the hot sex.

Well, that's why the first few episodes, you've, didn't enjoy it because it was sex without emotion. And now we're doing emotion without sex. Yeah. We flipped it. I think the series was done so well. It's so intentional. That's how a lot of relationships are. That's how they start. Especially the gay ones. Yeah. Totally. They end up back in the hotel room. He went from this like very open relationship with Rose. And now they're back hiding again. And Shane's nervous again. He's awkward again. It's almost like they're starting over. So cute. He asked I mean you please sit down and he says, I think I'm gay. And Rosentoff's like, no shit, dude.

Yeah, and he was like, oh, what made you think that? And he's like, no, no, but like completely gay. And he's like, great. Like, good for you. Yes, we are tracking. No shit. He's like, what is this thing between us? And I think Rosenoff really feels like he needs to talk Shane off a ledge a little bit and

says like, listen, this is just simple. Like we don't have to over complicate this thing. This is where Shane is starting to be like, I'm gay. I like you. And I'm like, oh, we can. This is where from Ilya's POV, he's like, this is getting serious. I have to stop. And this is Shane finally coming forward and being vulnerable. And Ilya is like, oh, I think I am in love with him, but we can't be in love because of the hockey, because of the rivalry. My family. Because of the Russia. Because of Russia. Like the whole fucking scene. Rosenoff is like, we can keep doing this thing in hiding. Let's keep this really simple. We obviously care for each other, but like we can't be out. And he talks about it. And he talks about. He has a dad and his brother who are police. His dad has dementia.

His life is too hard. Yeah, you get more of his backstory, I feel. Yeah, you get more vulnerability from Ilya. Then Ilya goes and crawls on his lap and they have a very tender moment hugging each other. And to our point about how there's less sex in this episode, they cut scene. Deluded that they have sex. We don't see it. It's not about that.

The next scene is Ilya half naked on the bed as Shane's walking out. But you do notice that they're back to first names. Then Shane's back in the locker room. After a game, one of his friends say, hey, did you know that Rosanoff didn't make it to Nashville? He wasn't on the plane with his teammates. And no one knows where he is. And he's like, well, what's the media saying? Everybody's being really cagey about it.

So he's texting. What's going on? Are you okay? And finally, we understand that his dad had passed away. And so he had to fly back to Russia for the funeral. So when he goes to Russia, they're at a big dinner. This is the first time that you see Aaliyah's backstory. This is the first time that you're like, okay,

Now I'm understanding. It's a real vision of what's happening behind the scenes. You feel that pressure and stress when he's sitting at that family dinner. It's ugly. And so he excuses himself from this very awkward dinner table. His brother follows him into the bathroom and says, so what's the plan now? The scene was crazy. Ilya is like, my dad just died.

He's not cold in the ground. Can you get me a minute? Our dad. Not even just, I'm like, this is his brother. Alexi's like, well, what the fuck, dude? I have a daughter. We've got things to do. What do you want? Hey me more. Luckily, Svetlana, who is totally in love with him, walks in. The brothers, of course, pissed that she's there. Ily pushes his brother against a wall and says, fuck you. You can have my apartment in the city. I will set up a trust for your daughter until she is 18 years old. Then she can access it. Otherwise, stay out of my life. I never want to talk to you again. It was amazing. I loved this. I did too.

Alexi finally leaves. Spatlana pushes him and says, I love you. And I know you love me. me, but I'm not the one you're in love with. She's known that all along. I felt like it was a Rose Shane conversation. And she says it's never going to be with us like it is with Jane. She changes the pronoun too in that scene. He's a lucky guy. That's where she says he, and that's when you know, oh, she's clocked it all along.

She's known the whole time. So he's walking the streets of Russia and he FaceTime. Oh, this part. So good. Somebody sedate me. I can't. Shane's in a hotel room. He has to like run out of the hotel room to go into the stairwell to

talk. He needs to hear Shane's voice. Shane's asking me to say it okay. And he finally says, I can't talk anymore. English is too hard right now. And Shane says, would it be better if you just spoke in Russian? Like, I won't understand you, but maybe it'll make you feel better. And he was like, yes, I think that would help. And so he speaks to him in Russian. Of course, Shane cannot understand a word of it, but we can because we get the closed caption. In the book, you do not get any of Ilya's speech. So you don't know? Yeah, girl, I'll clock that fucking tea. Do you get it in Russian? No. You get it's from Shane's POV, I truly think the TV show is better than the book. Peace and love to Rachel. Peace and love. Which also again means no peace, no love.

And in Miranda's language. Doc, because shots are about to be fired, but go ahead. And that was one of the things that readers were so excited to see. Is he going to translate what Ilius says? Because that scene is from Shane's POV. And Shane is saying like how beautiful Ilya's voice sounds, how much he loves hearing him speak in Russian. Oh my God, it's so good. I'm going to throw up. Don't throw up. Hold that back. But the things that are being shared are heartbreaking. Oh, heavy.

I mean, he talks all about how awful his dad was and how much he misses his mom and how his brother's a fucking asshole. I pay for everything and I still don't feel like I do enough. I hate Russia. And then the inevitable admittance, I just want to be with you and I love you. There was a part of me that was like, does he understand him? because of the bliss look on his face. I also, I was like, oh, wait till he said something in Russian back.

I was thinking the same thing, Kim. I was like, he's going to say it. I was like, do it, do it, do it. This was done so well and so sweet. Russian is not a beautiful language. Her disagree. It's like German. There's like, like, V.

Like, it's like, Jenny's like, yeah, that Russian does it for me. I was done. In this moment, it was beautiful. It was soft. It was just well articulated. Very vulnerable. So we're back in regular season. They're playing each other.

They're supposed to meet up afterwards. And they're kind of flirting, like looking at each other. Shane looks back at Ilya and smiles and one of Ilya's team members clocks him. And he goes out cold. It's called a check and hockey. Yeah. Jenny with the fact check. Jenny would know that.

But Ilya is visibly distraught. Oh, he's pacing on the ice. They are meant to be rivals. Nobody can understand why he cares someone. They tell him to go back to the sidelines. He can't take his eyes off of Shane. He's barely speaking. Ilya is freaking the fuck out.

Back in the hospital room, Ilya comes to visit him. You can tell he's a bit twitchy. Like, he probably shouldn't be there. And Shane is so obviously heavily medicated that he might say anything. Tells him, my teammate feels awful. He didn't obviously mean to do that. He's like, yeah, it happens. We all get our bell rung every so often.

Like, he's so blist out from like the drug. He's on morphineers. He goes to like hold Ilya's hand and he finally says this summer, don't go to Russia, come to my cottage. Adding book context, Ilya's POV going into that is I'm breaking up with him. Yeah, yeah, girl. Because it was so stressful on the ice. Because Ilya watching him get hurt is Ilya's feeling of like, this is too serious. I need to break it off.

He's got some angst. But you can tell he's not fully committed to the cottage or seeing him again. And he's just like, I want to get out of here. Shane has broken a collarbone. Severe concussion. He's out of the rest of the season. Shane goes home to his parents' house to be taking care of. And there is a really kind of cute scene where the mom says to the dad, did you know I

I came to visit Shane in the hospital? I guess I hate him a little bit less now. She knows everything. She's momager. She does. The dad calls her a witch. Yeah, he's a witch. Like, how would you even know that?

She predicts that Scott Hunter is going to win the Stanley Cup and he's like, how the fuck would you know that? She even makes that comment about Ilya being injured, his ribs. And she's like, oh, he's favoring this side. She clocks everything. And then Shane's like, how would you even know that? And then says, how are your ribs? And he's like, they hurt. She's a hockey psycho. And she knows all of these things. We do cut to the Stanley Cup. Ilya is not in the Stanley Cup and neither is Shane. But you see them both at their respective houses watching the game. Back to. Scott Hunter and the smoothie man, Kip, and their relationship. This is the end of book one. It's so cute. I just love this couple so much.

Scott Hunter wins the Stanley Cup. He has gotten a bad rap. The whole series really, like he's down and out. He's too old. They were not nice to him. He's like 31. It's the same in the book. He's on a losing streak because when him and Kip start to fall out, his performance

shows it. And so... It's a redemption. His redemption story. When he finally like accepts himself, his dad. game gets better. Right. When him and Kip were on the outs, he was laying like shit.

So he went to the Stanley Cup and he looks up into the stadium and sees Kip with his friend Elena. Now, they're broken up, we think, because, you know, he didn't come to the birthday party. Kip said, I don't want to be with you if can't be with me. So he's won the Stanley Cup. He looks up. He brings Kip down to the ice. Everybody is bringing their families on the ice.

And he's alone. Kipp's like, what are you doing? You don't have to do this. And he's like, yes, I do. I love you. And he's like, I love you too. And he makes out with him in the middle of the ring. Right on camera.

Right on the camera. And everybody knows that it's happening. And it's so crazy first gay man in hockey. The next scene is Ilya calling Shane and says, I will meet you at your cabin this summer. I'm coming to the cottage. Yay! Cut scene. So Scott Hunter basically inspired Ilya to take the leap.

The way the show did it, and it was so much better than the book, but you feel that this is history making. Yeah. Because everybody knows where they are when he does it. You see where everybody's sitting. You see the moment everybody's in when this happens. You know where the parents are sitting. I mean. Yeah, because he's obviously recovering.

And the family is like, oh, my God. Oh, though. Everyone is like shocked, right? They don't know what's going on. And you see Shannon Ilya's face. Both of them are texting. What's going on? I don't know.

What the hell is you doing? I don't know. It's everyone's freaking out about this monumental moment in hockey. If you think of the real world parallel, Heater rivalry obviously is set in like early 2000s to mid-2010s. Even to this day, there was not an out-N-H-L player until after Heathel rivalry. Oh no, totally. I saw this. There is one.

One guy came out because of He-de-Rival, just a few weeks ago. Yes. If you think of like the context of it, to this day in 2026, like there was still one singular. That just blows my mind, though. It really does. in today's time. You can think about all pro sports. How many gay football players do we know about? I'm sure there's a lot. We just don't know about it. Basketball? What? More than hockey. I don't know any. They don't talk about it. You don't see it very often. So that's how we end episode five. So episode six. The cottage. This episode is my favorite. Everything culminates together. We start with Scott Hunter winning the MVP award for the year. Yay, Scott Hunter. Like, down and out for most of the series. And he gives this really moving. speech about where he came from and where he was at his career, but then he found love and he

says to Kip, I love you. And Kipp's with his little friends at the gay bar that they all hang out at and they're all like sweet. And it was very cute ending to their story. That bar is a bad character in the book. Safe space. Then we get to the summer at the cottage. Shane picks up Ilya from the Ottawa airport. God, this is hilarious. Ilya's fucking awkward, getting into the car with the suitcase. Like they're back to being fucking awkward, which is sort of endearing and sort of just annoying at this point. And them and their little summer clothes in Canada, I'm like... Yes.

But Ilya is hot as fucking a tank top. I did not think he was hot. I don't think tank taps are hot. I was not loving the tank top, but also it's indicative of the times. It's 2018. That's what they were wearing. This was only 10 years ago. It's not that long ago.

It's not like he's in bell bottoms, you know. It's like 1960s, guys. He gives him shit about his car, too. What was he? What was that car? Eco. Because it's a practical car. It's like a Jeep.

It's a practical SUV. Ilya is the sports car boy. So he's like, what the fuck is this mom ass, minivan ass? What is this thing? It was like a station wagon. And Shane's like, it's practical. They get to the cottage and Shane says, I built it and he says, I know. And then he realizes like he's watched Mr. Landlord.

All of his things. It's all windows. This place is just stunning. It's beautiful with like all these views. There's a reason it's all windows because this is... Because now they're out in the open. This is the only place he can be himself surrounded by woods where no one else sees him. It's like finally safe.

They start to make out. They are finally coming back together. You can't treat the bellboy like this. They're so cute. He pretends like he's like showing him around the hotel. I think this is how the bellboy likes to be treated. Shane asks for two weeks, can we just have complete honesty and be vulnerable and just tell each other how we really feel? Rosenov says, I'll try.

So he wants to do. do it. He's gotten shy. So they end up in Shane's room, but Shane stops to close the blinds so that they would have complete privacy and Ilya stops him, opens him back up and says no. It is really cute. They wake up together. They spend time together. They just lounge on the couch. They talk. But Ilya doesn't know what to do in nature. So they're just out on the veranda with a fire. When he hears the loon. That is so funny. The birds. What the fuck was that? He's freaking the fuck out. He every night in my backyard. Canadian wolf bird. And Shane's like, it's a loon. Shane does like a bird call. And he said a loon call. He knew how to do it with his mouth. He didn't even have like a special whistle. He did. Ilya's a city boy. Yeah. He's from the concrete jungle. Yeah. He doesn't know what to do. But he realizes it's so peaceful. And you can see that. He has his head on Shane's lap. They're very intimate without sex. I'm going to be crazy for a second. I need some peace in love here. And not. my piece of love, which is crazy and evil. I need them genuinely

a piece of love. If we look at, everyone's going to be like, you're reading too edge into it. I'm not, okay? Ilya's hair throughout the series. Stay with me. Stay with me. Ilya's hair. In every scene, when he's with Shane, obviously Ilya has like that curly it's really Connor's hair because in the story, Ilya doesn't really have curly hair. Ilya's hair as Connor When you look at the scenes that Ilya is in Russia with his family It is gelled down

It is very tamed In other scenes where he's just with Shane It's more curly, it's cutesy It's honestly really fucking hot It's so hot It's nice By being honest and vulnerable In that scene with the loon

His hair is like It's relaxed It is crazy Like girl his hair is curly It's poofy It's all of that He still have put in any ears. Nothing in the show is not intentional.

In the scene where like the loon and the campfire of it all, because he is the most vulnerable, it's where he first mentions his mom to Shane. He's not talked about his mom the entire series. And any scene where he's with his dad or in Russia, the hair is gelled. The hair is very tamed, very close crop, very styles. And some scenes with Shane, it's like curly,

but it's still like cutesy curly. If you go back and watch the series, you will literally see the difference in his hair in every scene. And if you think of the emotional vulnerability that Ilya has, it directly correlates with how his hair is styled. And I know that makes me sound crazy,

but I'm not wrong. I don't think you're crazy. You might be a little obsessed with the show. I'm like a little bit obsessed that you've watched it several times and you know like the hair gel content. But it's true. I can be crazy, but I'm not wrong. That's fair.

Two things can be true. They're weeks here at the cottage. They're very domestic and they're kind of living their lives and they're kind of getting to know each other really for the first time and this with this length of time together. They play video games and they play their own video game where they're their own character, which cracks me up. Oh, yeah. They play each other's and then he's like, I'm on the fucking cover.

So cute. That was adorable. One night they're on opposite side of the couch, feet touching. And Ilya does say he wants to get rid of his Russian passport. And I think this is him saying, like, I want to be with you, but I cannot be with you if I have a Russian passport. He's breadcrumbing it too. And so then he says, well, I could always marry Svetlana because she has a U.S. passport. And she would do it for me because she loves me.

She would basically be my beard. And Shane is having a hard time reconciling this and saying, you could marry any beautiful woman. If it's just for a beard, why don't just marry anyone? He's worried he has feelings for Svetlana. Well, and I think he's like, if you like women are going to get married, find one that you love. And he's like, well, that's not the point. The point is I just need to not be Russian anymore. Shane says, don't do it. We'll figure it out. Don't do it. Be with me. And I do think he was breadcumbing to see how Shane would react. But I don't think he thought Shane would react bad to the marriage part. I don't think he realized that Shane would be as jealous. But I think Shane got to the right place. Because you can see on Shane's face, he's like, I'm shooting daggers at him. Like, why the fuck would you ever? Well, he is a very traditional family.

And he's like, why would you marry someone else if you want to be with me, right? And Ilya's like, listen, this is a means to an end. So they were coming at it, I think, from different points of view. Shane wakes him up in the middle of the night after this conversation. I've been working on it for days. I have a plan. That's so cute. And this is once again, people talking about his autism where it's like, oh, you tell him we can't be together.

And then he stays up the entire night thinking about plod. the ways that you could be together without sleeping. I would do that. I feel like this is not autism. I'm like welcome to my life. It's a fixation of it where he's like, oh, he said he's going to marry that Lana. How can I make this not happen? You better put me on the spectrum, baby.

We're all there. I would stay up all night long. Fixers. Cross the board. We're going to make it work. And I would totally then be like, hey, I figured it out. Are you awake? Yeah, wait.

I'm up in the middle of the night. So his plan is, and Ilya said this earlier. in the day, right? Like, I'm a free agent next season, so I could maybe move to Ottawa. He's already been breadcrumming it. He's like, okay, here's the play. You're going to play for Ottawa, so then we're only two hours apart. There's really no reason we need to be these heated rivals because, like, we're old now. There's all these new folks coming in. We can start a charity together. That would be totally normal. We can be start being seen together. We can have lunch together. We can be seen because it wouldn't be weird. And then when we retire, we can really,

really be together. And I'llia the whole time was like, I'm still sleeping. What? Yeah, what do you want? This is too much English. I'm too tired. I'm confused, like what's happening, but agrees. And they both tell each other, they love each other and that they want to spend the rest of their lives together and they're going to figure out together how they're going to do this because the mom had committed suicide when Ilya was 12. And so he says, we should start a charity that does hockey clinics and we'll give all the money to suicide prevention. So sweet. And Ily is like so touched. Oh, he says the sweetest thing. He says she would have loved you the way I love you. She would have loved you. Oh. The next scene is them hanging out on the list. is they're playing in the water. They're so sweet together. They're kissing and just adorable. And as they're walking back into the house, they're kissing. You see someone in the house, like in the kitchen, watching them make out. And the dad sees it because it's a house of glass. That immediately leaves. Shane is freaking out, goes out to the front, and the dad's already driven away. And he's freaking the fuck out. This is my worst nightmare. These are my parents. I wasn't able to tell them myself. This is scary. Like he's basically been in the closet his whole life. And he's finally admitted he loves this person, but he hasn't gotten the courage to tell the people he loves most. And he says, I need to go there. And finally, Ilya says, do you want me to go with you?

Would that help you? And he said, yes, I would like that. There's lots of hugging. And I'm surprised because Ilya all of a sudden becomes the soft one. The supportive, very vulnerable, soft guy. Because he's such a dick the entire time and scared himself. And all of a sudden he's like, yeah, let's go out ourselves to your parents. Like, can't wait.

Totally here for it. But he had already asked, do your parents know about you? And have you told them you're gay? They had had this conversation. So they finally drive over to the parents' house. Shane says, maybe you should wait in the car. And Ilias look at him as like, you fucked hard. And he's like, sorry, never mind, you're right.

They just go up to the house. Ilya is finally like, we're doing this man, nutted up. So they show up to the house. The parents are just like sitting in the living room and waiting. But you find out that the dad actually didn't tell the mom what happened. He said nothing. She's like, her? And walks in with Ilya, and she's like, what's happening?

And Shane's like, I'm really sorry. And she's like, for what? And he says, well, I'm gay. And no lead up, nothing. And she's like, okay. And then the dad's like, I'm really sorry about this man. My charger was in your kitchen. It was the right charger.

And I didn't have any chargers here. And he's like trying to explain. And Shane's like, it's not your fault dad. And he's like, man, this is crazy. And she's like, what's he doing here? And Ilya goes, well, we're lovers. And she says, please don't say that. One, he, like, touches him on the shoulder very awkwardly.

Shane's like, oh, stop saying that. Yeah, don't say that. That's disgusting. Awkward. But the parents are obviously rock. But the mom is for sure. I don't know about the dad. The dad is very chill about it. Yeah. They handle it very well, I will say. I don't know any gay reveal where the parents are really that surprised. Right. Like so surprised. And she says, we thought you might have been and we weren't sure. Parents, no. They're at the kitchen table. She served them all coffee. And she finally says, so, like, how long is. has this been going on? And they're like, well, since our rookie year and Ily goes, well, but before that, she's like, I need a cocktail and just gets up and walks away. We're down a coffee. We're moving into the hard stuff right now. I'm going to get wine. I think for her and you find this out, it's one of a very touching scene where the mom goes outside to cry.

And Shane goes out and says, mom, mom, I'm just so sorry. And he can't look at her. And she's like, you have nothing to apologize for it. She's like, look at me. He can't look at her. And he feels so bad. And she says, I feel bad that you didn't feel like you could tell me. That was heartwarming. Can you forgive me? And he's like, I forgive you, Mom. Because they love each other. It's a beautiful family. It's so sweet.

It's a very healthy family dynamic. I was touching. And I know that's not every gay person's experience. No. I think it's really touching for Ilya to be in this somewhat idyllic family situation, too. Mom makes pasta. They're kind of telling them their plan, this totally wacky plan where he's going to go to Ottawa. And then they're going to do this charity.

And the mom's like, well, didn't you get drafted by boss? Where's your loyalty to Boston? And Shane's like, he's loyal to me, Mom. Like, I'm like, what the fuck? She is such a hockey fan. She's like, how very dare you even think about leaving that team? I can't believe you would leave Boston. Yeah, her not even being mad about the relationship.

She's mostly mad that he would leave Boston. Oh, but you would leave Boston? Like, oh, he's not loyal. She's so me. But then Shane starts to really freak out. Like, he's head down on the table. Like, he's panicking. And Ilya puts his hand.

on his neck and says, it's okay, you're okay here. You're with your family who loves you and your boyfriend. You're going to be okay. And your boyfriend. You're just here with us. And Shane goes, my boyfriend? And he's like, well, yeah, probably. Maybe. I think yes. So cute. And he gives him, he gives him a little kiss. And the mom's like, 10 years, you know, like, oh my God, like since rookie year. Rookie season? She's like really registering. So the mom and dad walk them out. Then they start planning their next dinner and they're like, we're going to come over at five. And they're like, please text us first. And she's like, no, no, but we'll be there at. Yeah, because he obviously walked in on them making out. So they're like, text us. And they're like, well, why would I have to text you? So you all

aren't fucking. And the dad's like, we'll text first. Good call. Good cop. Yeah, smart. Because he's traumatized. Then they drive away. And the end of this first season is them driving into a sunset. Thank God. There was not an epilogue. I appreciated that. No, no epilogue on the series. That is the end of the show. That is the end. of Heated Rivalry, the series. Probably going to be a pretty long one. Supersized. Miranda supersized us.

I'm sorry. I know. I have a lot to say. It's all good stuff. It was a very cool way to do this one book or two books, I guess, with Scott and Kipps in a series. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was going to say nothing in the long game is touched on, and I'm so excited. That's got to be season two for the next series.

Oh, my God. All right. Exciting. So let's do a speed round of our ratings and spice. Mandy, what do we got on ratings? I'm going four out of five. Okay. Four.

For the show. Not the book. The show. Yep. For the show. I'm going four and a five. I'm also going to give it a four. Period.

Cute. But I thought the storyline was there. I feel validated. I felt like I followed along well. There was depth into characters. I watched them physically grow. I appreciate it. I'm also going to go with a four.

If it had just been the back half, I would have maybe been higher. But on the average, for the whole thing, I'm going to go four. loved the story. I loved their story and I love how it did it. All right, fuck it up, Jen. I'm going to say it's a one. I was so upset. Mandy would have started bawling. I would have logged off. To me, it's a four and a half because of the production value. Oh, period. I loved the way that they told the story in the show. It's so powerful. It was so much better than the books. Jacob Tierney respects the story and he builds upon it. The things that he adds, obviously Rachel has incredible book, but Jacob understood the story. You made it better. And then made the TV series like so much better. And you don't see that often. You don't. Yeah. Yeah. It was a perfect storm. Perfect. Really good acting. Really good production. Really good directing. And so much respect for the story.

Miranda. Spice. Whole series. One through six of spice. I'm rating at a four out of five. Okay. I would say at three. You did get that super spicy in the beginning. But then you got the relationship at the end. So I didn't feel like they carried that through very well. I agree the second half. The second half was less spicy for sure. It brought down the average. It did. It dropped the average a a little bit. So yeah, yeah, three. The sex for me is a three, three and a half. Like I think that obviously heavy on the front end, less on the back end. The story definitely picked up on the back end, which I really liked. All right, Jen, spice. Same same. I'm going to go three and a half. Because it did start strong and then it did taper off. If you're here for spice and sex, it's a three and a half.

So like obviously teaser, if we're going to do a follow-up of the long game, girl, invite me back. I'm not kidding. I'll kill you. We'll see how the ratings are for this one, Mandy. I need to talk about it. You better promote the shit out of this. I would like to point out that she just speaks like that.

There is no real death in tense. Obviously, he to robbery is very much like Shane and Ilya. I feel like the long game is Ilya. Ilya's backstory, Ilya's trauma. And I'm excited for, she's obviously writing a third one. in their relationship. I'm hoping that that will be more about Shane's trauma. The long game is more about Ilya's struggle with his childhood and his dealing with

the homophobia of hockey and the NHL. And I'm so excited to see how they portray that in the TV show because, again, I think Jacob Tierney is so, so intentional about all of the series. And so I just know that he's going to do it so well. So again, I'm so excited to see you girls. See in a couple years. When everyone's caught up. All right, guys, this was so fun to do heated rivalry.

Miranda, thank you so much for joining us. So fun. So much. So loved having you for both of these last episode. This is the last episode before we have. Which is crazy, season four at the end. Please go back and listen to all of our episodes, season one through four with, I think, a couple little minimesters in there.

You can go to Boozy Booker. cosms.com. You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Thanks so much. Until we meet again. Happy reading. Happy reading. Bye. Thanks for tuning in. I'm sorry. Today's episode was the climax of your day, leaving you breathless and wanting more. Until next time, remember to indulge in the pleasures of life and to keep the passion alive. You can find more tantalizing episodes at boosybookcasms.com. Enjoy the ride, and we'll see you soon. We'll edit this into the podcast.

My best friend Liz put me on. I owe her my life. Oh my God.