God, how I’ve missed Ilya… and how much I’ve missed watching Ilya be completely, hopelessly in love with Shane.
The Long Game picks up years after Heated Rivalry, when stolen weekends and secret hotel rooms are no longer enough. After a decade of hiding the most important relationship in their lives, Shane and Ilya are forced to face the impossible question: how much longer can they keep choosing hockey over each other?
If you’re looking for angst, yearning, tenderness, emotional healing, found family, and one of the healthiest romances you’ll ever read, Rachel Reid delivers all of it—and somehow makes you fall in love with these two all over again.
I have one weakness in romance novels: men who yearn. And nobody yearns quite like Ilya Rozanov.
Watching him love Shane so openly, so fiercely, and so unconditionally after all these years completely melted my heart. Even after ten years together, he still looks at Shane like he’s the best thing that’s ever happened to him, and that’s what makes their relationship so special. Their love never feels stagnant—it keeps growing, evolving, becoming softer, safer, and even more intimate with every page.
The only part I struggled with was seeing Ilya’s longing slowly give way to depression. At the same time, it made perfect sense. He’s spent years living half a life—constantly separated from the person he loves during the season, watching his team struggle while Shane continues to thrive, sacrificing so much of himself to protect their relationship. It was heartbreaking to watch, especially because it sometimes felt like Shane didn’t fully realize just how much Ilya had been carrying on his shoulders all this time.
This is definitely a heavier book than Heated Rivalry. Rachel Reid doesn’t shy away from difficult conversations about mental health, identity, aging, and what it costs to keep hiding the people you love. Some moments were genuinely difficult to read, but they also made the emotional payoff feel even more rewarding.
More than anything, I loved simply being back with Shane and Ilya. Seeing them laugh together, cuddle, tease each other, and continue choosing one another after all these years reminded me why they’re still one of my favorite romance couples ever written.
And seeing them finally move toward a future where they can love each other openly? That felt like the ending they’d deserved all along.
Rachel Reid gave these two exactly the story they needed—and I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful continuation of one of my all-time favorite romances.
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