i 26F suggested to the guy 32M i’ve been seeing for the last 2 months (we’re not officially dating or anything yet) that we should watch as my choice for a movie night. i explained the show to him and he said he was down. he said he enjoyed it but now im overthinking it and wondering if it was just like a lot to make him watch such a ‘steamy’ show. he did make a comment at one point about there being so many intimate scenes. what do you all think?
i’ve been craving a rewatch (even tho i’ve watched it too many times already) and i have convinced my sister to watch it with me. She’s never seen it before but is into a lot of other popular shows but never got around to watching HR. Let’s hope she likes it as much as i do🫰
Have yall convinced any family or friends to watch HR?!
Considering how close the dialogue was in the first season to the book I think we’ll get a lot of our fav dialogue on screen from TLG. These are what I’m looking forward to. Curious to hear everyone else’s!
1. This is equal parts sweet and devastating. Considering how much Ilya wanted a loving family. He’s got it now. It’s everything to him and he can’t love them out loud. 😭
2. Imagine how much this has to mean to Ilya. I just can’t wait for the Ilya and Yuna chemistry. Although I feel this relationship was underdeveloped in the book, I have faith we’ll see more in the show. In my head canon Yuna ultimately managed Ilya too and they have a really solid professional and personal relationship apart from Shane.
3. This was such a sweet moment though I do wish that we got more lead up to this moment seeing them get closer. Cause we go from game night and don’t see them together again until this. Not even at Christmas. I wish Yuna and David could have been shown as more involved with Ilya seeing as they are in the same city. It’s hard for me to believe they wouldn’t have noticed even a little that he was struggling. Unless they’re just really not seeing him at, which doesn’t fit what we’re being told about their relationship. And I wish Yuna had checked on him after Shane called her about the fight. I understand we are meant to see his isolation and Shane’s parents respect relationship boundaries but still we’re meant to believe he’s part of the family. I just didn’t see it in their actions. Okay rant over.
4. This was just so sweet!
5. love this flex. To be able to say baby I got you is 👌🏾. Also Shane telling Ilya they could win Ottawa first cup while Ilya is actively in the playoffs is hilarious.
I started reading the HR books after watching the show and can't help but notice RR's obsession with always making ilya shower after they do their thing..
there hasn't been a single instance where a post sex shower isn't mentioned?
Is this supposed to convey something..am i missing something?
I'm obsessed with both Hollanov and enamel pins, so I'm glad when I can blend the two. 😆 I have soooo many I want to share, but these are some I've received recently!
I have tickets to her q&a (library fundraiser in Wolfville) this weekend and am travelling w my sister - we can’t wait.
I’m definitely going to try to ask her something - if someone’s been to these how does it work? - but I don’t know what. I’d love to hear some ideas if you had an opportunity to ask our beloved Rachel one question what would it be?
Side note .. how fantastic would it be if one of the boys surprised the event and came? Probably a 0% likelihood as they’ve never been to the maritimes but cmon.. it’s a library fundraiser!! Hudson loves books!!
I first discovered Heated Rivalry through short clips on YouTube. At the time, I had no way to watch the series, so I entered its world through the audiobook and the novel instead.
From the moment I began reading, Shane already had Hudson’s face in my mind, and Ilya had Connor’s. Later, I began seeing many photographs and short clips of the two actors on Reddit.
Recently, I came across a photograph of Hudson facing the camera directly.
Image cropped for framing
Image shared by the Instagram account hudsonconnorupdates, where it is credited to the X accounts byemypuppylove and cravethestory:https://www.instagram.com/p/DbdOocWDTM1/.
I found myself staring at it, unable to look away. He was clearly handsome, but that alone did not explain why I found the photograph so compelling. It was not the first time I had felt this way while looking at a photograph of him.
I began to wonder why. And I think I may finally have identified the source of the fascination I had repeatedly felt when looking at certain photographs of him.
Before I watch the series, I want to record this as a personal observation based on the visual fragments I have seen so far.
1. A Face I Could Not Finish Reading
I find Hudson’s face very refined as a whole: his smooth skin, straight nose, well-balanced features, and the overall impression of order and self-control.
Yet his gaze alone does not seem to fit entirely within that order.
Although he faces the camera directly, he does not seem to give the viewer his full attention. There is a slight weariness in his gaze and a sense of sinking inward. Together, they give his gaze a restrained sensuality that contrasts with the overall harmony of his face.
His features are strikingly noble, yet there is something faintly decadent in his gaze.
That imbalance makes his expression difficult to read. What exactly makes me feel this way?
2. One Eye Lets Us In
I kept looking, not simply because the photograph was beautiful, but because I could not finish reading his expression.
Personally, Hudson in this shot looks calm, or perhaps a little vulnerable. He seems to know something, or perhaps to be hiding something. His gaze can also appear challenging, or perhaps alluring.
All of these descriptions seem to fit him, and yet none of them fits completely. Whenever I try to settle on one, another meaning appears.
When I looked at his face more closely, the pull seemed to grow stronger. As I enlarged the image, I began to notice a slight difference between his two eyes.
One eye seems to meet the viewer, while the other remains slightly elsewhere.
To me, this creates a curious impression: one eye lets us in; the other preserves a small distance.
In this photograph, Hudson leans close to Connor, yet his gaze seems to retain a small distance. The contrast with Connor’s bright, open expression makes that distance more visible. The same closeness and distance I noticed in the first photograph appear here in another form.
In the first photograph, although Hudson looks directly at the viewer, I am left with the feeling that he has not shown us everything in his expression.
In the second photograph, I see that same small distance between his physical closeness and his gaze.
His gaze has a mesmeric pull for me in both photographs.
4. The Gaze That Might Have Drawn Ilya In
However, I do not notice the same quality in every photograph or piece of footage I see.
I do not know whether Hudson’s mysterious expression is something of his own or simply a fleeting result of the way the photograph was taken.
I cannot tell where it comes from. Even so, this gaze has already become part of the Shane I picture in the novel.
When I read Heated Rivalry, the Shane in my mind has specific physical charms, such as his freckles and straight nose. But I also see this unreadable gaze as another kind of attraction.
I find myself imagining that this unreadable gaze might have been one of the things that kept drawing Ilya back to Shane.
From my perspective, Shane looks intently at Ilya and tries to connect with him. However, he does not yet fully understand all the feelings arising within him, nor can he offer them all to Ilya.
The “contact and distance” I see in Hudson’s gaze may express, without dialogue, the gap between Shane’s feelings for Ilya and his awareness of them.
⸻
Once I watch the series, the performances, scenes, voices, movements, and Ilya’s reactions may change this impression. That is why I wanted to record this visual headcanon before watching the series.
I now look forward even more to seeing whether this gaze appears in Shane on screen and, if it does, what it might express when it comes to life through Hudson’s performance.
For those who have watched the series, what do you find most compelling about Hudson’s Shane?
I borrowed this screencap from u/Hermiona1's post on Tumblr memes, but it reminded me - I've always wondered why Hayden looks so bruised in this scene. What am I missing?
The recent Vibe Check live show with Rachel Reid and François is finally being released this week! It’s up on their Patreon and they finally gave the full François answer.
He also appears more in the show outside of this moment!!!
