“How My Book, Heated Rivalry, Became A TV Phenomenon”

“These movies are joyful because they’re like fairy tale”

As told to Rosemary Counter

I started working on my first novel, Game Changers, in 2015. I own a promotional-products company in Halifax, so the book was only meant to be a creative outlet on the side—and I certainly never expected it to become a hit show. The idea for it came from my lifelong love of hockey, but also an awareness of the problems with the sport’s culture more broadly. I played in the mid-’90s, when I was 14. Back then, there was no girls’ hockey league, so I played in the local boys’ peewee house league for one season. When it came time to write my book, I thought a lot about how difficult it would be to be a closeted pro player—and what it might be like if they came out.

I initially didn’t intend to show Game Changers to anyone, but by the time I finished it, I decided to send it to a couple of publishers who had open submissions. Getting published was shockingly easy, which I realize is very unusual—I didn’t even have an agent. But romance books were becoming increasingly popular in the 2010s, and publishers were exploring more queer love stories, so I think I was just in the right place at the right time. One of the two publishers I sent my manuscript to was looking for hockey romance specifically. In the end, both wanted it.

Game Changers came out as an e-book in October of 2018. It didn’t sell a ton of copies right away, but it definitely had a slow, word-of-mouth growth to it. I wrote Heated Rivalry next, followed by four more books, finishing the series with my sixth novel, The Long Game, published in 2022. All of the books feature hockey players who are secretly hooking up. Many queer stories are full of stereotypes and focus entirely on internalized or external homophobia. I spoke to many gay and bisexual men to get feedback on how to write about their experience carefully and sensitively. The number-one thing I heard from them was how many fictional gay love stories end in unnecessary tragedy. Heated Rivalry, on the other hand—and all of my books, for that matter—have happy endings.

In August of 2023, I got an Instagram DM from Jacob Tierney. I recognized his name right away: he co-wrote and directed Letterkenny and the films The Trotsky and Good Neighbours. Jacob told me he hadn’t read much romance to that point, but he was a fan of my books and asked whether they’d been optioned. We had a great phone call the following day; within a year, Heated Rivalry got the green light from Crave. Before it, there’d definitely never been a gay hockey romance on Canadian television.

Not every author feels this way when their work is reworked for the screen, but for me, Heated Rivalry is a perfect adaptation. I’m a consulting producer on the show, so I was kept in the development loop the whole time. I read the scripts early and visited the set. I got to watch rough cuts of all six episodes. I didn’t have much to do with casting, but the actors are incredible. They’re the perfect embodiment of my characters—and no one’s hard to look at.

It was unlikely that this show would become a runaway hit, but I’m glad people are enjoying it so much. I hope the success of Heated Rivalry encourages publishers to not only seek out queer romances, but to promote them far and wide. As for the fame, it’s been a weird adjustment. I’m used to being contacted by fans of my books, but this volume is new. The Heated Rivalry subreddit now has close to 200,000 people. Viewing parties and fan clubs and podcasts are forming. Stardust, a queer bar in Halifax, is hosting a finale party on Boxing Day that sold out in minutes. I’m sure my kids, aged 11 and 15, are interested in the show too. But I don’t think they want to watch it with me.