Forrest’s Reviews > Heated Rivalry > Status Update

noting my appreciation for the running gag of Hayden's kids' names. The jewel theme for the girls is actually nice imo, but why you'd pick Amber when the brother's name is Arthur I do not know - sound far too similar, especially if you're calling for one of them from a different room or suchlike.

"You wanna kiss me on television?"
"Yes. After I win the Stanley Cup."
"Oh, so in this romantic scenario, you've just defeated me?"
"Yes. Sorry."
"I'm not going to be in the mood to kiss you if I've just lost the Stanley Cup, Rozanov."
"But you would be so proud of me!"

yr honour I lub them

- so the hospital receptionist is gonna out them, 99% sure

- I'm getting reeeaaaallll sick of both of them being in this "I have to break up with him, I'm going to break up with him, I'm ending it next time" thought cycle. It's been hundreds of pages. If you were going to, you would've. Just bloody have a conversation already - in a language you both speak, Ilya, confessing in Russian isn't slick.

pffff, okay, the "I think I'm gay" / "Oh yeah? What gave you that idea?" bit is kind of a cheap joke but it did get me

They're great when they're taking the mickey out of each other.

- they keep crashing into each other while kissing and slamming each other into walls. Y'all are going to hurt yourselves.

- I sort of wish the narrative would stop reminding me that they're only 19 at this point, because I (from the great height of a decade and small change older) immediately jump into weirdly protective "AWW KIDDO" mode, and it's not at all the vibe when the smut is going on

there seems, hm, a certain amount of emphasis on Shane being shorter and babyfaced and a "pretty boy" vs Ilya being Big and Rugged and Manly and I am a bit wary of that. Very common bit of stereotyping, again crops up a lot in the fanfic world, tends to go to not-great places.

on the other hand my inner 12-year-old is having a big ol' tee-hee at the phrase "fancy stickhandling". 🤦 it's not a euphemism...

... well you can definitely tell that Rachel Reid is (was?) an Ao3 author. Which is not at all a complaint! But that prologue was literally a completely textbook PWP oneshot. Had significantly less buildup than most of those fics do, actually.