Rachel Reid, the author of the book that inspired the hit HBO Max hockey romance drama “Heated Rivalry,” has pushed back the publication date of her upcoming book “Unrivaled” due to worsening symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
“Unrivaled,” which Reid announced in January, will now publish on June 1, 2027, the author announced in an Instagram video Feb. 24. The initial release was scheduled for September 2026.
“My life has gotten very different in the last couple months, and although it’s all good, it’s also taken away my ability to have quality time to write,” Reid said. “And there’s nothing more important to me than ‘Unrivaled’ being the best book it can possibly be.”
She added that “when good things happen, sometimes the universe hands you some worse stuff to balance it out.”
“For me, that’s been that my Parkinson’s symptoms have gotten a bit worse, and it’s made it difficult physically to write, so I’m definitely a lot slower,” she said.
Reid previously told TODAY.com that she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease around August 2023. Four days later, she received a direct message from Jacob Tierney inquiring about developing her 2019 book, “Heated Rivalry.” That message led to the phenom that became the six-episode series of the same name.
Starring Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, the show follows the secret relationship between two hockey stars, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, over nearly a decade as they go from rookies to established team leaders.
Midway through its release, “Heated Rivalry” was renewed for a second season, which is expected to follow the plot of Reid’s second book about Shane and Ilya, “The Long Game,” which came out in 2022. Their third book, “Unrivaled,” is set to follow the next step in their careers and relationship, per its official synopsis.
Regarding the new release date, Reid said, “I hope that’s not too long of a wait for everyone, I just needed a few more months for writing and my publisher’s been gracious enough to give those to me.”
“I do think that this book will be worth the wait,” she added.
She also teased more news ahead for fans of “Heated Rivalry.”
“Maybe to soften the blow a little, later this week there’s going to be some announcements made about some things that I think people have been hoping for,” she said.
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