Every few years there seems to be a new queer movie/tv series released at the start of the year, often adapting a book, which does the equivalent of years of therapy for me within one watch. It's cathartic and transformative and I finish a different version of myself with more insight about myself; they're like a portal in my healing journey, getting me closer to the time line I want to be on. That was the Heated Rivalry show for me, so 5 🌟 because it bought us the TV series and so much of the story/scenes/dialogue is direct from the book. I loved seeing that in the book. But the book's writing and execution was not always what I like, but I love the characters and the overall story. The queer love and joy and representation and dimensional queer characters were excellent (I'm mainly thinking of Ilya here; not all dimensions of Shane's intersections identities were very fleshed out) and sadly still quite radical. I was lucky to get this and vol 2 from the library so excited to now see where Ilya and Shane go in The Long Game. For a generally light-hearted erotica book, there were some unexpectedly beautiful quotes about love and the queer experience. Ilya is a beautiful character, bisexual king. This has reignited my passion for art that unapologetically centres queer joy and love and helps us visualises the futures we desires.

At times I really loved this book and wss abortbed in the story and the writing - parts were 4-5 * terriority for me. It felt slow and deliberate, which I largely enjoyed but sadly on the flip side did mean for me that I lost my rhythm often and the use of 3rd person (e.g. "Nadine does X") did detach me from the characters at times. I didn't fully understand the ending but I loved learning about the Native American folklore and the representation of Indigenous cultures/families and LGBT people. I found the storylines around Morgan/Ayita's childhood and Nadine and her gay friend most interesting. I'll definetly read more writing by Carson Faust.