A court has banned in Russia the book Heated Rivalry, which was adapted into a series about two hockey players in love

A court has banned in Russia the book Heated Rivalry, which was adapted into a series about two hockey players in love

Moscow’s Cheryomushkinsky Court has banned three pages in Russia on which the text of Heated Rivalry by American writer Rachel Reid had been published. Verstka found the corresponding ruling in the court database.

The pages are on the pirate sites BookPlaneta, Siteknig and Libsafe. The full text of Heated Rivalry had previously been published on the first two sites, but they now say the book has been blocked at the request of the rights holder. The Libsafe page with the book appears to have been removed entirely.

The prosecutor’s office demanded that the pages with Heated Rivalry be banned. Officials from the agency said they had carried out an inspection during which they found “literature containing propaganda of the extremist ideology ‘LGBT.’”

The ruling does not specify what exactly constituted the “propaganda.” The judge stated that the pages in question “contain images promoting nontraditional sexual relations.” At the same time, the only image on the banned pages is the book cover, which shows hockey players preparing to contest a puck.

There has been no official announcement of a ban on the book or the series itself — for example, its pirated version is available on VK.

🩵Heated Rivalry is a novel about the love between two hockey players, Russian Ilya Rozanov and Canadian Shane Hollander. In 2025, a series of the same name was made based on the book. In January 2026, it was among the three most popular series among Russian pirates.

😘 Subscribe to @svobodnieslova and donate — we work thanks to you