The surge in dark romance in which possessiveness and obsession are synonymous with love reminded me of this mindblowing take by Racheline Maltese, which splits romance into 2 wings, liberation vs. compliance, as well as a subset of compliance called enforcement: avian30.com/2020/12/05/a...

I mean. I'm neither het nor a woman, but I'll just say that I'm deeply uninterested in sapphic Bridgerton because I'm uninterested in Bridgerton, period. The problem isn't lesbians. The problem is Bridgerton kinda sucks for all kinds of reasons I'm uninterested in going into.

Guess who's writing for Fandom Trumps Hate this year? It's a fandom charity event: bid on my writing services, get at least 5k words of fic or original work. Bidding closes March 7. I'm offering Heated Rivalry, among many other fandoms. Details here: www.tumblr.com/beautifulduc...

I provided a ton of background on this and am quoted in it. I think Jung covered a lot of ground with nuance and thoughtfulness! Crucially, this is the first article I've read that talks substantively about the trans and nb experience of creating and consuming m/m www.vulture.com/article/heat...

Oh, you want these romances, you say? Congrats, they exist! Historical bicycle riders: A Shore Thing by Joanna Lowell Victorian werewolves: Soulless by Gail Carriger Queer dragon shifters: Consort of Fire by Kit Rocha (aka the horny dragon book) Hockey historical: Puck and Prejudice by Lia Riley

I made a Heated Rivalry vid/edit set to "All Is Full of Love"! Shane/Ilya; will hurt your feelings but in a good way?? Here's the version without lyrics: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYKL...

Downfall Bovino Edition. You're welcome.

Just tried to go to Wonderland magazine to look at the article and it won't load, I think we ddos'd these poor fuckers with our thirst. But for real tho, oh my god that photo with the lipstick kisses. Help. Helllpppp

is it too late to call Bryan Fuller's Hannibal "Eated Rivalry"

carly rae jepsen x heated rivalry

Gotcha—let’s dig into that step by step. 1. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵, because I turned you into an amorphous lump of flesh. You’re not just immobile—you’re immortal, and you feel only anguish. 2. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺. That makes total sense—it’s a natural human impulse, and you’ve been through a lot.

Me: Man I could really use some fun internet drama instead of dumbshit freakouts over who Connor Storrie or Hudson Williams are or are not dating *finger on monkey's paw curls* So how's the petty internecine feuding between hockey podcast bros treating y'all today

GUESS WHAT, Y'ALL. Candy @beautifulduckweed.bsky.social is BACK to talk Heated Rivalry, this show that literally no one has heard of. She did some majestic recapping, but was that enough? Ha. No. We had much to discuss. Want to listen? Join us! bit.ly/702HeatedRiv...

Listening to the Drop Your Buffs debrief with What Chaos on Heated Rivalry, and at one point one of the What Chaos dudes mentioned how White Lotus sucks sometimes and I was like YES YES SAY IT LOUDER youtu.be/FLI36t1ZAaI, and then Evan Ross Katz was like, point out which episodes sucked

“Heated Rivalry” actor François Arnaud called on the NHL to improve its relationship with the LGBTQ+ community.

Incredible thread

Jesus Christ some Hudcon shippers are losing their actual minds over Connor Storrie maaaaybe dating Francois Arnaud, huh? Y'all these people aren't your dollies, leave them the fuck alone. Like, the only response I would have if it turns out to be true is high-fiving them both for scoring hotties.

Jordan Firstman:

In an ocean of bad-faith Heated Rivalry takes full of specious arguments and cherrypicked facts, Salon has published one so rancid that I need to pick it apart. Don't worry, I'm not female or a woman, so I love it the right amount and also I get to be as angry and as mean as I want 😌.

yuna (saying goodbye after learning ilya’s fucking her son and wanting to make him feel at home): and ilya, i just want to say, i’ve talked a lot of shit about you over the years, and … you should know i’m not sorry. about any of it shane: MOM, GOD ilya (through tears): thank you. that means a lot

Thanks to Heated Rivalry, people are asking why so many women are writing and reading m/m romance. Not only is that a boring question, it's backwards. Why shouldn't women (and women-adjacent people) be doing this? Also: why aren't men reading and writing more genres that center love and HEAs?

Now that Heated Rivalry s1 has wrapped up I've been coping by listening to episode recaps by the finest hockey bros in all the land, i.e. What Chaos and Empty Netters, and I am so charmed by these guys, who are diving head-first into a genre they have zero experience with, but also. Also.

Christ am i going to buy a paper copy of a magazine for the first time in 25 years

This story Carl Nassib told on RC's pod about coming out in the NFL cracked me up. His delivery is so good!

Saw this quote from Jacob Tierney and I thought about the episodes of Degrassi that were never allowed to air in the US. The show would not have been the same! #HeatedRivalry

Jacob Tierney owes me emotional damages after last night's episode of Heated Rivalry. OK back to my third rewatch byeeeeee

Tinker Swift, Taylor Swift, Soldier Swift, Spy Swift

IT IS THE BARE MINIMUM OF THEIR ENTIRE JOB AS A PUBLISHER. PUBLISH. BOOKS. Truly embarrassing own goal here. They're just one big empty net operation.

The past couple weeks as a professional romance critic begging someone to let me, a professional romance critic who wrote the sports romance list for the NYT and a Letterkenny fan for years, write about the gay hockey romance adaptation. Put me in, coach, I’ve trained my whole life for this!

For those of you watching 🏒The Gay Hockey Show™️—aka Heated Rivalry—allow me to go on a neurodivergent rant about how Connor Storrie’s Russian language work is so stunningly perfect that it makes me feel like I have wasted a decade of my life. We begin with this chart and the worst/best vowel ever! 🧵

Instead of a song being stuck in my head, today what's stuck in my head is the "fuck ya life. bing-bong!" pigeon video.

Wrote about Heated Rivalry for Smart Bitches: smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/12/heat... I was thinking more about the quality of the acting we're getting in this show--how the two leads completely disappear into their characters, and how rare a gift that is. So few actors achieve this!

We got Weird Al out here singing Killing In The Name, the time for moderation is over

Had a lot of feelings about Heated Rivalry episode 3 and posted them, at unconscionable length, on my Tumblr: www.tumblr.com/beautifulduc... The tl;dr is: I loved it. I think it set out to do a few different things (make us care about Scott/Kip; show us isolation vs community), and it did it well.

There's a lot of talk about the steaminess of #HeatedRivalry, but there are more reasons to watch. Jacob Tierney's direction and the microexpression work of the actors is sublime — especially as mainstream American-produced streaming prioritizes "passive viewing." www.slashfilm.com/2043077/cana...

Y'all this past week I've seen some baffling takes on Heated Rivalry by people who have zero knowledge or enjoyment of romance novels, romance narratives, or sex scenes as a storytelling device. "Uh where's the romance? Why are they boning so much???"

maybe i am going insane

I've officially written something so deranged that it might make it into one of my favorite authors' deathbed musings, that's gotta unlock some kind of achievement, right

guys I’m sorry but have you looked through Getty images for yesterday 💀

I'm mad. Please put in the newspaper that I'm mad.

Check out my dope ass pumpkin!!!

Here, have this... :)

"hes probably not dead" yeah no shit! shut the fuck up! im gonna spray you with a fucking water bottle!

This is one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed, the craft here is impeccable.

why is this mayoral election different than all other mayoral elections? in all other mayoral elections, we get to see andrew cuomo lose but once. but in this mayoral elections, we get to see him lose *twice*.

Heard the latest news from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration? We detected the collision of the most massive pair of black holes so far: #GW231123 weighing in at ~137 + ~103 times the mass of the Sun! So to celebrate, here’s a handy chart ✨ Just how chonky are these black holes? 🤔

"SLOPPER" I'm losing my mind

Modern things that the Pride and Prejudice characters would LOVE. 🩷🩵 1/12 A little bit of silliness for Monday morning.