First published 2026
Conrad Shepard dominates the ice as Moonshot Hockey's star defenseman, but women leave him tongue-tied and awkward. After a disappointing season, he volunteers at a high school hockey camp hoping for a distraction. Instead he finds Coach Whitney Aven, who combines beauty, intelligence, and deep hockey knowledge in ways that render him even more speechless than usual. Whitney has lived her entire life around hockey players and maintains one iron rule: never date them. But Conrad breaks her expectations. He treats her young players with patience and sweetness while displaying skating skills that impress even her experienced eye. His shy blushes when she speaks to him prove surprisingly appealing. Whitney never anticipates Conrad will work up the courage to ask her out, much less that she will accept. Their first clumsy date leads to another, then another. Her no-hockey-player rule starts crumbling as she discovers Conrad offers something beyond his athletic talent. Then she learns the complicating truth: Conrad is her brother's biggest rival on the ice.
Genres: romance, contemporary, adult, adult-fiction, contemporary-romance, sports-romance
Vibes: charming, emotional, heartwarming, intimate, sweet
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, forced-proximity, rule-breaking, slow-burn
Setting: Moonshot Hockey
272 pages · Paperback · Podium Publishing