Review: A Summer of Stars - Liana Cincotti - August 2026   Luna Aldridge is a tennis superstar whose messy breakup has turned the whole world against her. Her reputation is in tatters and her career is hanging by a thread. Enter Kieran Alexander, Hollywood’s golden boy, who has a big-screen love story to lead and a dating history that might sink it. The solution? A fake relationship, with terms agreed and hearts strictly off the table. There’s just one little snag: they absolutely cannot stand each other. Oh, how I adored this setup! There’s something so comforting about an enemies-to-lovers romance, like a well-worn blanket you keep reaching for. Luna and Kieran bicker, glare and roll their eyes their way across red carpets and around the globe on the tennis circuit, and all the while the cameras are watching. Cincotti has such a gift for those moments when the pretending starts to slip and something real peeks through. I may have sighed out lou...

VBT# Review - Forever Reckless -Book #1 Fourth and Forever Series -  Eve L. Mitchell - June 2026 Right, pull up a chair and let me tell you about my latest read, because this one has been living in my head rent-free since I turned the final page. Forever Reckless by Eve L. Mitchell came my way through Zooloos Book Tours, and I'll be the first to admit  it's a little different from my usual picks. But honestly? Sometimes different is exactly what you need. You know the type of book I mean, don't you? That delicious new adult sports college romance where the golden boy on campus turns out to be far more complicated than his billboard smile suggests. Eve L. Mitchell has taken everything we love about the genre,  the tension, the forbidden pull, the slow unravelling of carefully built walls  and wrapped it around a story with real bite to it. Our hero, Dante Spence, is the kind of man who looks like he has it all. Quarterback. National champion. Star of ...

Review: The Striker - Book #1 Gods of the Game Series - Ana Huang - October 2024 I'll be honest with you Ana Huang and I have had quite the complicated relationship. Her books have been a bit of a mixed bag for me over the years, landing anywhere from absolute favourites to DNFs (did-not-finishes, for those not deep in the bookish rabbit hole). So when I packed my bags for our Readers Retreat in Taupō last week, I finally decided it was time to give The Striker a proper chance. It had been sitting on my shelf since release, quietly judging me every time I walked past. You know that feeling. We've all been there. And oh my goodness  how did it take me this long? I'm so glad I finally cracked the spine on this one, because The Striker completely won me over. At its heart, it's a football romance and when I say football, I do mean soccer, just so we're all on the same page! Our hero, Asher Donovan, is an absolute dreamboat of a soccer champion who has just switched ...

Taking the Plunge: Why I Released My Surfing Romance on Wattpad There's a specific kind of terror that exists when you hit "publish" on something you've poured your heart into. It's not the peaceful silence of a quiet morning. It's the heavy, pressurized quiet right before you find out if anyone will actually read what you've written , if the story that kept you up at night will resonate with anyone beyond your own imagination. I just experienced that feeling with The Surface , my new surfing romance that's now live on Wattpad. Writing this story felt different. Maybe it's because I've always been drawn to the ocean that raw, unforgiving force that doesn't care about your plans or your fears. Or maybe it's because Skyler's journey mirrors something I think we all face: the pressure to be perfect versus the courage to be real. The Surface follows Skyler Sailsbury, the world's most celebrated female surfer, who's drownin...

Soulmates and Slapshots Melissa Baldwin (Love in Maple Falls) Published by: September 17th 2025 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Sports I’m escaping the city. He’s chasing a fresh start. In a town full of surprises, love might be the biggest one. Fiona I’m a city girl turned temporary small-town resident—yes, I know, cliché. But after my life in Manhattan unraveled, I needed a reset. So when my aunt invited me to Maple Falls, I didn’t hesitate. The slower pace is exactly what my burned-out brain needs. I’ve even made a few friends—including Weston Smith, a new player for the Ice Breakers hockey team who shows up when I need him most. A local crisis draws me in, and suddenly I’m more involved than I ever planned. Maybe it’s the fresh air, or maybe it’s Weston. I came here planning to leave… but now, I’m not so sure. Weston Maple Falls is my fresh start—new team, new town, and a chance to prove myself. I didn’t expect to get wrapped up in this community so fast—or to ...

Review: Wanting the Winger - Book #2 Love on the Line Series - Brenda Rothert - June 2025 Sports romances hold a special place in my reading heart, and when I saw Wanting the Winger available through Hambright PR, I didn't hesitate to request it. My history with Brenda Rothert's work goes back to before 2017, and I was fortunate enough to meet her at RT2017 in Atlanta—a dream vacation that remains one of my favorite literary memories. That connection made diving into Sebastian's story even more meaningful. Wanting the Winger delivers everything I love about the best friend's sibling trope wrapped in the high-energy world of ice hockey. Sebastian "Bash" is our charming winger who opens his home to Lainey, his best friend Eric's little sister. She's pursuing her dreams as a microbiologist with a new lab position, but there's one massive complication: her engagement to Shane, a man Bash absolutely despises. The tension between wanting to protect his ...

When a health issue ends Christina’s dancing career, she finds herself on a new path as a co-owner of an NHL team. But, when a friend needs help at her dance studio, the last thing she expected was for the hottie taking private lessons to wind up on her brother’s hockey team. Readers who love secret, workplace romances will enjoy Dances with Pucks by Debbie Charles, a steamy, sports romance. Read Now! Cam Guarding the net is not my only goal While other players relax on the golf course, my off-season is spent in the ballroom. Dancing keeps me limber and the memory of my mom alive. My father dismissed hockey as a career and moved on to a new family. Joke’s on him. I’ve made it to the NHL, and I’ll clear close to a mil at age twenty-four. The only thing left on my life plan is a family, and I have my eye on the beautiful dance instructor who keeps me on my toes. Christina I prefer numbers to people. They’re far more predictable. Numbers make sense; people don’t. After a health issu...

Faking the Face Off Anne Kemp Publication date: January 29th 2025 Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance There’s a reason you shouldn’t fake date a friend—because the biggest mistake you’ll ever make might just be falling for them… and NEVER ever wanting to let them go. Anna: As the assistant to the coach of the River City Renegades, my life is a whirlwind of schedules, crisis management, and saving the day when things go sideways. I love my job, but sometimes I wonder if there’s more for me out there. Then, I discovered my dad needs help. I’ll do anything to support him—even if it means stepping out of my comfort zone. So when the team’s publicist decides Ollie Decker, my long-time friend and the Renegades’ star defenseman, needs a fake girlfriend to boost his image, I volunteer. After all, it’s just pretend, it pays, and who knows Ollie better than me? But as the lines blur, I start to realize there’s more to Ollie—and us—than I ever let myself see. Ollie: Being on ...

Off the Bench Tiffany Noelle Chacon (Sports in the Sunshine State RomComs, #2) Publication date: November 19th 2024 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance Austin Taylor, once an undrafted free agent and a third-string quarterback, was never supposed to be the starting QB for the Tampa Bay Bucs. Except now, he is. Dani Marshall, the Bucs’ data analyst whiz, is all in—betting her career, and even her car, on Austin’s success. The real challenge? Keeping her heart out of the game. Austin When the achingly gorgeous Dani Marshall shows up in my tiny Ohio town to sign me to the Bucs, I can’t say no. I expect to ride the bench in obscurity for my entire NFL career. What I don’t expect is to become the starting QB in my first month—or to end up as a viral GIF, tripping over my cleats. Dani’s betting on me, but I’m starting to think her faith might be misplaced. The closer we get, the more her walls stay mile-high—even as I’m being pulled to her as surely as the moon pulls the tides...

Review: The Pass Protection - Book #3 CTU Eagles - Alexis Buxton -October 2024 After experiencing a dangerous situation and a nasty boyfriend, Bret decided she needed to get away from where she was living and head back to where her parents and brother lived. She didn't want to tell her parents till she felt safe and was settled in. Bret needed a new start so she also cut her hair, dyed it, and got a few piercings and tattoos. When she arrives at CTU to meet her new roommates, she is in for a surprise and so are they as they turn out to be football players on the team that not only her brother but also her father is the coach and they are surprised as they were expecting a guy named Brett, not a female and not the coach's daughter. One of the roommates is also a guy that Bret has been messaging Crew and could see a relationship with him once she moves past her own trauma and panic attacks. Crew though can't afford to mess up his football career and dating the coach's dau...

Review: The Right Move - Book #2 Windy City Series - Liz Tomforde - February 2023 After enjoying Book #1 Mile High, I was excited to read Book #2 which was a roomies-to-lovers story. In The Right Move, we meet Ryan Shay who is the twin brother from the love interest in the first book, and Indigo aka Indy who is Ryan's sister's best friend. Indy had her life all planned out from a great job as the head flight attendant for the Hockey team's private plane and a fiancé who she loved. That was until she caught him cheating on her and soon found herself homeless. Ryan's sister cashes in a favour with Ryan and has Indy moving in and becoming Ryan's flatmate. The pair couldn't be more opposite as Ryan is quiet, unemotional, and very OCD clean and Indy is loud, emotional, and messy, or as she describes it organized chaos.  When Ryan ends up as team captain, he is given some flack about it as he is viewed as not a family man which enters - Indy as his fake girlfriend, an...