A gritty, heartfelt, and unapologetically sexy romance that delivers both the sizzle of forbidden love and the ache of loss.
Jean’s third entry in her Los Angeles Quakes Hockey Series is a bruising, heartfelt romance that finds surprising tenderness beneath the grit of professional hockey. Matthew Holt, the Quakes’ notorious enforcer, has built his career on aggression, collecting penalty minutes as readily as bruises. Beneath the bruiser’s facade is a man trying to cope with loss. Haunted by his sister’s death, Matthew channels his guilt into punishing hits on the ice and simmering bitterness off it, certain redemption is out of reach. Then comes Phoebe Anderson, the younger sister of one of Matthew’s teammates. Recently humiliated by a cheating ex-fiancé, Phoebe is ready to start over. Will Matthew risk it all for a love that just might save him?
Phoebe’s energy is almost the antithesis of Matthew’s. She is clumsy, wide-eyed, earnest, and ready to start over after a humiliating betrayal. Jean frames her klutziness as part of her charm, a physical expression of her vulnerability and openness. Their very first meeting sets the tone for a relationship built on contrast: her warmth against his hardness, her stumbling vulnerability against his controlled rage. The forbidden nature of the pair’s attraction gives the romance its tension. As the sister of a teammate, Phoebe represents a violation of hockey’s unwritten “bro code,” and Jean uses that setup to probe questions of loyalty, family, and the cost of personal happiness. The conflict that arises doesn’t feel manufactured. Rather, it grounds the story in the messy realities of adult choices.
Matthew is no easy hero. His emotional and physical volatility makes him a constant risk, but Jean avoids the trap of quick redemption. His anger is not hand-waved away but shown as an ongoing struggle. What makes him compelling is his awareness that he is spiraling and his uncertainty about whether he can stop. Phoebe, most essentially, is not cast as his savior. She is navigating her own journey of healing, rebuilding her confidence and independence after betrayal. Together, their arcs parallel one another, two wounded people learning to stitch themselves back together without losing what makes them strong.
Jean writes with precision. She draws a fine balance between adrenaline-fueled on-ice action and quieter, melancholy off-ice moments. Matthew’s conversations with his father and quiet graveside confessions to his late sister are among the novel’s most affecting passages. The romance itself is unapologetically physical, but its real heat lies in the emotional risks both characters take. In the end, the novel offers no easy victories, only the hard-won possibility of second chances.
Raw, tender, and undeniably hot.
Pub date July 15, 2025
C J Bahr
ISBN 979-8230631613
Price $14.99 (USD) Paperback, $5.99 Kindle edition