Equal parts heat and heart.
In her second Los Angeles Quakes novel, Jean delivers a powerful story of scars, strength, and love’s ability to mend what’s broken. Once the dazzling golden boy of the L.A. Quakes, Luka Ribič is left scarred and spiraling after a brutal on-ice injury. His recovery isn’t just physical but deeply psychological, as he wrestles with panic attacks, insomnia, and the fear that he’s becoming the very darkness he’s spent his life running from. Liliana Alvarez is the last woman willing to tolerate his self-pity, and the first to see beyond his scars. What begins in conflict turns into a chance at love—but only if they can survive the ghosts chasing them.
Their early encounters bristle with conflict, but Jean allows tension and confrontation to ripen into trust. Grounded in vulnerability rather than fantasy, their romance develops slowly. Both characters grapple with the idea of being defined by their wounds—Luka by his visible disfigurement and Liliana by the shadows of her past relationship. The story keeps circling one central question: do our scars break us, or do they shape who we can become? Hockey provides more than a backdrop. Its brutal hits and fleeting moments of grace mirror Luka’s struggles both on the ice and in love. His recovery on the ice is as tentative and vulnerable as learning to love again.
The prose is both fast-paced and deeply felt, sliding from playful team banter to striking intimacy. Luka’s Slovenian roots and Liliana’s fiery bilingual voice bring cultural weight, and the split narrative—one voice steeped in despair, the other in determination—keeps the story moving with vibrant balance—create a rhythm that feels balanced and alive. Through Liliana, Jean explores the theme of service: the belief that healing often comes from turning outward and giving to others.
Ultimately, the novel is both an enemies-to-lovers romance and a story about scars, both visible and invisible, and the courage to let someone else touch them. It delivers the adrenaline of hockey and the heat of romance, but what remains is tenderness—the story of two broken people daring to believe they deserve more than survival. Readers who loved The Deal by Elle Kennedy and Consider Me by Becka Mack will find much to admire in this sports romance.
A gritty, heartfelt hockey romance that balances passion, pain, and healing.
Pub date April 17, 2025
C J Bahr
ISBN 979-8224713288
Price $14.99 (USD) Paperback, $5.99 Kindle edition
