It’s time to get hat tricks on and off the ice

Something is intoxicating about hockey romance—the collision of ice and fire, the raw intensity of the sport meeting the vulnerability of falling in love. Few stories capture this electric combination quite like Heated Rivalry, with its secret relationship, forbidden longing and two people who can’t seem to stay away from each other, no matter how much easier it would be to walk away. If you’ve found yourself desperately craving more stories that deliver that same emotional gut-punch wrapped in athletic prowess and stolen moments, you’re not alone. The good news? The hockey romance genre is brimming with books that’ll scratch that itch—stories overflowing with tension, banter and love that feels both inevitable and impossible. These are the stories that’ll have you cancelling plans, ignoring responsibilities and falling completely under their spell.

So lace up your skates and prepare to lose yourself in worlds where love hits harder than any body check, and where happily ever after is worth fighting for—both on and off the ice, just like Heated Rivalry.

Here are the best books to read if you loved ‘Heated Rivalry’: 

The Long Game

Rachel Reid

If the wait for Heated Rivalry’s second season has become an actual physical ache, then salvation arrives in the form of The Long Game—the book that picks up the threads of Ilya and Shane’s story and weaves them into something even more profound. Consider yourself warned: tears will fall without permission. Laughter will burst out at the most unexpected moments. And the love contained within these pages? It’s the kind that feels too vast, too overwhelming to fully grasp—the kind that rewrites what you thought love could be. This story doesn’t shy away from the difficult terrain. It plunges beautifully into the complexities of mental health, the weight of secrets kept too long, and a love so immense it defies understanding. Every page feels like both a gut-punch and a warm embrace, leaving you emotionally wrecked in the very best way.

The Deal

Elle Kennedy 

Without a doubt, this is a cult classic—and all the romance readers out there can attest to this notion. From emotional depth to sexual tension and humorous banter, The Deal is a worthy introduction into the hockey romance world. When Hannah is enlisted to tutor the captain of the hockey team, Garrett Graham, she is promised a fake date to make her crush jealous. But, as they spend time together, chemistry starts to spark, feelings get blurred, and lines get broken—and they must decide if they’re both ready for a relationship. Should this book capture your hearts, you might find yourself drawn to explore other books in her Off-Campus series—The Mistake, The Score, and The Goal await you.

Rewind It Back 

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Liz Tomforde

When you have a hero who’s asking his woman to just ‘take it off’ with just a smouldering intensity, all bets are off—cancel your plans, lock the door and prepare to lose yourself completely in these pages. One of the best sports romances for 2025, this story strikes a masterful balance between laugh-out-loud moments, scorching heat, and the kind of emotional weight that’ll leave bruises on your heart. Rio DeLuca and Hallie Hart circle each other like wounded animals, their bitter history a minefield they’re forced to navigate daily. She’s renovating his house. She’s living right next door. Every hammer swing, every accidental brush of skin becomes an exercise in restraint neither of them can maintain. With a proximity that is suffocating and an unresolved past that is a living thing between them,  resisting the pull of old wounds—and desire—becomes more impossible with each passing day.

The Face Off

Chelsea Curto

Armed with the long-standing gender barriers trope, The Face Off is a love letter to all women hockey players, who’d love to break the glass. A dislike-to-lovers romance with hilarious banter, a wealth of tension and feminism that will leave you feeling empowered in the bedroom and at work, this book is bound to be a favourite. Maverick Miller, the best player in the league, gets into a tiff with his new fiery left-winger, Emmy—who he didn’t expect to be a woman. But when tension escalates, and their fighting becomes flirting, they end up in bed together. The worst part? They can’t seem to keep their hands off each other after that one night.

Play With Me

Becka Mack

Weaving in playful banter, loss and grief, and euphoric tension and spice, Play With Me will heighten your emotional energy for hockey romance. In this book, Garrett Anderson finds himself pining over his captain’s sassy little sister, Jennie Beckett, who is extremely off-limits. Attracted to each other, they try to avoid one another, but when they become neighbours, they start playing with fire—initiating a friends-with-benefits situation. However, when feelings get in their way, their “play time” gets even more confusing. If this story manages to get under your skin and into your bloodstream, you’ll be pleased to know that other books are in her Playing For Keeps series—each one ready to pull you into its pages. 

The Fake Out

Stephanie Archer 

If golden retriever energy in human form is your weakness, then you’ve found your next obsession. A funny, fake dating romance, The Fake Out follows Hazel Hartley as she tries to take revenge on her horrible ex by dating her ex’s rival and the top scorer in the NHL, Rory Miller—her childhood friend. Arrogant and flirtatious, Rory makes it fun and addictive during their stint, which prompts Hazel to lose her mind and get in bed with him—breaking her just-one-time hookup rule. One night becomes impossible to forget, and suddenly she’s in far deeper than any game plan accounted for. If your heart belongs to romances that are pure comfort with a side of spice—the kind that makes you giggle, swoon and maybe fan yourself a little—then this one’s calling your name.

Him

Sabrina Bowen, Elle Kennedy

If you’ve ever wondered whether one reckless night can shatter a friendship beyond repair—or if it might actually be the beginning of something far more honest—then this story will grip you from the first page. Jamie Canning has spent four years haunted by a ghost he can’t quite name. His former best friend and roommate vanished from his life without explanation, leaving behind only memories of their last night at hockey camp: too much alcohol, a stupid bet, and a boundary crossed that neither of them knew how to talk about afterwards. Jamie’s tried to move on, but the questions never stop gnawing at him. Ryan Wesley carries his own burden—the crushing weight of regret for pushing his very straight friend into territory that cost him everything. He’s spent years replaying that night, wishing he could take back the dare that ruined them. But when fate throws them back together at the national championship, and then again for one more scorching summer at camp, the truth becomes impossible to avoid. What unfolds is a second-chance story soaked in longing, confusion, and the terrifying vulnerability of admitting what you’ve always wanted.

Powerless 

Elsie Silver

If you like a commanding man who says, “lose that *ucking ring and crawl”, then don’t hesitate to reach for this searing read immediately. Jasper Gervais storms into the wreckage of Sloane Winthrop’s life like a force of nature, rescuing his childhood friend from the altar—and from the mistake of marrying an unfaithful ex. His solution? An unplanned road trip puts miles between Sloane and her shattered plans. But somewhere between highways and hotel rooms, something shifts. The air between them grows charged, electric. Suddenly, they’re looking at each other through a lens they’ve spent years avoiding, touching with an urgency that rewrites every friendship rule they’ve ever sworn by. After all this time spent burying what simmered beneath the surface, the dam finally breaks—and neither of them can pretend anymore that what burns between them is anything close to platonic.

The Risk

Elle Kennedy 

Are you surprised to see another Elle Kennedy book? Well, we aren’t—she’s, after all, the queen of hockey romance. The Risk spins a deliciously tangled web around Jake Connelly, Harvard’s most elite hockey player and the coach’s daughter of his team’s rival. Wrapped in a smirk, all swagger and shameless flirtation, Jake Connelly is forced to fake date Brenna Jensen, so she could secure a much-coveted sports internship. What begins as calculated deception spirals into genuine chaos when they fall for one another. If you’re the kind of reader who craves sharp-witted banters that spark like live wires, heat that steams up every page, and emotional resonance that lingers long after you’ve closed the book, then consider this your next addiction.

Before We Came

Sloane St. James

For those who crave their hockey romance with sharper edges and darker tones, this story plunges into darker waters than most. Birdie’s world shatters at her mother’s funeral when decades of carefully constructed lies come crumbling down. The secrets that emerge aren’t just shocking—they’re sinister, rewriting everything she thought she knew about herself, down to the very name she’s carried her whole life. Desperate for answers and reeling from the truth, she turns to the one person who might help her piece together her fractured past: Lonan Burke, her newly discovered brother’s best friend and star defenseman for the Minnesota Lakes. What begins as a search for identity becomes complicated by an undeniable attraction neither of them can resist. Lonan has waited years for her return, his childhood crush transformed into something far more consuming now that she’s standing in front of him again—grown, guarded and heartbreakingly vulnerable. He offers her shelter from the media storm, a safe place to hide while she rediscovers who she really is. But Birdie has spent too much of her life trapped. Freedom is what she craves, even as Lonan becomes determined to prove they’re inevitable.

The Graham Effect

Elle Kennedy

That Elle Kennedy claim another spot on this list? Honestly, it was inevitable. The Graham Effect centres on Gigi Graham, a woman with her sights set on one thing: earning her place on the women’s national hockey team. There’s just one obstacle—she needs the help of Luke Ryder, her university’s newly minted hockey co-captain. Simple enough, right? Except for the small matter of their chemistry, which crackles like fire between them, impossible to ignore even as they both chase down their separate dreams with single-minded determination. From steamy sauna encounters that’ll leave you fanning yourself to an unexpectedly charming opera date that melts even the coldest hearts, this book delivers a perfect blend of fluff, laughter and risqué moments that hit exactly right. It’s comfort and heat wrapped up in a story you won’t want to end.