Playing For Keeps: An opposites-attract spicy hockey romance

By Tinne Van Doninck

New city, new job, new start... but Emma Dawson always leaves before things get complicated.

At just twenty-seven, Emma has already built a life out of leaving - chasing the next chapter and never staying long enough to let anything, or anyone, truly matter. Toronto is just the latest stop: a short-term teaching post and a quiet year to write her next book.

Until she meets Max Finnegan...

A professional hockey player with a sharp tongue and a reputation to match, Max is the last person Emma expects to clash with in a bookshop - or to keep running into afterwards. But when his sister turns out to be one of Emma's biggest fans, and Emma needs help researching hockey for her new novel, their lives begin to overlap in ways neither of them can avoid.

Unlike Emma, Max isn't interested in half-measures or walking away. He knows what he wants and, for the first time, Emma finds herself wanting it too. But when it all starts to feel too real, will she do what she always does and leave?

Now Emma must decide if she's brave enough to stop running and risk everything for the one place, and the one person, that finally feels like home.

Playing for Keeps is an unmissable and spicy hockey romance, perfect for fans of Rachel Reid and Becka Mack.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1918834040
• ISBN13: 9781918834048
• Release Date: July 2026
• Publisher: Bloodhound Books
• Length: 316 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.0"