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Checking Under the Mistletoe: A Grumpy Sunshine Hockey Romance with a Single Dad and Small Town Christmas Magic
Spilling coffee on the team captain wasn't part of my business plan.
Neither was falling for him.
Maren Winters needs this job. After her ex destroyed her reputation and her event planning business, the Evergreen Bay Wolves' Christmas gala is her shot at redemption. One the devastatingly handsome captain hates everything about Christmas—and apparently, everything about her too.
Declan "Decker" Ashford has spent three years building walls around his broken heart.
His wife died two weeks before Christmas, and he's determined to get through the season without feeling anything. Then a gorgeous, relentlessly optimistic event coordinator crashes into his life, covering him in peppermint mocha and forcing him to remember what joy feels like.
Working together should be simple. Professional. Impersonal.
But stolen glances become lingering touches. Heated arguments turn into something hotter. And his six-year-old daughter? She's already planning their wedding.
Maren knows better than to trust her heart to another man who could shatter it. Decker swore he'd never love again, never risk that kind of pain.
Yet somehow, between ice rinks and Christmas lights, between a daughter's wishes and undeniable chemistry, they're both breaking every rule they made.
Can a woman who believes in Christmas magic heal a man who's forgotten how to hope?
Or will the ghosts of the past destroy their chance at a future?
Neither was falling for him.
Maren Winters needs this job. After her ex destroyed her reputation and her event planning business, the Evergreen Bay Wolves' Christmas gala is her shot at redemption. One the devastatingly handsome captain hates everything about Christmas—and apparently, everything about her too.
Declan "Decker" Ashford has spent three years building walls around his broken heart.
His wife died two weeks before Christmas, and he's determined to get through the season without feeling anything. Then a gorgeous, relentlessly optimistic event coordinator crashes into his life, covering him in peppermint mocha and forcing him to remember what joy feels like.
Working together should be simple. Professional. Impersonal.
But stolen glances become lingering touches. Heated arguments turn into something hotter. And his six-year-old daughter? She's already planning their wedding.
Maren knows better than to trust her heart to another man who could shatter it. Decker swore he'd never love again, never risk that kind of pain.
Yet somehow, between ice rinks and Christmas lights, between a daughter's wishes and undeniable chemistry, they're both breaking every rule they made.
Can a woman who believes in Christmas magic heal a man who's forgotten how to hope?
Or will the ghosts of the past destroy their chance at a future?
367 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 10, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 2, 2025
Ok story but really needed an editor, or use of an outline while writing…
While in theory this had potential to be a great little holiday romance, there are SO MANY continuity issues that made it difficult to enjoy without confusion. It felt like I was reading some strange time loop story with the number of scenes that were basically repeated but changed within a chapter or two (FMC is an only child but then says she has multiple nieces & nephews; they kiss but then she can't wait for their first kiss...etc).
While in theory this had potential to be a great little holiday romance, there are SO MANY continuity issues that made it difficult to enjoy without confusion. It felt like I was reading some strange time loop story with the number of scenes that were basically repeated but changed within a chapter or two (FMC is an only child but then says she has multiple nieces & nephews; they kiss but then she can't wait for their first kiss...etc).
February 9, 2026
So, if you have ever wondered what a caffeine fueled disaster may look like when it crosses with a grumpy werewolf-ishly broody team captain over Christmas, then you, my friend, have been lucky. Because your weirdly specific wish has been granted. Harley Storm’s 'Checking Under the Mistletoe' brings us our heroine, event planner extraordinaire, Maren Winters. With a finesse of luck that would make Mercury turn retrograde in pity, she.
“Her” journey as a hero begins with baptizing a team captain of a group of hockey players known as the Evergreen Bay Wolves with peppermint mocha. Now, personally, I believe that that’s how every romance should begin. Shakespeare missed a trick there. Decker Ashford, a tall, dark, and suffering grump, of course, reacts in a way that you would expect: with the warmth of a freeze-dried ice crystal.
And yet. somehow these two are pushed to work together. Professionally. Calmly. Without murdering each other over said twinkle lights. Their chemistry? Well, let’s just say it simmers quicker than Decker’s jersey in a playoff game.
Throw in a six year old matchmaker who is busily working on wedding invitation design, ice rinks that double as terrain for battlefield-level emotive warfare, and "Christmas magic like in a Hallmark movie, on double-shot espresso," in this couple’s life, and you have a romance that is all swoon, all spice, all chaos, and all Christmas.
"Maren wants her career back. Decker wants to feel absolutely nothing. So, of course, they begin to feel everything." Because "nothing says holiday spirit like two people attempting, and comically failing, to resist an obvious passion."
"If you like your holiday reads with a dose of banter, healing, kids, and a SASE begging for those lovers to just KISS ALREADY, then this book will be your new BFF in December."
And to top it all, it’s available in Kindle Unlimited, so go ahead and binge read it responsibly.
“Her” journey as a hero begins with baptizing a team captain of a group of hockey players known as the Evergreen Bay Wolves with peppermint mocha. Now, personally, I believe that that’s how every romance should begin. Shakespeare missed a trick there. Decker Ashford, a tall, dark, and suffering grump, of course, reacts in a way that you would expect: with the warmth of a freeze-dried ice crystal.
And yet. somehow these two are pushed to work together. Professionally. Calmly. Without murdering each other over said twinkle lights. Their chemistry? Well, let’s just say it simmers quicker than Decker’s jersey in a playoff game.
Throw in a six year old matchmaker who is busily working on wedding invitation design, ice rinks that double as terrain for battlefield-level emotive warfare, and "Christmas magic like in a Hallmark movie, on double-shot espresso," in this couple’s life, and you have a romance that is all swoon, all spice, all chaos, and all Christmas.
"Maren wants her career back. Decker wants to feel absolutely nothing. So, of course, they begin to feel everything." Because "nothing says holiday spirit like two people attempting, and comically failing, to resist an obvious passion."
"If you like your holiday reads with a dose of banter, healing, kids, and a SASE begging for those lovers to just KISS ALREADY, then this book will be your new BFF in December."
And to top it all, it’s available in Kindle Unlimited, so go ahead and binge read it responsibly.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews