Power Play : A Spicy MM Hockey Romance

by Holly Knotts

Theo Lindgren is running out of time. His visa expires at the end of the season, and the only thing standing between him and a one-way ticket back to Sweden is a marriage license. So he does what any desperate, blunt, socially allergic Swedish defenseman would do. He propositions his least favorite teammate.

Shane Novak needs the money. His mother's MS treatment is not covered by insurance, and the experimental therapy that might actually help her costs more than an AHL salary can touch. When Theo offers to pay for the whole thing in exchange for a ring and a signature, Shane does not have the luxury of saying no.

They can barely stand each other. Shane is loud and stubborn and pissed about needing the money badly enough to agree to this. Theo communicates in grunts and glares. They are roommates, linemates, and now legally married, sharing a one-bedroom apartment in Rockford while playing for the Blaze and clawing for the same a call-up to the Fury.

The marriage is fake. The bed they share is not. And what starts as blowing off steam after losses stops being casual long before either of them is ready to admit what it actually is.

The problem is not making it look real. The problem is that it already is. And a call-up to the Fury means one of them leaves.

Power Play is Book 6 in the Icebreaker series, a spicy MM hockey romance featuring a fake marriage, roommates to lovers, and a guaranteed happily ever after. Each book can be read as a complete standalone with no cliffhangers.

For readers who Fake marriage that becomes very realOnly One BedBickering to kissing pipelineSpicy MM sports romance

Genres: Hockey, Hockey Romance

192 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 15, 2026

Reviews

[Paddy Waymark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it.

This is an absorbing story of two hockey players in trouble: Shane’s mother needs an experimental program for her complicated cancer, and Theo from Sweden, has to acquire a visa renewal, or his career is over in the States. Both proud, both resistant, but reality is the answer to the problems. A rivalry on ice turns into a grudging asset for the team and I for one, enjoyed the respective mothers’ ties to their sons and the slow way they moved the puck in their relationship. Add humour and a devastating shoulder injury plus two men of solid character, and you get
a story so well worth the time. Plus good hockey, showing what life is like in the league before the “show”.

[Tris · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

A very enjoyable read. I really loved Theo. The story between Theo and Shane with the green card visa business (although cliche) was fun to read. I think this book had a lot of potential but it still missed the emotional angst and buildup I love in books - almost there but just not quite.

A small note. There were some inconsistencies and irregularities which mixed the characters up at some points of the read. Maybe a little edit or reread to help catch this

[KC · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this was awful.

[María Candela Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this one. I read 6 out of 10 books of this series (7th book to be released at the end of August) and overall this is an okay series. But I really enjoyed this book! I loved the characters’ growth, how they overcome every single test that appears along the way. I think this is the best in the series, in which the hockey and romance are balanced. I can’t wait to read the next one, in which the main couple is presented in the epilogue.

[Yoshio Akira · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just my opinion, but the book was most likely written by AI or with heavy AI assistance. If not, the author probably started writing it years ago, then continued much later without rereading what she had previously written, because a lot of it simply doesn’t make sense.
Here are some examples (with spoilers):

Theo tells Shane he’ll pay for his mother’s treatment if Shane agrees to marry him, since he needs to marry a citizen to get a visa. Later, Shane asks Theo why he didn’t just pick a Swedish girl to marry. Theo replies that he knew he wouldn’t fall in love with Shane.
This makes no sense. If he married a Swedish girl, he still would not have solved the visa issue, Theo told him he needed to marry Shane for the visa.
Theo’s apartment is repeatedly described as being kept at sixty-three degrees because it helps with his recovery. Then suddenly we’re told: “The apartment was sixty-three degrees because the thermostat had two settings: off and a temperature Theo refused to pay for…”
They get married and have no trouble proving it wasn’t a sham marriage for the visa. Yet later in the book, we’re told that Theo will have to leave the country if Shane gets drafted by another team. Why?
Toward the end, there’s this line: “…grabbed two fistfuls of Theo’s shirt and pulled instead of pushed. For once.”
Yeah… no. Most of the time Shane is the one taking care of Theo in bed first. He didn’t “pull him in for once.”
The author also keeps forgetting the characters’ injuries. Theo has a bad shoulder and Shane has a bad hand, but near the end we read: “Shane braced on both arms above him, keeping his weight off the bad shoulder… Theo’s catalogued body forget the inventory, made him arch up off the mattress with his good hand clutching Shane’s back.”
Later she suddenly remembers again that Theo is the one with the bad shoulder.
The book is filled with these kinds of inconsistencies. It also repeats the same phrases over and over and forgets details it established earlier.
The love story is nothing special, the characters the same and the spice repetitive.
It was a real struggle to finish reading it.