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The Home Ice: A Small-Town Hockey Romance
He came to Wren Falls to heal. He didn't expect her.
When NHL defenseman Cal Driscoll is forced to spend six weeks recovering in a small Vermont town, he expects silence, solitude, and a strict physiotherapy protocol. What he doesn't expect is a bookshop on the corner of Main Street — or the woman behind the counter who hands him exactly the right book before he knows he needs it.
Josephine Maren left Boston and a life that was making her smaller to build something real in Wren Falls. Her shop, her town, her carefully chosen life — all of it fits her exactly. She doesn't do temporary things. She learned that lesson the hard way.
Cal is temporary. Six weeks. A finite end she can see from the beginning.
Except he keeps coming back.
He fixes the loose shelf without being asked. He walks across town in a storm because he looked up the wiring records and knew she'd lose power. He leaves books on her doorstep—the ones she mentioned once, in passing, that she'd been meaning to find for years.
And somewhere between the first book and the last candle burning down in a storm-dark kitchen, Jo stops being able to call this temporary.
The Home Ice is a slow-burn, grumpy-sunshine romance about a man learning what he's made of when the game goes quiet and a woman who built her whole life around staying—falling for someone who has to leave.
Clean and emotionally rich. No cliffhanger. A deeply satisfying happily ever after.
When NHL defenseman Cal Driscoll is forced to spend six weeks recovering in a small Vermont town, he expects silence, solitude, and a strict physiotherapy protocol. What he doesn't expect is a bookshop on the corner of Main Street — or the woman behind the counter who hands him exactly the right book before he knows he needs it.
Josephine Maren left Boston and a life that was making her smaller to build something real in Wren Falls. Her shop, her town, her carefully chosen life — all of it fits her exactly. She doesn't do temporary things. She learned that lesson the hard way.
Cal is temporary. Six weeks. A finite end she can see from the beginning.
Except he keeps coming back.
He fixes the loose shelf without being asked. He walks across town in a storm because he looked up the wiring records and knew she'd lose power. He leaves books on her doorstep—the ones she mentioned once, in passing, that she'd been meaning to find for years.
And somewhere between the first book and the last candle burning down in a storm-dark kitchen, Jo stops being able to call this temporary.
The Home Ice is a slow-burn, grumpy-sunshine romance about a man learning what he's made of when the game goes quiet and a woman who built her whole life around staying—falling for someone who has to leave.
Clean and emotionally rich. No cliffhanger. A deeply satisfying happily ever after.
- GenresHockey RomanceSports
166 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 17, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
May 19, 2026
I loved this! I read this on a whim and absolutely adored it. I really enjoyed the writing style and the strong tone and voice. It was a sweet and engaging read with a cozy, small-town feel. I also liked that it was a short, straight-to-the-point novella, while still being a clean, wholesome romance. I’m also an absolute sucker for a slow-burn romance, and this was a really good one that actually felt like a true slow burn despite the novella’s length. The romance was cute, and I liked the overall story and atmosphere. It was an easy book to get into and kept me engaged the whole time. And once again, I loved the writing style in this! This is a 10 out of 10 read, and I highly recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review