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Puckdrops and Promises
Luna Jenson never planned on starting over.
After escaping a toxic relationship with her abusive ex-boyfriend, Logan Wishful, returning home felt more like survival than healing. Keeping her head down was easier than trusting people again-until a chance meeting in a mall introduces her to Axel Valkey.
Axel Valkey, left wing for the Minnesota Druids, is everything Luna doesn't know how to handle patient, soft-spoken, protective, and impossibly kind. Beneath his calm sterling-gray eyes and effortless charm is a man willing to give Luna the one thing no one else ever has-safety without conditions.
What begins as friendship slowly turns into something deeper. Late-night drives, quiet confessions, and lingering touches blur the line between comfort and love. But healing isn't linear, and Logan refuses to stay in the past.
As old fears resurface and the pressure of Axel's hockey career grows, Luna must decide if she's finally ready to let someone love her without fear-and Axel must prove that love can be gentle without being weak.
A deeply emotional friends-to-lovers hockey romance about healing, trust, and finding home in the arms of the person who sees every broken piece and stays anyway.
After escaping a toxic relationship with her abusive ex-boyfriend, Logan Wishful, returning home felt more like survival than healing. Keeping her head down was easier than trusting people again-until a chance meeting in a mall introduces her to Axel Valkey.
Axel Valkey, left wing for the Minnesota Druids, is everything Luna doesn't know how to handle patient, soft-spoken, protective, and impossibly kind. Beneath his calm sterling-gray eyes and effortless charm is a man willing to give Luna the one thing no one else ever has-safety without conditions.
What begins as friendship slowly turns into something deeper. Late-night drives, quiet confessions, and lingering touches blur the line between comfort and love. But healing isn't linear, and Logan refuses to stay in the past.
As old fears resurface and the pressure of Axel's hockey career grows, Luna must decide if she's finally ready to let someone love her without fear-and Axel must prove that love can be gentle without being weak.
A deeply emotional friends-to-lovers hockey romance about healing, trust, and finding home in the arms of the person who sees every broken piece and stays anyway.
390 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 13, 2026
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November 1, 2026
This is the author’s debut novel! It’s an emotional roller coaster and chock full of trauma as the FMC, Luna, is trying to adapt to life after leaving an abusive relationship. After escaping and trying to turn over a new leaf, Luna meets our MMC, Axel, who’s Russian and speaks to her in his native tongue 🤌🏼🥰
I really loved a lot about this book - the parent’s support from the get go, the golden retriever friend 🤪, the stolen moments between Luna and Axel and the way he’s just there for her at any given point (whether it’s mentally or physically protecting her from a situation that could send her spiraling) and really just the fact the author knows hockey so well and wrote some detailed action scenes on the ice 🏒🥅🖤
While I enjoyed this story as a whole, there are a few key points I want to touch on.
At first I was a little confused regarding the MMC’s rapid personality change along with his habits and how he reacted in a certain situation. I actually spoke with the author regarding this turning point and she easily explained and helped me understand (as someone who hasn’t been through this situation - my words lol). Without going in depth and adding any spoilers to my review, it’s actually Axel’s reaction to having a hard time fully depicting how Luna feels about him. Luna feels secure with him, which allows for her to openly express her reactions to him vs others she’s not as close with. It makes complete sense now and my heart hurts just a little more for both of them and thinking how far they’ve come. Communication is key in all friendships and relationships, let alone one where both parties have trauma of their own 😅
The timeline was a little confusing as well, as I thought it had only been a few weeks when it had actually been months. Maybe I just got sucked into the gruesome hockey schedule and lost track of time LOL who knows, but there were little events that were simply mentioned towards the end of the book (that took place along the way) and I would’ve loved for the author to expand on those. I feel like allowing those times to be written into the storyline would help deepen the emotional connection the reader has to the characters even more and really show what makes the MCs who they are and why they work so well together. I liked the side characters for the most part and I hope we continue to learn more about them as the series progresses (things like their family dynamic, what pets they have, what they do outside of their career when hanging out with the MCs, etc). Lastly, I was really looking forward to Luna getting legal justice against her ex, Logan, but I will say I’m pretty happy with what he was dealt 🫣 Although this is a standalone, I’m wondering if maybe we’ll get to read “behind the scenes” in book 2 about Luna coming forward with Logan’s actions, allowing his true personality to come to light 👀
Here are a few of my favorite quotes 🫶🏻
“She wasn’t sunshine. No, she was something quieter, deeper—a moonbeam, holding more than she ever let on.”
“Fox might be a moron,” he added, a hint of amusement slipping through, “but he did one thing right.” “What’s that?” I asked softly, my hands coming together in front of me as I leaned against the truck. “Introducing me to you.”
“You walk into a room with me? That’s it. You’re mine to look out for. No one gets to make you feel like that again. Not if I’m there.”
I really loved a lot about this book - the parent’s support from the get go, the golden retriever friend 🤪, the stolen moments between Luna and Axel and the way he’s just there for her at any given point (whether it’s mentally or physically protecting her from a situation that could send her spiraling) and really just the fact the author knows hockey so well and wrote some detailed action scenes on the ice 🏒🥅🖤
While I enjoyed this story as a whole, there are a few key points I want to touch on.
At first I was a little confused regarding the MMC’s rapid personality change along with his habits and how he reacted in a certain situation. I actually spoke with the author regarding this turning point and she easily explained and helped me understand (as someone who hasn’t been through this situation - my words lol). Without going in depth and adding any spoilers to my review, it’s actually Axel’s reaction to having a hard time fully depicting how Luna feels about him. Luna feels secure with him, which allows for her to openly express her reactions to him vs others she’s not as close with. It makes complete sense now and my heart hurts just a little more for both of them and thinking how far they’ve come. Communication is key in all friendships and relationships, let alone one where both parties have trauma of their own 😅
The timeline was a little confusing as well, as I thought it had only been a few weeks when it had actually been months. Maybe I just got sucked into the gruesome hockey schedule and lost track of time LOL who knows, but there were little events that were simply mentioned towards the end of the book (that took place along the way) and I would’ve loved for the author to expand on those. I feel like allowing those times to be written into the storyline would help deepen the emotional connection the reader has to the characters even more and really show what makes the MCs who they are and why they work so well together. I liked the side characters for the most part and I hope we continue to learn more about them as the series progresses (things like their family dynamic, what pets they have, what they do outside of their career when hanging out with the MCs, etc). Lastly, I was really looking forward to Luna getting legal justice against her ex, Logan, but I will say I’m pretty happy with what he was dealt 🫣 Although this is a standalone, I’m wondering if maybe we’ll get to read “behind the scenes” in book 2 about Luna coming forward with Logan’s actions, allowing his true personality to come to light 👀
Here are a few of my favorite quotes 🫶🏻
“She wasn’t sunshine. No, she was something quieter, deeper—a moonbeam, holding more than she ever let on.”
“Fox might be a moron,” he added, a hint of amusement slipping through, “but he did one thing right.” “What’s that?” I asked softly, my hands coming together in front of me as I leaned against the truck. “Introducing me to you.”
“You walk into a room with me? That’s it. You’re mine to look out for. No one gets to make you feel like that again. Not if I’m there.”
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