Play Along With Me by Kate Olivia

She’s his fake girlfriend. He’s supposed to keep his eyes on the puck—not her.

After three years of being a goalie in the minors, I finally get my NHL shot with the Boston Saints—only to have my marriage-obsessed parents show up with my ex-girlfriend.

Enter Audrey Mazzone: aspiring novelist, professional deflector of emotions, and owner of one (non-diabetic) judgmental cat. When she becomes my emergency fake girlfriend over dinner, it solves my ex problem and creates about seventeen new ones.

Now my mother is commenting on Audrey’s Instagram posts from the past decade, my hockey colleagues adore her hockey knowledge (“that’s totally a… hooking… thing!”), and I can’t stop thinking about how she laughs at my game-day rituals.

While I’m finally getting NHL ice time, Audrey’s battling her unfinished novel and an ex she Instagram-stalks with Olympic-level dedication. We’re both playing defense against the same fear: letting someone past our carefully constructed walls.

Just as Audrey’s sarcasm gives way to something real and I start picturing a future beyond my crease, the Saints offers me the starting position I’ve sacrificed everything for.

I was trained to stop the puck, to never let anything in—but for the first time in my life, I think I might let this one through.

Play Along With Me is a fake dating NHL hockey romcom. It is a perfect palette cleanser book with no third act breakup. It can be read as a standalone and has a happy ever after.