Series: Seattle Havoc #1
Author: Vivian Wood
Published November 5th 2025 by Vivian Veritas Publishing
Goodreads Synopsis
The league’s biggest hothead just got engaged to his worst enemy.
After escaping a relationship that’s splashed across every sports headline, Juliet Monroe moves back to Seattle and swears off hockey players for good.
Then Seattle Havoc enforcer Hunter Huxley punches a fan on live TV. Now the team’s grumpy, six-foot-six problem child has a PR disaster on his hands, and Juliet’s the only consultant desperate enough to take the job.
They can’t stand each other. He’s all muscle and menace. She’s all bombshell lipstick and cutting comebacks. But the team’s solution is simple: fix his bad-boy image with a fake engagement, smile for the cameras, wear the ring, and live together until the story sticks.
Juliet can fake the smiles. What she can’t fake is the chemistry that crackles every time he looks at her like he’s imagining her in his bed instead of in a press release.
Hunter doesn’t care about redemption. He cares about winning. But living with Juliet turns every fight into foreplay and every touch into a losing battle.
What starts as a contract starts to feel real. Because the league’s angriest player is about to break his own rules… and fall for the woman he is never supposed to touch.
Goodreads
Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher, via BookSirens. This in no way impacted on my view.
After her last relationship showed her that she can't trust a man, and especially not a hockey player, Juliet Monroe has sworn off love altogether. She wants to be able to reclaim her place in the PR world, but it's hard to get the foot in the door as a single woman. Enter Hunter Huxley, Seattle Havoc's enforcer, with a bad boy reputation to boot. He's on his last chance with the team, and needs to refresh his image. After a chance meeting in a bar, in which Hunter and Juliet look very close, it's seen by the team that they have a chance at redemption if they pretend to be engaged. And after all, when has a fake romance every gone wrong?
This was a hefty book, but I couldn't put it down. Both Hux and Juliet were great characters, will such compelling backstories that I needed to know more about them. Neither had had it particularly well in life, and they were very slow to trust anyone with their hearts. I loved the way the pair went from enemies, to begrudging friends, to lovers, with everything dealt with so well. They had known each other in college, but Hux's jealousy turned Juliet into a laughing stock, and it was definitely a uphill struggle for him to regain her trust, and her love. A great book, I look forward to reading more from this author.
Dates Read:
December 11-12, 2025
Rating
4 Stars
