Ice Romance

Synopsis

Set against the high-adrenaline backdrop of professional hockey, this story immerses readers into a world of ambition, personal growth, and the undeniable human need for connection. Eros Candreva, a fiercely driven hockey goalie, grapples with a volatile mixture of guilt and relentless standards set by his younger self. Haunted by the memory of his best friend Luca and the cracks in his literal and figurative armor, Eros invests everything into control and perfection – only to find that the battle is internal and has origins in unprocessed grief and fear of vulnerability. Enter Ariel Novak, a new sports medicine doctor with her own legacy to break free from. Tasked with aiding his fragile recovery from a significant physical injury, she inadvertently chips away at his emotional walls, defying the isolation he's enforced around himself. Equipped with her inherited vintage medical satchel and the mantra "Mistakes don’t define you; how you grow does," Ariel finds herself not just healing muscles and injuries, but reigniting a perspective of team spirit—and something more personal in Eros. Their exchanges ripple with an intricate interplay of quiet strength, guarded pain, and electric, unspoken emotions. As high-stakes moments on and off the ice threaten to unbalance them, including a fiercely-contested championship game and veiled tensions with the Blades' steely general manager, both Eros and Ariel must confront what must be let go to embrace transformation. With Ariel battling the ghosts of self-doubt and Eros weighing the cost of his identity entwined with hockey, the duo bridges their shared insecurities, discovering vulnerabilities can become conduits for strength and relationships offer fortitude in their own rights. From intensely vivid rink-side thrills to introspective spaces that cater to scars, both physical and emotional, this narrative is a beautifully raw exploration of the ways people fall, rise, and face renewal when faced with the crackling energy of combatting their inner battles. Romance mingles with reckoning, and in their journey over a season like no other, Eros and Ariel deliver a poignant reminder of the triumph found in mutual trust, lasting legacy, and the unexpected warmth that follows the thawing of ice.