Checking the Facts: A Grumpy Sunshine, Enemies to More Clean Hockey Rom-Com (Seattle Firebirds Hockey Book 1)

He’s the stoic hockey captain with everything to lose. She’s the relentless journalist uncovering his team’s secrets. Sparks—and trouble—are inevitable.

I’m Isabelle Riley, a no-nonsense investigative journalist with one goal: expose the truth. My latest assignment? Uncovering financial corruption within the Seattle Firebirds hockey team. It’s the kind of story that could launch my career—or completely ruin theirs. Either way, I’m not backing down.

The only problem? Ethan Sinclair.

The Firebirds’ captain isn’t just ridiculously handsome—he’s infuriatingly stoic, impossibly disciplined, and annoyingly protective of his team. He calls me a distraction. I call him “Saint,” because his squeaky-clean reputation makes him the perfect cover for the secrets I’m trying to uncover. Too bad for him, I don’t pull punches… even if his piercing blue eyes and quiet strength make me want to.

As I dig deeper, Ethan and I clash at every turn—on the ice, at the gala, even under the spotlight of a kiss cam. But somewhere between the sharp banter and stolen glances, the lines blur, and I start to wonder if there’s more to him than his carefully controlled life.

When the truths I uncover threaten to tear his team apart, Ethan has to decide what matters more: loyalty or integrity. And me? I have to figure out if chasing this story is worth risking the one thing I never expected to find—him.

Checking the Facts is book 1 in the sweet/clean Firebirds Hockey series, which features interconnected standalones about the players on a fictional professional hockey team.

Tropes:
* Grumpy sunshine
* Investigative journalist
* Enemies to more
* Slow burn
* Forced proximity
* Found family