She’s about to proposition a famous hockey player…
Eleanor Ford is ready for a fresh start. Away from her dead-end relationship, her grieving dad, and the city that so deeply reminds her of her mom. Things are off to a good start when she hooks up with the hottest guy she’s ever met.
…and she has no idea.
Matthew Anderson feels like a ticking time bomb. At thirty-six, he’s pushing the envelope for a pro athlete and he knows it. But deciding when to call it quits and what to do after? It’s a decision he thinks might send him into an early midlife crisis.
Then Ellie comes barreling into his world and he feels like his priorities might be changing. The catch? Ellie’s not interested in dating a hockey player and he doesn’t know why.
Can Matt convince Ellie he’s endgame material? Or will his first love—hockey—ruin everything?
“Love is such a small word for something so big.”
How the heck is this a debut novel?
Because Endgame just became one of my favorite hockey romances, and I genuinely cannot believe this is Willa Gray’s first book. From the moment I picked it up, I was completely locked in. I finished it in a day because putting it down simply wasn’t an option.
Ellie Ford is the kind of character you want as a friend. She’s sunshine with scattered cloudy days—soft without being fragile, hilariously quick-witted, and carrying the kind of strength that made me want to both be her and hug her. Her iconic “I’ll just say it” energy drives the story forward with memorable moments, starting when she blurts out a proposition to a man she thinks is just a very hot stranger.
“Holy crap on a cracker he’s hot. How am I going to pull this off?”
That moment alone had me laughing out loud, but underneath Ellie’s humor and boldness is a woman navigating deep grief and trauma. Willa Gray writes this part of Ellie’s story in a way that feels incredibly real. The grief, the healing, the good days and the heavy ones, it’s handled with so much honesty that I think a lot of readers will see pieces of themselves in Ellie.
Seeing her slowly allow someone else to be there for her, and realizing she didn’t have to carry everything alone, was one of my favorite parts of this book.
And then there’s Matt Anderson.
Matt Benjamin Anderson is quite possibly one of the biggest green-flag MMCs I have ever read. A salt-and-pepper hockey captain with golden retriever energy? Say less. From the moment he meets Ellie, this man is down bad, but in the most respectful, patient, emotionally mature way imaginable. Matt doesn’t love loudly or performatively—he loves in the details. In remembering. In listening. In adjusting. In showing up. Whether it’s late-night food when she forgets to eat, flying across the country in an emergency, baking a pie from memory so Ellie can feel close to her mom again, or simply saying “I’m on my way” without hesitation, Matt proves again and again that love doesn’t have to be loud to be powerful. Sometimes it just looks like someone showing up, every single time.
“You just…I just feel like I can breathe when you’re with me. Like the weight of the world is suddenly so much less…I’ve never felt that before.”
“If he wanted to, he would” could have been written specifically about this man.
What made this story stand out even more was the emotional depth layered beneath the romance. This isn’t just locker-room banter and cute dates. Both Matt and Ellie are confronting major life shifts—Ellie navigating grief and healing, and Matt facing the looming reality that his hockey career may be nearing its end.
Watching them unpack their pasts, support each other through uncertainty, and intentionally choose each other made their relationship feel grounded, real, and incredibly mature.
And can we talk about the communication? These two actually talk to each other. No unnecessary drama, no frustrating miscommunication tropes, just two people learning how to be honest about what they need and how they feel. It was refreshing and incredibly satisfying to watch their relationship grow from attraction into something deeply meaningful.
“Love you’re scared to lose is love worth fighting for, even if you’re fighting yourself. You deserve to be with someone who fights for that love with you. Someone who knows what they’re up against and keeps going anyway.”
The chemistry between them is fantastic, the banter is sharp, the emotional moments perfectly placed, and the friendships surrounding them makes the story feel lived-in. Matt and Ellie have such a supportive circle around them, from Nate stepping in when Matt can’t be there, to Zoey being the kind of friend everyone deserves.
By the end of this book, I wanted to wrap both of these characters in the biggest hug.
Endgame is the perfect balance of wholesome and heavy—an emotional hockey romance about grief, healing, devotion, and the kind of love that proves you don’t have to face the hard parts of life alone.