Being the child of a hockey legend is great and all, until you figure out that people either respect you for it or think you’ve only gotten as far as you have because of the name on your jersey. I may be Cam Hardy’s daughter, but I’ve worked my butt off for every minute I’ve earned on the ice.
When I land at NE University, I’m eager for a fresh start and a new season of hockey to begin. But when a ghost from my past—one I never wanted in my present—comes out of nowhere, I learn quickly that even the biggest campus can become small, fast. Especially when said ghost has made it his mission to pursue me. My dad forbids it.
But unfortunately for us both, guys like Hendrix Hunt don’t back down from a challenge. No, just the opposite, actually.
Hendrix is the bad boy on campus with a mile-long list of debatable choices under his belt and an abnormally large chip on his shoulder. And when he lets me see his softer side, I fall for him—heart first. But just when I think I can trust him, he flips the script, reminding me that I can’t.
So when he comes back again-this time, with a grand gesture—
I know I should guard my heart like I guard my goal. But the reality is, unlike facing my opponents on the ice…
I never stood a chance against Hendrix Hunt.
(ARC Review)
Isla Hardy is not just Cam Hardy’s daughter, and Getting the Goalie makes that clear from the very first page. There’s something quietly powerful about opening a book and realizing you’ve come home, and from the moment Isla stepped onto the ice, I felt that familiar Hannah Gray pull, the kind that reminds you exactly why you fell in love with her stories in the first place.
Isla Hardy is everything I hoped Cam Hardy’s daughter would be and more. She’s fierce, driven, and unapologetic about the space she’s earned on the ice. Being hockey royalty comes with expectations and judgment, and Isla carries the weight of that while also quietly dealing with the deep hurt left behind by a biological father who never wanted her. That trauma is written with such care, and it makes her feel incredibly real. She’s strong, but she’s not untouched, and that’s where Hendrix Hunt comes in.
Hendrix is a broken bad boy in the most devastating way. He’s angry, jaded, and hardened by an upbringing that gave him far too much pain and far too little love. He’s a fighter on and off the ice, a self-proclaimed destroyer who doesn’t believe he deserves anything good—especially someone like Isla. And yet, from the moment she gets under his skin, he’s done for. Watching him fight his feelings while still being completely obsessed with her was everything. #19 was his.
“To the hockey nation, Isla Hardy may be the golden girl with a sweet smile and sunshine hair, but I see through it. And underneath that light is a darkness that rivals my own. It’s that darkness that draws me in. It’s the darkness that gets me off.”
The chemistry between them is scorching. The banter is sharp and laced with hurt, lust, and longing, and the emotional push-and-pull had me wanting more. They both know they shouldn’t want each other, but the pull is too strong to ignore. He wants to be better for her. She wants to protect him. Letting each other in is messy and painful and so incredibly rewarding. Their story is raw, healing, and beautifully earned.
“Give me your pain, Isla,” I grunt out. “From the closet that day. From the man who looked through you when you deserved to be seen.” My body begins to tremble. “Give it to me. I want all of it.”
Her eyebrows pinch together. “Give me yours,” she whimpers. “Pour all of it inside of me. I want it.” She sucks in a breath, continuing to ride me. “Please.”
And let’s talk about the nostalgia because this is a second-generation series done right. Seeing all the OG couples return as adults had me smiling. Cam Hardy in full overprotective dad mode? Absolutely feral behavior on my part. The Brooks boys popping up as Isla’s uncles sent waves of nostalgia crashing over me, and don’t even get me started on the Bay Sharks tie-ins. This book felt like coming home.
In perfect Hannah Gray fashion, this wasn’t all sunshine. There’s heartache here, real, gut-punch emotion, and one particular moment had me ugly sobbing. You’ll know it when you get there. The way Hannah handled it was flawless, and it cemented this as one of her best books to date.
“The truth is though, the dark needs the light to show it what it’s missing. And maybe…the light needs the dark too. To hide all the things it doesn’t want the whole world to see.”
I’m a sucker for a broken boy MMC, and Hendrix Hunt now lives rent-free in my heart. Pair that with a badass FMC, dual athletes, second-gen goodness, and Hannah’s signature emotional depth, and I was done for. If Hannah writes it, I’m devouring it—apparently even as a grown woman who has no business loving a college romance this much.
Ten million stars. Highly recommend.
And Hannah… may I pretty please have everyone else’s stories now?
Release Date: January 15th, 2026
Thank you to Hannah Gray and The Smuthood Group for the ARC read!