Maisie
The night I decided to stop being the good girl…I met him. Dark eyes. Rough hands. Dangerous edge. A stranger who made me forget every rule I’ve ever lived by.
But turns out Wilder Hawthorne isn’t just the hookup I can’t stop thinking about. He’s the new hockey coach at my university. More than a decade older. And the man who says I was a mistake…
Now we’re forced to work together, pretending nothing happened. Soon every glance starts to feel like a promise. Every touch feels dangerous. The more time I spend with the grumpy, callous coach, the more I wonder if I’m the one thing he can’t resist. The way he looks at me says he’s already broken his own rules. And the more he tries to keep his distance, the more I want to push him over the edge.
Wilder
Getting kicked out of the NHL was supposed to be rock bottom. Now the only way to fix my reputation is coaching at the one place I never wanted to return to…Orleans University.
New job. Clean image. No scandals. Until her. Maisie Delacroix. The sunshiney preacher’s daughter I spent one reckless night with before I knew who she was. College student. My team’s new philanthropy liaison. The off-limits distraction I can’t afford.
One rumor could cost me everything. She’s too sweet. Too innocent. Too good for a guy like me.
But the more she looks at me like I’m worth saving, the more I realize the only thing more dangerous than crossing the line…is wanting to.
(ARC Read)
I need a moment because I am unwell after this book.
Maren Moore really said “let’s take a preacher’s daughter, give her a rebellion arc, and pair her with a broken, emotionally unavailable ex-NHL man” and absolutely delivered.
From the very first chapter, this book hooks you. Maisie deciding she’s done being the perfect “good girl” and choosing a stranger in a bar bathroom to take control of her life? Bold. A little reckless. Completely compelling. As a preacher’s daughter who’s spent her entire life living under expectations that were never truly her own, that moment isn’t just impulsive—it’s powerful. It’s her first real step into choosing herself, her wants, her autonomy. And the fact that she chooses a complete stranger to do it? That alone pulls you in.
But what really sends this story into overdrive is who that stranger turns out to be.
Because of course, the man she shares that one unforgettable night with, the one who makes her feel seen and desired in a way she’s never experienced before, is none other than Wilder Hawthorne, the new assistant hockey coach at her university. Older. Closed off. Carrying a past he refuses to talk about. And suddenly, what was supposed to be a one-time moment turns into a situation neither of them can escape.
The tension from that point forward is absolutely relentless.
“You should stop staring at me like that,” she murmurs.
“Like what?”
“Like you’re going to break your own rules, Coach.”
Every interaction between them is loaded with everything they’re trying not to feel. They’re constantly being thrown together because of work, and it just keeps pushing them closer and closer. Every look, every accidental touch, every quiet moment feels like it means something… even when they’re both pretending it doesn’t. And the worst part? They both know exactly what’s at stake, his career, her reputation, everything they’ve been trying to build, and still, neither of them can fully walk away.
“You know what they say about playing with fire?” I murmur. “If you’re not careful, I’ll torch it all to the fucking ground, and we’ll both get burned, Maisie.”
And that push and pull? It never gets old. It just keeps building.
Because yeah, the chemistry is insane, but underneath all of that, this is really a story about two people who are carrying a lot more than they let on.
Wilder Hawthorne absolutely wrecked me. He’s angry, closed off, and so convinced he’s not capable of love that he doesn’t even try to fight it anymore. Everything about him—every wall, every bad decision, every reason he gives for staying away from Maisie—comes back to his past. And watching him try to hold the line, try to keep his distance, and then slowly start to lose that battle? That got me.
“Let me in, Wilder. Stop giving me pieces but never something whole. Whatever you’re going through, you don’t have to do it alone. Let me do it with you. Let me carry some of the weight. God, just let me.”
Because Wilder doesn’t fall in some soft, romantic way.
He spirals.
He gets jealous. Protective. Completely thrown off by the fact that he cares this much. He keeps telling himself she’s off-limits, that she deserves better, that he can’t give her what she needs, but then turns around and proves himself wrong every single time. The way he shows up for her, the way he notices the little things, the way he just can’t stay away—that contrast is what makes him so addictive.
“Good girls do as they’re told, Maisie.”
And then there’s Maisie.
What I loved most about her is that she’s not just “sunshine” to balance him out—she’s strong, self-aware, and really grounded in who she’s becoming. Yes, she starts off wanting to break out of that perfect “good girl” box, but her journey turns into something so much deeper than just rebellion. It’s about figuring out who she is when she’s not living for everyone else.
And when it comes to Wilder, she doesn’t try to fix him. She just sees him. Fully. Clearly. And she stays. Not because she’s naïve, but because she understands him. At the same time, she never loses herself in him, which made their dynamic feel so balanced and real.
Their relationship isn’t just built on attraction—it’s built on trust, on quiet moments, on slowly becoming a safe place for each other without even realizing it at first. And honestly, that’s where this book really shines. Because yes, the spice delivers (and boy, does it deliver), but it’s the emotional connection underneath it that makes everything hit so much harder.
“I will say it when you can’t. I will love you enough for the both of us, Wilder. I will love you even when you can’t love yourself. I will love you through the darkest days.”
And the way the story handles healing? So well done. Neither of them are magically fixed, but they grow. Slowly, naturally, in a way that sneaks up on you. You don’t even realize how much they’ve changed until suddenly you’re looking at them and thinking, wow, they’re not the same people they were at the beginning.
All of that wrapped up in college hockey, reputations on the line, and that constant “one wrong move could ruin everything” tension? It just raises the stakes even higher. That pressure never really goes away—it just makes every choice, every moment between them, feel that much more intense.
“God, Wilder, you are my…freedom.”
This book had everything—intensity, emotion, tension, growth, and characters that felt so real it hurt a little to leave them behind. It’s addictive in the way only the best forbidden romances are, but it also has so much heart beneath the surface.
Maren Moore absolutely delivered with this one.
And Wilder Hawthorne? I’m not recovering anytime soon.
Release Date: March 26th, 2026
Thank you to Maren Moore for the ARC read!