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Verdict: The Windy City finale is the emotional high point of the series and the book most often mis-shelved — it is sold and tagged as a slow burn, and the reader evidence says it is a second-chance romance whose wait already happened.
Best for: Readers who have followed the series and want the found-family payoff, who like childhood history rendered in flashback, and who do not need present-day tension to sustain a romance.
Heat level: ★★★★☆ (4/5 — “explicit open door” on romance.io, from 356 reader ratings)
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.1/5 — a 4.44 Goodreads average across 307,026 ratings, marked down for a mid-book drag twelve of twenty-nine reviewers name)
Tropes: Second chance, childhood friends to lovers, sibling’s best friend, hockey, found family, dual timeline, forced proximity, sweet hero, dual POV, interconnected standalone.
This is an LRR evidence review. We have not read this book cover to cover; every claim below is built from named public sources — Goodreads, StoryGraph, romance.io, Amazon, BookTrib, Jeeves Reads Romance and the author’s own published warning set — and where the evidence stops, we say so rather than filling the gap.
Rewind It Back is Liz Tomforde’s Windy City book five — not book four, as several listings including our own first draft had it — published in May 2025 and marketed as the series finale: Rio and Hallie grew up together, something ended it, and the book runs a present-day reconciliation against a flashback timeline of everything that came before.
It carries a 4.44 average across 307,026 Goodreads ratings, 4.41 on StoryGraph from 10,400 reviews, 4.23 on romance.io from 356, and 4.6 from 103,766 Amazon ratings, with a did-not-finish rate under 1%. Those are the strongest numbers of any book on our slow-burn shelf. They are also, on the evidence below, attached to the wrong label — and that is the most useful thing this review can tell you.
What Is Rewind It Back About?
This is a hockey romance in the Chicago-set Windy City series, and like the rest of the series it is an interconnected standalone with a new couple at the centre. What makes it structurally different from its siblings is the dual timeline: the book alternates between the present-day reconciliation and flashbacks to the years the two leads spent growing up in each other’s lives.
Rio is introduced through what he has kept and never said; Hallie through what she left and why. The book is dual POV, first person — romance.io readers tag it dual 30 times and first person 24, BookTrib describes it bouncing between both perspectives across two timelines, and Jeeves Reads Romance confirms the same. That structure is the reason the burn question below has a clear answer.
What Makes This Second-Chance Hockey Romance Work
- The found family is the actual draw: eighteen of the twenty-nine most-visible Goodreads reviewers name the group dynamics, more than name the couple. Five books of accumulated cast is doing work here that no standalone could replicate.
- Rio carries the emotional register: around sixteen reviewers name his depth specifically, and about ten say plainly that the book made them cry. For a hockey romance that is an unusual concentration.
- The childhood history is real material, not backstory: about thirteen reviewers name the childhood-friends foundation as what makes the reconciliation land, and the flashback timeline gives it actual page count rather than a summary paragraph.
- No manufactured separation: eleven romance.io readers tagged it “no third-act break-up,” and reviewers corroborate that the book does not invent a split to fill its final quarter.
- The author publishes her content warnings: Tomforde lists them on her own site — a genuine rarity in this cluster, where most authors publish nothing, and it means a reader can make an informed decision before page one.
Book Synopsis
Rio and Hallie have known each other since childhood. Their families overlapped, their houses were within walking distance, and for years the two of them were the constant in each other’s lives — through the ordinary business of growing up and through the parts of it that were not ordinary at all. Then something broke, and Hallie left.
Years later they are adults in the same city again, with a professional hockey career on one side and a life rebuilt on the other, and a circle of friends who have long since stopped asking what happened. Neither of them has told the whole story to anyone, including each other.
The novel moves between then and now: the flashbacks assemble the friendship and the fracture, the present-day chapters put two people who know each other completely back in the same rooms. There is no villain and no secret to be uncovered by anyone but them. The question is whether two people can be honest about a history they both remember differently, and whether what is left of it is a friendship, a wound, or the thing they never named.
My Review
This is the best-liked book on our slow-burn shelf by a distance — 4.44 on Goodreads across more than 300,000 ratings, with a did-not-finish rate under 1% — and I want to start by saying why that is deserved. The emotional work is genuinely good. Around sixteen of the twenty-nine most-visible Goodreads reviewers name Rio’s depth, about ten say the book made them cry, and eighteen name the found-family group dynamic. Five books of built-up cast pays off here in a way a standalone simply cannot.
The dual timeline is also the right choice for this story. Childhood-friends reconciliation usually asks a reader to take the history on trust; this book shows it, and about thirteen reviewers name that foundation as the reason the present-day thread works at all. Tomforde also declines to manufacture a third-act break-up, which eleven romance.io readers tagged explicitly.
Now the correction, and it is the reason this review exists. This book is widely shelved as a slow burn, including on our own guide, and the evidence says it is not one. romance.io readers tagged it second chances 38 times against slow burn 25 — slow burn is the eighteenth tag on the book, not a headline. Seven of the twenty-nine reviewers complain there is not enough angst for a second chance, and reviewers report Rio accepting Hallie’s presence early. Jeeves Reads Romance puts it plainly: this is decidedly a second-chance romance rather than a slow burn. The wait in this book already happened, in the flashbacks. The present-day line is reconciliation, and reconciliation moves fast.
The dominant craft complaint follows from the same structure. About twelve of twenty-nine say the middle drags; roughly ten name repetition in dialogue and internal monologue; about five say the flashbacks themselves repeat. A dual timeline that has already resolved its tension has to fill the present-day space with something, and a meaningful minority found what filled it thin. Add eight reviewers naming miscommunication as a plot device and six who found the chemistry unconvincing, and you have a real minority report inside a very high average.
One confound worth naming: reviewers’ ratings track how they feel about the series more than this volume. Series-lovers give it five stars; readers with series fatigue give two or three while still praising Rio. That is worth knowing if you are considering it as an entry point, which it is not.
My honest note: The strongest emotional payoff in the Windy City series, and a second-chance romance rather than the slow burn it is sold as. If you have read the other four, this is your book. If you came for a slow burn, the burn is in the flashbacks and it is already over.
| Element | In Rewind It Back |
|---|---|
| Central relationship | Rio & Hallie — childhood constants separated by something neither has explained, reunited as adults |
| Core tropes | Second chance, childhood friends to lovers, sibling’s best friend, dual timeline, found family, forced proximity |
| Setting | Contemporary Chicago — professional hockey, and a shared childhood in flashback |
| Heat level | 4/5 — “explicit open door” (romance.io, 356 ratings) |
| Burn speed | Contested. Slow-Burn Signal 7.0 (25 slow-burn tags / 356 romance.io ratings, zero insta-love) — but second chances is tagged 38 times, seven reviewers say there is too little present-day angst, and a blog reviewer calls it decidedly second chance rather than slow burn. The delay lives in the flashback timeline |
| POV | Dual, first person, plus a dual-timeline flashback structure (romance.io: dual POV 30, first person 24) |
| Pace | Under 1% did-not-finish across 10,400 StoryGraph reviews — the lowest on our shelf. Twelve of twenty-nine reviewers still say the middle drags |
| Series | Windy City book 5, interconnected standalone with a new couple. Complete arc, HEA, a two-months-later epilogue, no cliffhanger and no third-act break-up. Marketed as the finale, though the author has since announced further Windy City and spin-off titles |
| Kindle Unlimited | Included, verified on the Amazon product page on 22 August 2026 |
| Content notes | Author-published (verified complete), verbatim from liztomforde.com: “18+ Explicit sex scenes Talks surrounding cancer Sick parent Parental infidelity Divorce.” Reader-sourced StoryGraph tiers match it — graphic sexual content, moderate cancer and terminal illness, minor infidelity — which is itself the finding |
Is Rewind It Back on Kindle Unlimited?
Yes. Rewind It Back is included with Kindle Unlimited as of 22 August 2026, verified on its own Amazon product page by reading the Kindle format swatch rather than trusting a search tile. Check the current status on Amazon before you download — this is a recent title with an active screen deal attached to its series, and those are exactly the conditions under which enrolment changes.
Audio inclusion is unverified and we are not claiming it. The audiobook is self-distributed through the author’s own imprint and sells separately on Audible; nothing we found indicates the narration comes with a Kindle Unlimited subscription.
How Spicy Is Rewind It Back?
Band 4 of 5 on romance.io, labelled “explicit open door,” from 356 reader ratings, and the author confirms it herself — the first line of her published warning set is “18+ Explicit sex scenes.” That agreement between the reader tagging and the author’s own statement is unusually clean; on most books in this cluster the author says nothing at all.
The element worth flagging in advance is emotional rather than explicit. Tomforde’s warning set names cancer, a sick parent, parental infidelity and divorce, and StoryGraph readers independently place cancer and terminal illness in the moderate tier. If illness in a parent is a difficult subject for you, that is the thing to know, and you can know it before you start precisely because the author published it. For the same heat band inside a genuine present-day slow burn, The Right Move is the closest book in the same series.
Who Should Read This Book?
You’ll likely love it if: you have read the first four Windy City books, you want a found-family payoff more than a couple-centred one, you like dual timelines, and you cry easily and do not mind being made to.
You may want to skip it if: you came specifically for a slow burn, you need present-day tension rather than remembered tension, a saggy middle will lose you, or miscommunication as a plot device irritates you.
In short: the emotional peak of the series, and a second-chance romance wearing a slow-burn label.
What Readers Are Actually Saying (August 2026)
The channel driving this book in 2026 is not book discourse. It is screen news: trade reporting in May 2026 that Amazon MGM is developing a Windy City television series, plus a Wilder Woods spin-off dated November 2026. That is why a May 2025 release is still accumulating readers at this rate. Worth noting for accuracy: the paywalled trade story itself was not reachable from our research environment, and we are reporting it from the headline and secondary coverage rather than from the article. There is no Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Library Journal, Booklist or All About Romance review of this book; coverage is blog-tier, led by BookTrib and Jeeves Reads Romance. Reddit: unknown / not accessible — reddit.com is blocked from our research environment and nothing has been substituted for it.
Why readers love it (according to the discourse): the found family and group dynamics, first, named by around eighteen of the twenty-nine most-visible Goodreads reviewers. Then Rio’s emotional depth at about sixteen. Then the second-chance execution at about fifteen, and the childhood-friends foundation at about thirteen. Hallie is named by about eleven, roughly ten say the book made them cry, and about nine name the music and playlist device. BookTrib’s Kristin Keaton wrote that “locked in” does not begin to describe reading it.
What readers argue about and complain about: The middle, above everything — about twelve of twenty-nine say the pacing drags. Repetition is second at around ten, naming recycled dialogue and internal monologue, with about five more saying the flashbacks themselves repeat. Third, miscommunication as the engine, at about eight. Fourth, and most relevant to why this book sits on a slow-burn guide at all: about seven say there is not enough angst for a second chance, and about six find the chemistry unconvincing. Four say the length is unjustified and three call the epilogue rushed. The genuine split is on chemistry — eight reviewers call it great and six call it forced, which is closer to even than the 4.44 average suggests. And there is a confound worth naming: reviewers’ scores track their feelings about the series as a whole rather than this volume, so five-star reviews from series-lovers and three-star reviews from the series-fatigued are frequently praising exactly the same things.
On audio: narrated by Megan Wicks and Connor Crais in duet style — the first in the series to use it — published by the author’s own Golden Boy Publishing imprint. We could not confirm an exact runtime; Audible and Amazon runtime fields are unreadable from our environment, and the only figure available is a blog estimate of thirteen to fourteen hours, which we are not printing as fact. Be careful with search results: an Apple Books listing under a similar title is the German edition with entirely different narrators. Rewind It Back is not stocked on Libro.fm.
The series question everyone should ask first: Windy City books are interconnected standalones with a new couple each time, so this technically reads alone — but do not. Eighteen of twenty-nine reviewers name the found family as the best thing in it, and that is five books of accumulated cast. Start with The Right Move, which is book two and the most-rated entry in the series. This volume resolves completely: full HEA, a two-months-later epilogue, no cliffhanger, no third-act break-up. It was sold as the finale, and that is now marketing history rather than fact — the author has since announced another Windy City standalone and a spin-off series dated November 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Rewind It Back on Kindle Unlimited?
Yes, included with Kindle Unlimited as of 22 August 2026, verified on its own Amazon product page rather than a search tile. Enrolment changes without notice, and audio inclusion is a separate entitlement we have not verified for this title.
Is Rewind It Back actually a slow burn?
The reader evidence says no. romance.io raters tagged it second chances 38 times against slow burn 25, about seven of twenty-nine reviewers complain there is too little present-day angst, and a blog reviewer calls it decidedly a second-chance romance. The wait happens in the flashbacks.
Is Rewind It Back book 4 or book 5 of Windy City?
Book 5. Goodreads, the author’s own site and the Amazon product page all list it as the fifth Windy City book, and several third-party listings have it wrong.
Can I read it as a standalone?
Technically yes, because each Windy City book follows a new couple. In practice, no. Eighteen of the twenty-nine most-visible reviewers name the found family as the best thing in it, and that is five books of accumulated cast. Start with The Right Move.
Is it really the final Windy City book?
It was sold that way, and that is no longer accurate. Since publication the author has announced another Windy City standalone and a Wilder Woods spin-off series dated November 2026.
What are the content warnings?
The author publishes them herself, which is rare in this cluster. Verbatim from liztomforde.com: 18+ Explicit sex scenes, talks surrounding cancer, sick parent, parental infidelity, divorce. StoryGraph readers independently tag the same material, which is a strong corroboration.
Is there an audiobook, and is it on Libro.fm?
There is — narrated by Megan Wicks and Connor Crais in duet style, through the author’s Golden Boy Publishing imprint. It is not stocked on Libro.fm, and we could not confirm an exact runtime from any source we trust.
If You Loved Rewind It Back, Read These Next
If the series cast is what you want more of, The Right Move is the same author at the same heat band and the most-rated book in Windy City. If you want a genuine present-day slow burn with the same explicit level, Behind the Net by Stephanie Archer is the closest match on our shelf. And if the found-family register was the draw more than the couple, Wait for It by Mariana Zapata does the same thing with children and grief instead of teammates. All three sit on our best slow-burn romance on Kindle Unlimited guide, and the wider shelf is in Book Reviews.
The Bottom Line
This is the emotional payoff five books of Windy City were building towards, and on that basis it earns its numbers: the found family is the most-praised element in the whole series, Rio is the best-drawn hero Tomforde has written, and the dual timeline gives the history real weight instead of asking you to take it on trust. Against that, twelve of twenty-nine reviewers name a mid-book drag, ten name repetition, and seven say there is not enough present-day tension for a second chance — which is also why we no longer describe this as a slow burn. Read it as the finale it is, not as the wait it is marketed as. Check Rewind It Back on Amazon →
The Eikna Overall Ranking
On the Eikna scale, Rewind It Back ranks as a series-finale second-chance hockey romance — the strongest emotional payoff on our Kindle Unlimited shelf, held back by a saggy middle and a slow-burn label it does not earn, and best approached for the found family rather than for the wait.
The Evidence Scorecard
Overall ★★★★☆ 4.1/5
- ✓ 4.44 Goodreads average across 307,026 ratings
- ✓ Under 1% did-not-finish, lowest on our shelf
- ✓ Found family named by eighteen of twenty-nine
- ✓ Twelve of twenty-nine say the middle drags
Romance ★★★★☆ 4.2/5
- ✓ Second-chance execution praised by about fifteen
- ✓ Childhood-friends foundation named by about thirteen
- ✓ Eleven readers tag it no-third-act-break-up
- ✓ Seven say there is too little present-day angst
Characters ★★★★★ 4.5/5
- ✓ Rio’s emotional depth named by about sixteen
- ✓ Found-family cast named by about eighteen
- ✓ Hallie named as a strong lead by about eleven
- ✓ Six reviewers find the chemistry unconvincing
Writing ★★★★☆ 3.8/5
- ✓ Dual timeline gives the history real page count
- ✓ Music and playlist device praised by about nine
- ✓ BookTrib called it impossible to put down
- ✓ Ten name repeated dialogue and internal monologue
Emotional Impact ★★★★★ 4.5/5
- ✓ About ten reviewers say it made them cry
- ✓ Cancer and sick-parent material handled carefully
- ✓ Author publishes those warnings herself
- ✓ Eight name miscommunication as a cheap engine
Heat Level ★★★★☆ 4/5
- ✓ romance.io band 4, “explicit open door”, 356 raters
- ✓ Author’s own warning set opens with 18+ explicit
- ✓ Reader tagging and author statement agree exactly
- ✓ Heat is not what most reviewers came for
Ending ★★★★☆ 4.3/5
- ✓ Complete arc with HEA and a two-months epilogue
- ✓ No cliffhanger and no third-act break-up
- ✓ Resolves the series it was built to close
- ✓ Three reviewers call the epilogue rushed
Re-read Value ★★★★☆ 4/5
- ✓ Highest-rated book on our slow-burn shelf
- ✓ Amazon MGM developing a Windy City series
- ✓ Flashback structure rewards a second pass
- ✓ Ratings track series loyalty more than this volume
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