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Verdict: An emotional, forbidden-lines hockey romance between an injured player and the team doctor treating her — tender and easy to get invested in, but repetitive on the page and lighter on actual hockey than the cover suggests.
Best for: Readers who want feelings over plot, fans of doctor/patient tension and injury-recovery stories, and anyone already following the Phoenix Ridge team.
Heat level: Not rated (billed as steamy; romance.io has no steam rating yet)
Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.6/5 — a 4.40 Goodreads average across 235 ratings, weighed against repeated complaints about the writing)
Tropes: Forbidden romance, doctor/patient, injury recovery, forced proximity, athlete/non-athlete, pro women’s hockey, series romance.
Off the Ice is the third book in Emily Hayes’s Phoenix Ridge Hockey series, published in April 2026. It is a contemporary sapphic romance about Elise Moreno, a hockey player sidelined by a shoulder injury, and Dr. Sienna Park, the doctor who has built her career on never getting involved with players.
It holds a 4.40 average across 235 Goodreads ratings, with 86% of them four or five stars, and 4.6 stars across 365 Amazon ratings. The small StoryGraph sample is cooler, at 3.46 from seven reviews. Readers who love it talk about how much it made them feel; readers who do not talk about the repetition.
What Is Off the Ice About?
Elise has built her whole identity around hockey. When a shoulder injury takes her off the ice, she loses her games, her sense of control and her certainty about who she is — and has to watch her team carry on without her.
Sienna is the professional in the room. She does not date players, and Elise is exactly the complication she has spent her career avoiding. Treatment brings them into daily, close contact, and what starts as rehab becomes quiet, intimate and hard to ignore. As Elise gets closer to a return, both of them have to decide what the rule is worth.
What Makes This Hockey Romance Work
- Emotional pull: The most common praise is that the narration makes you care. One reader said she cried like a baby; another described the characters’ flaws as handled with real sensitivity.
- Intimacy: Readers single out the love scenes and the tenderness between the leads rather than raw spice.
- The athlete lead: Elise works for readers who love a sporty love interest, and her loss of identity after injury gives the book its stakes.
- The series cast: Team members from earlier books keep appearing, and the found-family energy near the end was a highlight for one reviewer.
- Personal baggage over ethics: The angst comes from each woman’s own history rather than a long debate about the doctor/patient rule — which one reader thought worked better.
Book Synopsis
She knows how to fight on the ice — just not how to survive without it. When a shoulder injury sidelines Elise Moreno, everything she has built her life around is suddenly out of reach. No games, no control and no certainty about who she is without hockey.
Dr. Sienna Park does not get involved with players. She has built her career on discipline, professionalism and never crossing the line, and Elise is a complication she does not need. But what begins as treatment becomes something far more dangerous. As boundaries blur and the ice draws closer again, walking away might cost more than either of them is willing to lose.
My Review
The premise is a good one for a sports romance: take the athlete off the ice and make her figure out who she is without it. Elise’s injury gives the story real stakes, and pairing her with the one person whose job is to put her back together creates a natural slow build of closeness. Readers who loved the book loved exactly that — the care between the two women, and the way the relationship grows through treatment rather than through big set pieces. One reviewer summed it up as a slow burn that turns into a forest fire within three weeks.
The weaknesses come up again and again. The most detailed review, a 3.5-star read, praises the emotion but says the writing repeats itself chapter after chapter, the same expressions and descriptions, and needs a firmer edit. The same reader wanted more hockey and more team scenes, and was frustrated that after the leads get together the book skips forward in summaries instead of showing those weeks. A one-star reviewer found it boring, with too much focus on Elise’s sports bra and not much happening. Another reader thought it was simply too short.
It is also worth knowing that the forbidden angle is more premise than debate. If you want a book that seriously interrogates the ethics of a doctor dating her patient, this is not it; the conflict is about the women’s own fears. Later in the book, a car accident puts Sienna in danger and flips the caretaking, and one reader singled out the tenderness of that stretch.
A couple of Goodreads reviewers suspect AI assistance in the writing, pointing to the repetition and the author’s fast release pace. We cannot verify that either way, and plenty of readers clearly connect with the story regardless.
My honest note: If you read for emotion and do not mind a repetitive style, this will likely land. If prose quality or on-ice action matters most to you, sample it first — it is on Kindle Unlimited, which makes that easy.
| Element | In Off the Ice |
|---|---|
| Central relationship | Elise Moreno & Dr. Sienna Park — injured player and team doctor |
| Core tropes | Forbidden romance, doctor/patient, injury recovery, forced proximity |
| Setting | Phoenix Ridge professional women’s hockey |
| Heat level | Not rated — billed as steamy |
| Series | Phoenix Ridge Hockey #3 — happy ending |
| Length | 251 pages (Kindle) |
| Content notes | Sports injury, doctor/patient power dynamic, serious car accident |
How Spicy Is Off the Ice?
The Amazon subtitle calls it a steamy romance, and readers such as the one who praised its “great love scenes” agree there is on-page intimacy. The most detailed review pushes back a little: by lesbian romance standards she would not call it steamy, because the sex is so tied to the emotional connection that it reads as deeply romantic rather than hot. Romance.io has no ratings for it yet, so we have not given it a heat score.
On content, expect a career-threatening injury, a relationship between a doctor and her patient, and a serious car accident later on. StoryGraph has no community content warnings for the book yet.
Who Should Read This Book?
You’ll likely love it if: you want an emotional, forbidden sapphic romance, you like athletes who have to rebuild themselves, and you enjoy series with a recurring cast. It is on our sapphic hockey romance list.
You may want to skip it if: repetitive prose pulls you out of a story, you want lots of game action, or you want the doctor/patient ethics taken seriously.
In short: Big feelings and a strong premise, held back by repetitive writing.
What Readers Are Actually Saying (September 2026)
This is a new, Kindle Unlimited release with a busy Goodreads page and not much discussion elsewhere; a web search surfaced no Reddit threads. On Goodreads the split is 57% five stars, 29% four, 11% three and under 2% two or one. StoryGraph has only seven reviews, averaging 3.46. I could not find an audiobook.
Why readers love it (according to the discourse): The emotion first. Second, the tenderness and love scenes. Third, the recurring Phoenix Ridge cast. Fourth, Elise as an athlete lead.
What readers argue about and complain about: Repetitive writing, above everything. Second, too little hockey. Third, time skips that tell instead of show. Fourth, whether it is really steamy.
The series question worth asking first: Off the Ice follows a new couple, so you can start here. If you want the book before it, Power Play is the coach-and-rookie entry in the series.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Off the Ice a standalone?
It is book 3 in Emily Hayes’s Phoenix Ridge Hockey series and follows its own couple, Elise and Sienna. Earlier characters return, and readers enjoy the recurring team, but one reviewer read it before book 2 without trouble.
How spicy is Off the Ice?
It is billed as a steamy romance, and some readers praise the love scenes. One reviewer felt the sex is so tied to the emotional connection that it reads as romantic more than hot. Romance.io has no steam rating yet, so we have not given it a heat score.
Does Off the Ice have a happy ending?
Yes. Reader reviews describe a happy-ever-after, and the author promises happy endings across the Phoenix Ridge books.
Is Off the Ice on Kindle Unlimited?
Yes, at the time of writing the Kindle edition is available on Kindle Unlimited. A paperback is also available.
What are the content warnings for Off the Ice?
The story involves a career-threatening shoulder injury, a doctor/patient relationship and a serious car accident later in the book. StoryGraph has no community content warnings for it yet.
If You Loved Off the Ice, Read These Next
Stay in the series with Power Play, or try Like a Power Play for another forbidden coach-and-player hockey romance. On the Fly is a quieter athlete/non-athlete pairing, and Stick Around is a reader favourite in the genre. For more, browse our sapphic hockey romance list, the sapphic sports romance hub, or the full Book Reviews archive.
The Bottom Line
Off the Ice sets out to be an emotional, forbidden hockey romance about an athlete who loses her game and the doctor who helps her find her way back. It delivers the feelings, and most readers come away happy. What holds it back is the writing: repetitive phrasing, summarised stretches and less hockey than you might expect. For readers who want heart over polish, it is worth it. Check Off the Ice on Amazon →
The Eikna Overall Ranking
On the Eikna scale, Off the Ice ranks as a good, emotionally driven hockey romance — tender and well liked, held back by repetitive prose and a thin sports thread.
The Evidence Scorecard
Overall ★★★★☆ 3.6/5
- ✓ 4.40 average across 235 Goodreads ratings
- ✓ 86% of Goodreads ratings are four or five stars
- ✓ 4.6 stars across 365 Amazon ratings
- ✓ StoryGraph 3.46 from seven reviews
Romance ★★★★☆ 3.8/5
- ✓ Closeness built through treatment
- ✓ Tender caretaking both ways
- ✓ Forbidden premise
- ✓ Ethics not explored
Characters ★★★★☆ 3.6/5
- ✓ Elise’s loss of identity
- ✓ Sienna’s rule-bound professionalism
- ✓ Recurring Phoenix Ridge cast
- ✓ A simple plot for one reader
Writing ★★★☆☆ 2.9/5
- ✓ Emotional narration
- ✓ Repetitive phrasing
- ✓ Time skips after they get together
- ✓ Some readers suspect AI assistance
Emotional Impact ★★★★☆ 3.9/5
- ✓ Readers report crying
- ✓ Career-threatening injury
- ✓ Car accident raises stakes
- ✓ Found family near the end
Heat Level — not rated
- ✓ Billed as steamy
- ✓ Love scenes praised
- ✓ Reads romantic more than hot for one reader
- ✓ No romance.io rating yet
Ending ★★★★☆ 3.7/5
- ✓ Happy ever after
- ✓ Series promises happy endings
- ✓ A little cheesy for one reader
- ✓ Earned for most
Re-read Value ★★★☆☆ 3.3/5
- ✓ On Kindle Unlimited
- ✓ Comfort read for series fans
- ✓ Repetition shows on a re-read
- ✓ No audiobook found
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