Maple Lake | Smitten Season, Book 3

Contemporary Romance

What the Ice Remembers

She fixes broken players. He’s the one who broke her heart.

Kenzie Erikson has a plan, a color-coded schedule, and exactly zero room in it for Brady Callahan.

She’s the assistant athletic trainer for the Frozen, Maple Lake’s minor-league hockey team, and she’s good—good enough that a promotion is finally within reach. All she has to do is take the team’s most impossible player and get him back to the top of his game.

There’s just one problem with the impossible player.

She used to be in love with him.

Brady Callahan was a Blue Ox superstar until his game fell apart. Then he got sent down to the minors, and has one season to turn it around or watch his career end. He didn’t plan on the trainer assigned to fix him being the girl he left behind eight years ago. He definitely didn’t plan on her being completely unimpressed by him now.

So they strike a deal. She’ll rebuild his game. He’ll win back his spot. Strictly professional. No flirting, no reminiscing, and absolutely no falling for each other a second time.

It’s a great plan.

It lasts about a week.

Because the infuriating man on her training table isn’t the one who broke her heart. And the woman with the clipboard and the no-nonsense glare isn’t the girl he remembers, either—she’s better.

Two people. One season. One shot at everything they’ve been chasing.

If only they can keep from wanting the one thing they swore they wouldn’t.

Some things the ice never forgets.

A small-town, opposites-attract, second-chance hockey romance about wide-open second chances, hard-won grace, and the goals worth changing your whole game for.

Releasing February, 2027 in ebook, paperback, and audiobook

About the Author

Kariss Lynch began her writing career in third grade with a story about a magical world for a class assignment. She is the author of the Heart of a Warrior series and Heart’s Cry, which feature characters with big dreams, adventurous hearts, and enduring hope. Kariss spent a decade in church ministry, managing projects and writing everything from radio and television commercial scripts to fundraising copy before meeting her own handsome hero, Josh, and marrying in 2020. She then hung up her full-time-job hat to become a full-time mom of three sweet, active kiddos. Once a travel addict, these days her adventures are a little closer to home, and coffee, ice cream, and a fun movie or book are her love languages.

For more information, visit her at karisslynch.com.

The Maple Lake Collection | Smitten Season

The Maple Lake Collection | Falling for Flannel