Hockey Romance: The BookTok Sports Romance Boom Explained
June 5, 2026
Of all the micro-genres BookTok has supercharged, few have grown like hockey romance. What started as a niche corner of sports romance has become a publishing force — viral, bestselling, and impossible to ignore. Here’s why it took off, and where to start.
Why hockey romance, specifically?
Sports romance has always worked because it comes with built-in stakes, teamwork, and physicality. Hockey adds its own flavour: a tight-knit team culture, a “grumpy athlete / sunshine love interest” dynamic that fans adore, campus and pro settings full of found family, and just enough spice. It’s comfort reading with an edge — and it’s endlessly bingeable in series form.
The viral starting point
Icebreaker — Hannah Grace The book that broke hockey romance into the mainstream — a figure skater and a hockey captain forced to share the ice. If you want to know what all the noise is about, start here. Browse Hannah Grace’s books →
The genre cornerstones
The Deal (Off-Campus series) — Elle Kennedy A college sports-romance institution. The Off-Campus and Briar U books are the gateway drug for the whole genre — funny, steamy, and addictive.
Pucked — Helena Hunting The series that made many readers fall for hockey romance in the first place. Broad comedy and big heart.
Brooklyn Bruisers / True North — Sarina Bowen For readers who want their hockey romance with a little more emotional grounding and craft. Bowen is a genre favourite for a reason.
Pucking Around — Emily Rath A more recent viral hit that pushed the genre’s boundaries — proof of how fast hockey romance keeps evolving.
What to expect
Hockey romance lives and dies on its tropes, and that’s the point: forced proximity, fake dating, grumpy/sunshine, brother’s best friend, only-one-bed. Readers come for the formula and stay for the character chemistry. If you’ve avoided it as “just a trend,” the best of the genre is sharper and warmer than the memes suggest.
Where to go next
Once you’ve worked through the hockey shelf, the wider contemporary romance and sports-romance world opens up — football, F1, soccer, and more all have their own BookTok-fuelled booms. Hockey just got there first.