Hockey romance seems to be having quite the resurgence right now, given that we all collectively lost our hearts this past December over two fictional hockey players falling in lust and then in love over tuna melts and ginger ale.

About a decade ago, I went through a serious hockey romance phase, which is hilarious really since the entirety of my knowledge about the sport could fit on a single post-it note. Nevertheless, I inhaled all the hockey romances I could get my hands on and then, ultimately, my interest waned and I only read it sporadically. 

I picked this book up because the premise intrigued me: a female NHL head coach falling for her newest player, a hockey legend in the making facing a career ending injury and traded to a new team as a last ditch effort to revive what’s left of his career. 

I’m not going to say Dirty Hit was without fault, but there’s enough good here that I wanted to review it and make sure people hear about this book. First of all, bless Livy Hart for writing a third person dual POV contemporary banger of a romance in 2026, when dual POV seems to have become a relic. (To clarify, I love dual POV so maybe I too am a relic…?) I personally really enjoy getting inside the head of all of the MCs instead of having to guess at what one of them is thinking or feeling. 

Here, we have Sadie, the NHL’s first female head coach hired to lead the league’s worst team and tasked with turning them into a winner. No big deal! She’s plucky and full of sass and optimism all the while battling raging misogyny and verbal abuse from fans and coworkers and her own players. 

And then we have Leo, a hockey superstar who is also the son of a hockey legend. Traded to the Portland Fury after a possible career-ending injury majorly affected his gameplay, he’s battling migraines and  shoulder pain that severely limits his mobility on the ice. 

What I really loved about this book is the way Livy Hart tackled the dichotomy of the intense pressure to perform at such a high level while also treating these players as actual human beings. Both Sadie and Leo are struggling under the weight of expectations – both from themselves, their team, and the fans. But their experiences are obviously vastly different. 

Sadie, as a woman in what is very much a man’s world, is facing an uphill battle: the assistant GM makes inappropriate comments about her both to her face and to the media, her players don’t respect her as a coach, and her assistant coaches undermine her authority at every turn. Still, she’s determined to succeed at any cost, valiantly attempting to win over her players with offers of fun ice-breaker (no pun intended) field trips and giant blueberry muffins the size of their heads. When I read about a female MC trying to make her mark in a world dominated by men, I want it to be full of competency kink, where the woman is so good at her job that the men have no choice but to shut up and sit down. (Yes, this is the extreme level of fantasy I prefer in my romances). 

However, Sadie is struggling to connect with her players, finding herself at odds with her assistant coaches, and trying to ignore the constant vitriol being aimed her way by both fans and the all-knowing sports commentators who constantly make condescending, sexist remarks about the first female coach in NHL history. So, she makes Leo the new captain and tasks him with giving her insider information about the rest of her players in an effort to try and get to know them. This all sounds more nefarious than it is – what it actually turns out to be is a vehicle for Sadie and Leo to spend a lot of one-on-one time with each other outside of a hockey rink. 

Here is one of my problems with the book; at some point, it starts to click for Sadie, the team starts to win, the players start to respect her, and even have her back when they learn about the abuse Sadie has been dealing with from fans who leave her threatening messages and vandalize her car. There is even a very sweet scene between her and Ivan, the former Fury captain whose initial disdain for her informs how the rest of the team treats her as well. However, we don’t really see how the change happens. There’s no mention of how the relationship between her and her assistant coaches change (if it changes) though I assume it does change because eventually, she does have complete coaching authority over the team. But we never see it on the page. It just goes from problematic and toxic team dynamics to Sadie becoming a beloved coach and her players loving her. (Assistant GM Eric continues to be an asshole and the GM calls him on it, which I do appreciate, but why not just fire the guy? This is not a guy who is going to grow out of his toxic masculinity). 

Secondly, Leo is dealing with some major injuries resulting from a game the previous season with his old team. (Ironically, the game was against the Fury and Ivan was the one who injured him). In an effort to prolong his career, he hides his injuries from the team doctor and from Sadie, even after they begin their romantic relationship. At a certain point in their growing relationship, Sadie tells him about her own past and why her own hockey career was abruptly cut short due to a coach not paying attention to her when she said she was hurt and forcing her to play which resulted in a hip injury that cut her career short. She is very sensitive about her role as a coach and making sure she never forces her players to play injured. So, the fact that Leo ends up putting her in that exact position without her knowledge is difficult to stomach. But Sadie doesn’t spend a lot of time dwelling on that betrayal at all and it feels like a point that needs to be addressed more than it is. This is clearly a big deal to her but the revelation of this information comes so late in the book that there’s really not enough time or space left in the book to fully unpack the emotional ramifications of Leo’s decision to withhold this information from Sadie. 

Aside from those two issues, I really did like this book quite a bit. I love the side characters and I’m looking forward to reading more books set in this universe. 

Grade: A-

Content Notes: misogyny, toxic workplace environment