A Fool for April
(2026)(A book in the Nebraska Knights Holiday Hockey Romance series)
A novel by Ellie Hall
They call it puppy love, but is there such a thing as fake dating your best friend when your crush on him is real?
I’ve been secretly in love with my hockey-playing best friend, Clark, for years, but he keeps me in the friend zone. I’d much rather be in the goalie box with him, but I’m afraid that’ll ruin a good thing—and I'd lose my top dog-walking client.
When he lands a spokesperson deal for the ‘Love at First Wag’ campaign, the charity thinks I’m his girlfriend and wants both of us as the face of their spring adoption drive. His publicist proposes we play along. This is not an April Fool’s joke!
Now I’m pretending to be madly in love with the man who already owns my heart during fake romantic photoshoots, getting real butterflies with his every touch, and wondering if the way he’s started looking at me means I’m more than just his faithful sidekick.
I worry whether our friendship can survive this charade when the cameras stop rolling and we go back to normal. Unless I’m wrong and there’s something more between us.
While I try to save enough money to open The Barkery—my dream dog bakery and training center—and he builds his career, we have to navigate keeping our friendship intact, explore whether we’re meant to be teammates for life, and help find pups their forever homes.
But will we be each other’s forever person?
Get ready for all the swoony best friends-to-lovers feels, adorable dogs, small business dreams, and the kind of love story that proves sometimes the best relationships start with the perfect friendship.
Tropes include:
Friends to lovers
Fake dating
Mutual pining
Forced proximity
Small town
Found family
Doggies!
Genre: Romance
I’ve been secretly in love with my hockey-playing best friend, Clark, for years, but he keeps me in the friend zone. I’d much rather be in the goalie box with him, but I’m afraid that’ll ruin a good thing—and I'd lose my top dog-walking client.
When he lands a spokesperson deal for the ‘Love at First Wag’ campaign, the charity thinks I’m his girlfriend and wants both of us as the face of their spring adoption drive. His publicist proposes we play along. This is not an April Fool’s joke!
Now I’m pretending to be madly in love with the man who already owns my heart during fake romantic photoshoots, getting real butterflies with his every touch, and wondering if the way he’s started looking at me means I’m more than just his faithful sidekick.
I worry whether our friendship can survive this charade when the cameras stop rolling and we go back to normal. Unless I’m wrong and there’s something more between us.
While I try to save enough money to open The Barkery—my dream dog bakery and training center—and he builds his career, we have to navigate keeping our friendship intact, explore whether we’re meant to be teammates for life, and help find pups their forever homes.
But will we be each other’s forever person?
Get ready for all the swoony best friends-to-lovers feels, adorable dogs, small business dreams, and the kind of love story that proves sometimes the best relationships start with the perfect friendship.
Tropes include:
Friends to lovers
Fake dating
Mutual pining
Forced proximity
Small town
Found family
Doggies!
Genre: Romance