The Sunshine Offensive
(2026)(The first book in the Virgina Dominion Hockey series)
A novel by Anne Kemp
She worked hard to keep her life quiet. She didn't expect a hockey player to blow it wide open.
Juliette Gianelli has built her world on intention—her small plant shop, her carefully managed routine, and the fierce love she has for her ten-year-old son. After one very public heartbreak involving a jumbotron at an ice hockey game, she's learned her lesson: be invisible, stay quiet, and whatever you do, stay away from hockey. Plants don't make headlines. Hockey players? They are the headlines.Then the city assigns NHL star Sawyer Stockton to her shop for a mandatory community outreach program—whether she wants him or not.
He's 6'3" with an easy smile, relentless optimism, and the kind of charm that probably works on everyone else. He's loud. He's public. He's everything she's spent years avoiding. And he keeps almost knocking over her succulents.
But here’s the problem: Sawyer isn't actually the disaster she thinks he is.
He shows up on time. He learns the difference between a pothos and a philodendron. He's patient with her son, who thinks he's the coolest person alive. And somewhere between teaching him how to repot a fern and watching him win over her most skeptical customers, Juliette realizes she might be in trouble.
Because the more time they spend together, the harder it gets to remember why she swore off this kind of risk. But when old wounds resurface and the spotlight threatens to return, she must decide: keep hiding in the quiet—or trust that this time, she won't be standing in it alone.
The Sunshine Offensive is a closed-door grumpy sunshine hockey romance filled with sizzling chemistry, undeniable tension, and all the heat—without the spice!
Tropes in The Sunshine Offensive
- Grumpy / Sunshine
Opposites Attract
Forced Proximity
Single Mom Romance
Golden Retriever MMC
Black Cat FMC
Found Family
Protective Hero
Ice Hockey Romance
Genre: Romance