‘Tis the season for winter sports! The boy (and girl) aquarium is in full swing and the 2026 Winter Olympics are fast approaching. And with the cold temperatures, who wouldn’t like a little heat? It’s certainly not hard to find sports romance titles, they are popular for many reasons! It’s full of some of our favorite tropes: school romances, stuck together, enemies to lovers, hurt/comfort, or a second chance situation. They can also be anything from light and sexy popcorn reads to angsty journeys, and that’s its own kind of fun.
Icebreaker by A. L. Graziadei
Mickey James III loves hockey, but the steep expectations of starting college at the school where his father and grandfather were hockey stars and the next NHL hockey draft weigh on him. Even so, Mickey can’t help noticing how attractive Jaysen “Cauler” Caulfield, his teammate and prickly rival for first pick, is. When rivalry turns to something more, Mickey will have to decide what he really wants, and what he’s willing to risk for it.
Check, Please! Book 1, #Hockey! by Ngozi Ukazu
Eric Bittle is a former Georgia junior figure skating champion and vlogger extraordinaire. But as accomplished as he is, nothing could prepare him for his freshman year of playing hockey at the prestigious Samwell University in Samwell, Massachusetts. It’s nothing like co-ed club hockey back in Georgia! For one? There’s checking. Second, there is Jack—his very attractive but moody captain.
It’s a Love/skate Relationship by Carli J. Corson
Hockey star Charlie has one shot to make her dreams come true, but when she misses, Charlie inadvertently starts a brawl, gets kicked off her team, and suspended from school. Things can’t get any worse. Until she meets Alexa, a prickly, perfectionist ice princess with her sights set on the Olympics. When Alexa’s skating partner breaks his ankle and torpedoes her chances for a gold medal career, the two unlikely allies — along with Alexa’s ex-Olympian mother — strike a deal. Charlie will practice with Alexa until her partner heals, and Alexa’s mother will use her connections to get Charlie back in her hockey uniform. But as the ice between Charlie and Alexa begins to melt, their partnership only gets more complicated.
Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy by Faith Erin Hicks
It should have been a night of triumph for Alix’s hockey team. But her mean teammate Lindsay decided to start up with her usual rude comments and Alix lashes out. Before she knows it, her coach is dragging her off Lindsay, and the invitation to the Canada National Women’s U18 Team’s summer camp is on the line. She needs to learn how to control this anger, and she is sure Ezra, the popular and poised theater kid from her grade, is the answer. So she asks for his help. But as they hang out and start to get closer, Alix learns that there is more to Ezra than the cool front he puts on. And that maybe this friendship could become something more.
Fence
Volume One by C. S. Pacat
Nicholas, the illegitimate son of a retired fencing champion, is a scrappy fencing wunderkind, and dreams of getting the chance and the training to actually compete. After getting accepted to the prodigious Kings Row private school, Nicholas is thrust into a cut-throat world, and finds himself facing not only his golden-boy half-brother, but the unbeatable, mysterious Seiji Katayama. Through clashes, rivalries, and romance between teammates, Nicholas and the boys of Kings Row will discover there’s much more to fencing than just foils and lunges.
Spinning by Tillie Walden
It was the same every morning. Wake up, grab the ice skates, and head to the rink while the world was still dark. Weekends were spent in glitter and tights at competitions. Perform. Smile. She was good, she won, and she hated it. For ten years, figure skating was Tillie Walden’s life. But as she switched schools, got into art, and fell in love with her first girlfriend, she began to question how the close-minded world of figure skating fit in with the rest of her life, and whether all the work was worth it given that she, and her friends on the team, were nowhere close to Olympic hopefuls. The more Tillie thought about it, the more Tillie realized she’d outgrown her passion–and she finally needed to find her own voice.
