Okay. OKAY.

I have been waiting to write this post for longer than I care to admit, and now that the moment is here I have approximately forty-seven things to say and absolutely no idea which one to lead with, so let’s just go.

Hi. I’m Bella Bruce. I write hockey romance. Specifically, I write hockey romance set in the Premier Hockey League — the PHLu, if you want to sound like an insider, and you do, trust me — and on June 15, those books are going live.

I need you to understand what this means to me.

I need you to understand that I have been living inside this hockey universe for years. Years. I have populated it with teams and rosters and rivalries and love stories and families so large and interconnected that I have, on more than one occasion, needed a spreadsheet just to keep track of who is related to whom and whether they’ve already kissed. I have statistics for players who don’t exist. I have opinions about games that never happened. I once interrupted a family dinner to explain, in considerable detail, why the PHLu salary cap structure is actually more competitive than the NHL’s, and I can tell you with great confidence that this was not received with the enthusiasm it deserved.

My family is very patient. They are also very tired.

But here is the thing about building an entire hockey universe in your head over many years: eventually you have to let it out. Eventually someone reads it and tells you it’s good. Eventually you find yourself writing a blog post announcing that the whole glorious, chaotic, romance-soaked enterprise is about to land in front of actual readers, and you feel approximately like a player stepping onto the ice for game one and also like you might be sick.

Healthy. Very normal. Let’s continue.

Mark your calendars:

🏒 May 31 — Cover Reveal

Yes. We have covers. They are gorgeous and I have been sitting on them like a very smug hen and I cannot wait to show you. May 31. Be here.

🏒 June 15 — The PHLu Goes Live

The Premier Hockey League. The teams. The players. The families. The rivalries. The love stories that will, if I’ve done my job right, make you feel things in your chest that you were not expecting to feel about a fictional hockey league in which I have an embarrassing level of emotional investment.

If you love hockey, you’re going to love this.

If you love romance, you’re going to love this.

If you’ve ever watched a game and thought yes, but what if the star player was also falling catastrophically in love at the same time — welcome home. You have found your people. I am your people. Pull up a seat, grab a snack, and let me tell you about the PHLu.

My family, bless them, will probably not be joining us. They’ve heard enough.

But you?

You’re going to want to hear all of it.

See you May 31 for the reveal. 🏒

— Bella