THE PUBLICITY PLAY: A Fake Dating Hockey Romance
S. M. Marlowe
THE PUBLICITY PLAY
Harbour City Hawks • Book One
A Fake Dating Hockey Romance
by S.M. Marlowe
A scandal doesn’t need to be true to ruin you.
It just needs to trend.
Mara Sterling doesn’t do fairy tales—she does damage control. After a very public professional failure, she’s one headline away from losing everything. Then a discreet offer lands in her lap: save a pro hockey franchise on the brink… and keep the fix off the record.
Jace Hale is a captain with a season to protect and a locker room that’s turning on him. Sponsors want a story. The owner wants obedience. The media wants blood. And when the pressure spikes, one “clean” solution appears:
A relationship clause.
One girlfriend for the cameras.
One narrative to stop the freefall.
The rules are simple:
No feelings. No freelancing. No going off-script.
Except one kiss flips the story—and ignites something neither of them can manage. Because the scandal isn’t random. There’s a leak inside the Hawks organization, someone close enough to know the secrets that never leave the room. And the closer Mara and Jace get, the tighter the trap becomes.
Now the fake romance isn’t just a cover story.
It’s the only shelter they have.
THE PUBLICITY PLAY features:
• Fake dating / relationship-for-optics
• Forced proximity (with real stakes)
• Only one bedroom (security reasons)
• Dual POV
• High heat + emotional intensity
• Happily Ever After (Book 1) + a final scene that tees up Book 2
Start the Harbour City Hawks series here—and don’t be surprised when “pretend” turns into the most dangerous thing on the ice: the truth.
