Playing for Keeps, Book 5
From the publisher:
https://amzn.to/3MzXNJrFrom bestselling author and TikTok sensation Becka Mack comes the final book in her sizzling hockey romance series about a couple who face an agonizing challenge that could bring them closer—or tear them apart.
Cara Hunter is a self-made woman. Driven and fearless, she’s never lost a battle. In fact, the only time she’s fallen to her knees was, well . . . for him.
Emmett Brodie might be one of hockey’s hottest players, but the moment he sees Cara, he’s reduced to a single word: hers. And he’ll stop at nothing to change her last name.
With a love as all-encompassing and fierce as theirs, they become the ultimate power couple and the backbone of their family. But when they decide it’s time to have a baby, they discover their journey to conceiving will be anything but easy. As they face off with infertility, a battle that strips them to their bones, they’ll see just how unshakable their foundation really is.
They thought they could survive anything together, but how do you survive when you’re barely breathing?
This final installment of the series delivered an emotional gut-punch that left me reeling—and not just because it’s the end. Cara and Emmett’s story takes an unexpectedly heavy turn that hit close to home.
Their relationship starts with instant chemistry. For Emmett, a notorious player who’s never met a puck bunny he didn’t take home, meeting Cara is a thunderbolt—love at first sight. Despite her attempts to resist, their connection is undeniable. Soon they are married, and life seems perfect.
Everything changes when they decide to start a family. While intimacy comes easily, pregnancy doesn’t. After more than a year of trying, they consult a fertility specialist who delivers devastating news: Cara has diminished ovarian reserve with poor egg quality. What follows is a grueling odyssey of treatments—hormone injections, embryo transfers, and month after month of crushing disappointment. For anyone who has experienced infertility (as I have), this was almost unbearably painful. I found myself putting the book down repeatedly to give myself emotional breaks. The author’s unflinching portrayal of this journey is both authentic and agonizing.
Cara’s struggle is raw and real. She becomes depressed, despondent, and barely recognizable to herself, yet refuses to give up. Emmett remains steadfast beside her, but even he can’t reach her anymore. She withdraws completely, and you begin to understand exactly how infertility destroys so many relationships. She tries to leave, but he cannot let her go.
Their eventual path to parenthood comes through fostering (not really a spoiler—you can see it coming). This helps them reconnect and find their way back to each other. Their hard-won happy ending feels earned after such a harrowing journey.
I finished this book emotionally drained yet deeply satisfied—and melancholy that the series has concluded. Despite the difficulty of this particular story, I loved every moment of this series.
10/2025 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
BREATHE WITH ME by Becka Mack. Zando – Slowburn (October 28, 2025). ISBN: 978-1638932451. 448p.
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