LOCKE by Sawyer Bennett
Portland Wildfire #2
Contemporary Hockey Romance
August 11, 2026
🏒Emotionally Wounded Hero
🏒He Falls First (and Hard)
🏒Sports Romance (Hockey)
🏒Forbidden Workplace Romance
🏒Grumpy × Sunshine
🏒Forced Proximity
🏒Slow Burn
🏒Opposites Attract
🏒Found Family
🏒Damaged Hero Learns to Love
He’s the league’s most dangerous defenseman. She’s the specialist sent to determine whether he’s too broken to save. Neither of them is prepared for what happens when the truth hits back.
Locke Donovan has a reputation carved in blood and penalty minutes. The league’s most dangerous defenseman, he’s an angry, unapproachable loner who fights harder and refuses to let anyone in. The Portland Wildfire only took him because no one else would, and Locke seems determined to prove every rumor true. He doesn’t do teammates. He doesn’t do relationships. He barely does conversation.
Dr. Livia Cross is quiet, brilliant and controlled. Officially, she’s the Wildfire’s new high-performance consultant. Unofficially, she’s been embedded by the league to evaluate one player.
One risk.
Locke.
Her job is simple: observe him, test him, and determine whether he’s safe to stay on the ice, or too volatile to keep playing. But the man she finds beneath the scowl and silence isn’t what she expected. He’s sharp. Watching. Walled off for a reason. And when sparks ignite where there should only be professionalism, Livia’s carefully built boundaries start to crack.
Locke doesn’t trust easily yet he lets Livia closer than he ever intended, long before he learns she isn’t who he thinks she is. And when the truth comes out, it won’t just shatter their fragile connection… it might end his career.
Dark, emotional, and electric with slow-burn chemistry, LOCKE delivers a gripping workplace romance between a guarded enforcer and the woman sent to evaluate him—until desire becomes danger, and the lines between loyalty and love blur beyond recognition.
📚Available from your favorite retailer: https://geni.us/SB_Locke
🎧Narrated by Alistair Haynesbridge & Samantha Summers
Locke by Sawyer Bennett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
You know I would love to pinpoint out the exact moment I fell in love with Locke – maybe it was when she kissed him out of the blue and he kissed her back? Or maybe it was when he finally started to let down his wall for her to see just how special this man is. I definitely didn’t like him when he pushed her away but then there wouldn’t have been a beautiful declaration of love from him to her.
I really liked Livia. She was smart, hardworking and truly wanted to help him even before feeling got involved. She wanted to be his shoulder to turn to despite know how deep the scars are. His refusal to see or admit what they had was a once in a lifetime thing, was emotional to read, but he came around and I absolutely love them together.
***Review copy requested and reviewed on behalf of OMGReads Blog***
New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author Sawyer Bennett uses real life experience to create relatable stories that appeal to a wide array of readers. From contemporary romance, fantasy romance, and both women’s and general fiction, Sawyer writes something for just about everyone.
A former trial lawyer from North Carolina, when she is not bringing fiction to life, Sawyer is a chauffeur, stylist, chef, maid, and personal assistant to her very adorable daughter, as well as full-time servant to her wonderfully naughty dogs.
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Connect with Sawyer Bennett: https://geni.us/SawyerBennett
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