Heart Check by Emily Charlotte

Heart Check

Emily Charlotte

Margaret K. McElderry Books · Paperback · November 18, 2025

For the first printing only!

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Who it’s for
Hockey ambition meets mutual misreading in a school-set rom-com about finding common ground.
Themes
Reexamining assumptions, Clashing school priorities, Hockey ambitions
Genres
Romantic Comedy for Teens, Hockey, Contemporary YA Romance

About this book

For the first printing only! This paperback features stenciled sprayed edges while the special edition supply lasts. A star hockey player and his biggest critic must reexamine their assumptions about each other when forced to work together at an after-school job in this feel-good young adult rom-com debut about breaking the ice. Luke Dawson and Harper Braedon could have been friends.

Continue reading

They trade shifts at the same diner, share classes at school, and are driven by their greatest passions: hockey for Dawson and jewelry-making for Harper. But some things aren't meant to be. Dawson thinks Harper is stuck-up, too good for anything resembling school spirit. Harper thinks Dawson is a self-centered jock, a perfect fit for a hockey team that seems to absorb all the budget away from the arts departments. When his beloved hockey coach gets fired for misallocation of funds, Dawson is terrified that all his plans for impressing scouts are vanishing before his eyes. A rumor goes around that Harper was the one who got him fired, and suddenly she’s public enemy number one. But even with their mutual dislike at an all-time high, Harper and Dawson can’t escape splitting shifts forever. Can forced proximity help them find some common ground, or will long-held grudges finally succeed in bringing them both down?

Rinkside Friction

Hockey ambition meets mutual misreading in a school-set rom-com about finding common ground.

Come here for

  • Clashing views of hockey, arts funding, and school spirit
  • Diner-shift proximity and a romance tested by assumptions

Expect

  • A young adult rom-com pairing hockey ambition with jewelry-making
  • Banter, grudges, and the possibility of common ground

Where it sits

Hockey89%
Contemporary YA Romance62%
Romantic Comedy for Teens56%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Coming of Age
  • Contemporary YA Romance
  • Hockey
Authors
Emily Charlotte
Publisher
Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published
November 18, 2025
Format
Paperback
Theme
Reexamining assumptions · Clashing school priorities · Hockey ambitions
Reading lane
Coming of Age