{"id":82713,"date":"2026-04-08T16:46:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T20:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=82713"},"modified":"2026-04-08T16:46:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T20:46:46","slug":"cover-reveal-just-playing-for-keeps-hockey-ever-after-2-by-lauren-blakely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=82713","title":{"rendered":"Cover Reveal: Just Playing for Keeps (Hockey Ever After, #2) by Lauren Blakely"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just Playing for Keeps<\/strong>
\n(Hockey Ever After, #2)<\/strong><\/h4>\n

by Lauren Blakely<\/strong><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Releasing – 3 June 2026<\/strong><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pre-order today!<\/strong>
\nAmazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n

Blurb<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Ever hear the story about the dating coach who got dumped on the hockey arena\u2019s jumbotron?<\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone did. But I\u00a0<\/span>lived\u00a0<\/span><\/i>it. Including the moment when Lake Axelrod, the team\u2019s broody, tattooed right winger, swooped in on skates to rescue me from public humiliation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even more surprising? When the famously grumpy (and ridiculously sexy) hockey star insists on being my fake boyfriend for my sister\u2019s high-profile wedding.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the perfect plan. His family stops pressuring him to settle down, and I\u2019ll get the ultimate revenge, since my ex is the best man. Bonus \u2013 I might even salvage my professional reputation.<\/span><\/p>\n

We need rules though.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. To pull this off, everyone from <\/span>his<\/span><\/i> teammates to <\/span>my<\/span><\/i> boss has to believe we\u2019re a real couple.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. That means swoony touches and knee-weakening kisses are required.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. When it ends, we walk away.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    But the intensity in Lake\u2019s eyes after every post-game kiss makes me wonder if he\u2019s pretending. With each whispered secret, the line between fake and real bends. Until it shatters one night in a hotel room.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Soon, he isn\u2019t just playing the protective boyfriend\u2014he\u2019s the only one who truly sees me.<\/span><\/p>\n

    If I\u2019m not careful, I\u2019m going to break the most important rule of all:\u00a0<\/span>don\u2019t fall for your fake date.<\/b><\/p>\n

    Find Just Playing for Keeps<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0on GOODREADS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \n

    Hockey Ever After<\/strong><\/h4>\n

    \"\" \u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

    Just Breaking The Rules (#1)<\/strong> – (Mabel & Corbin)
    \n    Review<\/a>
    \n<\/strong>Buy:     Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Audiobook<\/a><\/p>\n

    Just Playing for Keeps (#2)<\/strong> – (Remy & Lake)
    \nTBR – 3 June 2026
    \nPre-order:     Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    About the Author<\/strong><\/h4>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    A #1 New York Times Bestselling, #1 Wall Street Journal Bestselling, and #1 Audible Bestselling author, Lauren Blakely is known for her contemporary romance style that\u2019s cute but spicy. Lauren likes dogs, cake, and show tunes and is the vegetarian at your dinner party.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    She’d love to give you a free book today so check out her WEBSITE<\/a> and grab one today!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    To receive an email when Lauren releases a new book, sign up for her NEWSLETTER<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

    WEBSITE<\/b><\/a>\u00a0 | \u00a0<\/b>FACEBOOK<\/b><\/a>\u00a0 | \u00a0<\/b>TWITTER<\/b><\/a>\u00a0 | \u00a0INSTAGRAM<\/a><\/b>
    \n    GOODREADS<\/b><\/a>\u00a0 | \u00a0AMAZON<\/a>\u00a0 | \u00a0BOOKBUB<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Check out our LAUERN BLAKELY AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT<\/a> for more amazing reads!<\/strong><\/h4>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Just Playing for Keeps (Hockey Ever After, #2) by Lauren Blakely   Releasing – 3 June 2026   Pre-order today! Amazon\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback Blurb Ever hear the story about the dating coach who got […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[290],"tags":[300,1645,56],"class_list":["post-82713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-news","tag-cover-reveal","tag-hockey-ever-after","tag-lauren-blakely"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Just-Playing-For-Keeps_Ebook_Amazon_HandOn.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-lw5","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82713"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82717,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82713\/revisions\/82717"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/82715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}