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The Official Blurb
“The hottest hockey player at Reina U has dark plans for me.
Everyone on campus loves Isaac Jones. The gorgeous, dimple-cheeked charmer can do no wrong in the public’s eyes.
But they don’t know what I do.
I know the truth about his violent past. Exposing his real identity and his family’s crimes won’t just help me graduate with a journalism degree—it will save my mother’s life.
When Isaac discovers I’m writing an article that will ruin his hockey dreams and destroy his family, he’ll do anything to bury it—unleashing his deepest, darkest, most depraved desires on me.
Twisted battles in the locker room.
Wickedness on the ice.
Cruelty to keep my mouth shut.
The worst part? I’m starting to fall for him, even as I fight back.
And I’m not sure who will win our heartless game.”
For September, we’re going back to school on Romance on the Rocks, so naturally I ended up with a college hockey romance involving organized crime, journalism, enemies to lovers and forced proximity.
I generally like a darker, spicier, smuttier enemies-to-lovers forced-proximity romance. And while I freely admit the college-age characters aren’t typically something I’m drawn to at this stage of my life, I thought this was still a solid pick.
So let’s talk about Heartless Game by Jo Brenner.
Book Details
Title: Heartless Game
Author: Jo Brenner
Published: 2025
Series: Kings of Reina University, Book 2
Subgenre: Hockey Romance, Sports Romance, College Romance, Contemporary Romance, Dark Romance
Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Forced Proximity
Main Characters
Isaac “Jones” Silver
Isaac is the star hockey player on his college team. His father is part of a large organized crime family and expects Isaac to start learning the family business after graduation.
He’s using the name Jones because he doesn’t want everyone knowing he’s part of a huge mafia family.
Tovah “Kaufman” Lewis
Tovah has been trying to keep her real identity hidden for years. She’s lived on the run at various points to keep herself and her mom alive.
She believes she needs to complete an expose on Isaac, his real identity and the illegal activities of the hockey team so she and her mom can finally be free.
Plot
I’m going to keep this one pretty vague because I don’t want to give away the story. The book was released in 2025 and there are a lot of elements integral to the storyline that I don’t want to spoil for anyone who’s interested in reading it.
Tovah is pursuing a journalism degree at Reina University while Isaac is pursuing a degree in linguistics. He’s very good with languages.
They hate each other. Or at least they pretend to. They actually totally have the hots for each other. And based on what I’ve already mentioned about their characters, that’s about all I can say without getting into spoiler territory.
Spice Level
Carolina Reaper
There was only one scene that took me to Carolina Reaper level. Otherwise, I would’ve given this a Habanero rating. But when the whole hand is involved, I’ve gotta bust out the Carolina Reaper.
Things I Loved
The pacing in this book was really good, as was the overall writing. It held my interest and I was able to read the book quickly. It didn’t feel like a slog, which is always a win.
And it got spicy pretty quickly. You know I hate waiting for the spice.
Challenges
There were several things about this book that didn’t work for me.
First, Tovah has allegedly been on the run for more than a decade … but this bitch sleeps through anything and everything. Including being carried around, driven around in a car … and fingered and brought to orgasm.
I’m just saying, for someone who’s been on the run for years, I’d think she’d be a little more of a light sleeper.
The lack of communication between the two main characters also annoyed me. I understand this is how the story gets carried forward because the lack of communication keeps things the way they are but their mutually immature bullshit was a lot. I had to keep reminding myself that their brains aren’t fully matured yet. These are children in college.
Then there’s the bullying Isaac puts Tovah through. That’s too much for me personally. It definitely crosses a line and I personally wouldn’t be able to forgive someone who did the things he does. This might be somebody else’s yum or kink. It wasn’t mine. I grew up being bullied so I wasn’t enjoying that element of the story the way some readers might.
I was also pissed off by Tovah’s own friends, who basically throw her back at Isaac’s mercy when they know he’s been bullying her. These are people you’re supposed to trust and they’re basically like, “Yeah, go ahead and take her back.”
Another challenge was some of the sex scenes. They were generally consensual but some of them were too much for me.
But, more than anything, the elements involving journalism really bothered me. Tovah does not understand how journalism with actual integrity, ethics and morals works. And the issues and portrayals surrounding the students in the journalism program, along with Tovah’s own actions, really didn’t work for me. (As someone with an actual journalism degree who graduated cum laude with a BA in three and a half years and worked in the industry for several years, I feel pretty qualified to evaluate and pass judgment on this area of the novel.)
Finally, Tovah’s plan to write an expose involving a large crime syndicate for the college paper — and somehow use that to put a mob boss behind bars so she and her mom won’t have to live in hiding — is seriously laughable. She definitely did not think that fully through. And anyone who’s seen any mob or mafia movie could probably guess how that’s going to go.
Final Thoughts
If you like a really dark and spicy college hockey romance and don’t mind certain triggers, this may be a great read for you. The writing style was really good and the book was very fast-paced. It held my interest and didn’t feel like a slog.
It just wasn’t really tripping my trigger. And that doesn’t necessarily mean a book is bad. Sometimes a book simply isn’t for you.
One final note for my audiobook girlies: I wasn’t able to find Heartless Game as an audiobook on Audible or Libro.fm. It’s available in print and as an ebook but, sadly, no audiobook. I think this one might have been more enjoyable for me with the right narrators.
Where to Find Heartless Game
Want More?
If you want to hear more of my thoughts on the book, you can listen to the podcast episode on your favorite podcast streaming service. Or click here for our in-house podcast player. I share some fun anatomy references as well as my Romantic Reminder. You can also find out if I won the episode Boobie Prize.
Have you read Heartless Game? Let me know your thoughts on this book in the comments!
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