Behind the Net is a contemporary sports romance written by Stephanie Archer. First in the series featuring hockey players from the professional team Vancouver Storm, Behind the Net brings together disciplined goalie Jamie Streicher and disillusioned musician Pippa Hartley in a steamy romance that follows the friends-to-lovers trope. Pippa is recovering from heartbreak and crushed musical dreams. At the same time, Jamie is determined to focus only on his responsibilities. Still, the secret crushes each had on the other during high school rekindle into a blazing attraction when Pippa becomes Jamie’s live-in assistant.

Contributing to the growing popularity of the sports romance subgenre, the book plays on the tropes of matching a grumpy hero with a sunshine heroine, forbidden attraction, forced proximity, second chances at love, and the themes of Recovering and Moving on From Heartbreak, The Pleasure of Following One’s Dreams, and The Shaping Power of Family Loyalty.

This guide quotes from the 2023 trade paperback edition, published by Silver Springs Press.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide feature depictions of sexual content, cursing, emotional abuse, substance use, and mental illness.

Plot Summary

Jamie Streicher, one of the top goalies in the National Hockey League (NHL), is traded to the Storm so he can take care of his mother, who still lives in Vancouver where Jamie grew up. He’s determined to focus on nothing but hockey and his mom. When Jamie adopts a stray dog, he takes his coach up on the offer to hire a personal assistant, who turns out to be Pippa Hartley, the girl Jamie was secretly obsessed with in high school. Jamie tries to fire her, afraid that cheerful, lovely Pippa will distract him from his goals.

Pippa needs this job and demands that Jamie keep her on. She’s without a job or home after her boyfriend Zach, whom she’s dated since high school, broke up with her and fired her from his musical tour. After Zach crushed her confidence and made her afraid to pick up her guitar, Pippa isn’t about to let her former crush on handsome Jamie Streicher go anywhere. She’s going to give up her dreams of music and land a job on the marketing team for the Storm, and being Jamie’s assistant will help her get there. She thinks keeping her distance will be easy since he seems to have become a surly, arrogant grump. However, when he learns she’s sharing a tiny apartment with her sister Hazel and finds her crying about Zach dating another musician, Jamie decides that Pippa should live in his apartment. Before long, the proximity leads to a full-blown attraction that both are determined to fight.

Pippa supports Jamie’s mother when she has a panic attack after a game, and in return, Jamie attends one of Hazel’s yoga classes, boosting her popularity. When Jamie asks Pippa to play a song, she plays one that Zach laughed at, and Jamie’s encouragement pleases her. Pippa accompanies the team out to a local bar, and Jamie persuades her to play on stage.

Their relationship escalates again when Jamie agrees to be Pippa’s date for the wrap party for Zach’s tour. Zach is jealous when he sees Pippa and Jamie kiss, even though they tell themselves they’re simply playing a part. Their kisses and touches at the wrap party lead them both to admit their mutual attraction. Pippa confesses she never experienced sexual pleasure with Zach, and Jamie buys her a sex toy. He uses it on her, and in the explosive intimacy that follows, Pippa realizes she can experience intense sexual pleasure with Jamie.

still resistant to a relationship, however, in part because Jamie’s mother is continuing to have panic attacks. He thinks he has to focus on her, and he always fears he will hurt Pippa the way he hurt Erin, his previous girlfriend. However, they can’t seem to stay apart. Jamie crashes a friendly date Pippa has with his nemesis, Rory Miller, and tells his coach he’ll bring Pippa to the gala for a charity the team supports.

Jamie also encourages Pippa in her music, and after she hears Zach on the radio performing a song he stole from her, she’s inspired to write an entire album. Jamie realizes his feelings for Pippa are deepening and decides to surprise Pippa by visiting her at her parents’ house for New Year’s Eve. He gives her two Christmas gifts: a jersey with his name on it, and the guitar she wanted. While they are out for New Year’s Eve, Pippa performs one of the songs she wrote and is encouraged by the enthusiastic applause. She doesn’t want a career in marketing; she wants a music career. As Jamie and Pippa have sex that night, trying to be quiet because her parents and his teammates are in the house, Jamie realizes he loves Pippa but isn’t ready to tell her yet.

Pippa gets invited to record a demo tape with her dream music producer, Ivy Matthews. She knows she’s falling for Jamie as their sexual relationship deepens and she knows he cares for her. He buys her a dress for the gala and arranges for a luxury suite and hair and makeup artists. Pippa is nervous because Zach is attending the gala, but when she finally confronts him, she realizes he is petty and shallow.

That night, as they make love, Jamie tells Pippa he loves her, and she tells him she loves him, too. This bond is tested the next day as, driving home, Jamie learns his mother is in the hospital after another car crash caused by a panic attack. Jamie realizes he doesn’t know what to do; he wants his mother to be healthy, but he also wants to have a future with Pippa. Remorseful, his mother promises to get help. She wants to see Jamie happy and is glad he’s found Pippa. Pippa gets approval from her parents for her music career after they see how much she loves music. Pippa gets an offer to record an album with Ivy Matthews and feels both of her dreams have come true. Jamie feels that, with Pippa, he finally has a real family.

Seven months later, after Pippa finishes performing on tour, she sings the national anthem for opening night for the Vancouver Storm. Jamie proposes to her on the ice, and she accepts.