Margins
Grand Marquee Manticores book cover 1
Grand Marquee Manticores book cover 2
Grand Marquee Manticores book cover 3
Grand Marquee Manticores
Series · 4 books · 2024-2025

Books in series

It's A Set Up book cover
#0.5

It's A Set Up

2025

Malia Kahale is ready to start her career as a professional volleyball player. She knew her team, the Thunderbirds, would have to share the arena with the Manticores hockey team, but she didn’t expect their outright hostility over it. Especially not from their captain—Alex Dionis. To defuse tensions, the two are asked to give an interview together, hoping to boost ticket sales and temporarily put aside their rivalry for the sake of their teams. Malia plans to ignore the grumpy hockey captain and focus on the upcoming season opener… that is until their interview goes viral. Manticore fans start shipping #Malex, so the two captains lean into the ruse. Can Malia and Alex put aside their differences and pretend to date to fill seats for the upcoming season? One arena. Two teams. Game. Set. Match. It’s a Set Up is a prequel novella in the Grand Marquee Manticores series of interconnected standalones.
The Love Penalty book cover
#1

The Love Penalty

2024

It’s hard to be a woman in the NHL, especially in one of the most hated positions. Olivia’s dream is to be a referee, and to get there she’ll need to work hard, stay focused, and be free of any distractions, especially ones with blue eyes and easy smiles that won’t leave her alone. This might be Robbie’s last season of professional hockey and he wants it to be his best one yet. He’s well liked amongst his teammates, crew, and officials, but there’s a new face among the crowd that he can’t forget about. Referee #13. She’s feisty and prickly and wants nothing to do with him. So naturally, Robbie is determined to befriend her. When the line between friendship and love starts to blur, they both need to consider what giving in might mean for them. Will distance and work get in the way, or can they compromise and find a way to be together? The Love Penalty is the first book in the Grand Marquee Manticores series of interconnected standalones.
Bar Down book cover
#2

Bar Down

2025

A funny and spicy MM hockey romance about finding your family and yourself while falling in love with your best friend. Eli Kalias has a promising future with the Grand Marquee Manticores as their primary goalie, and after two years with the AHL, he’s finally starting to feel confident and comfortable in his role. That is until his best friend kisses him at a New Year’s Eve party and throws him for a loop. Ash Meyers is the impulsive party boy and also the best forward the team has had in years. Under the surface, he worries he’ll never be enough—not for his team, not for his friends, and definitely not for Eli. Yet, he can’t stop himself from pursuing something more with his best friend. As they go from friends to more over the course of a year, Ash and Eli realize that falling in love might be more challenging than winning the playoffs. Will they let their careers get in the way of their happiness? Bar Down is the second book in the Grand Marquee Manticores series of interconnected standalones.
Delay of Game book cover
#3

Delay of Game

2025

A funny and spicy brother’s best friend hockey romance about falling in love with the right person at the wrong time. Alice and Jordan are meant to be. Everyone knows it. Everyone except for Alice and Jordan, that is. After years of secretly pining after one another, a winter storm is just the catalyst needed to bring them together. And yet, their relationship is a short-lived one, as Jordan gets traded to another team across the country, leaving a heartbroken Alice behind. After a career ending injury and a gruesome recovery, Jordan returns to Grand Marquee as an assistant coach for the Manticores, and finds himself living across the hall from Alice. It would be perfect if only for the fact that she wants nothing to do with him. She would much rather focus on her career and use her free time to hone her craft as a romance writer. Is it just a temporary set back, or is it a Delay of Game? Delay of Game is the third book in the Grand Marquee Manticores series of interconnected standalones.

Author

Stef C.R.
Author · 6 books

Project leader by day, romance author by night, Stef C.R. lives in West Michigan with her husband and not one, not two, but three cats. When she's not working or writing stories, she spends her time reading fantasy and romance, endlessly cheering on the Red Wings, Charles LeClerc, and listening to Noah Kahan.

548 Market St PMB 65688, San Francisco California 94104-5401 USA
© 2026 Paratext Inc. All rights reserved