{Love in Maple Falls Release} Skating and Fake Dating by Ellie Hall

Skating and Fake Dating by Ellie Hall
Series: Love in Maple Falls #4
on September 3rd, 2025
Genres: Fiction, Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Sports
Buy on Amazon, Storygraph
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I’m pretending to be his stable girlfriend while he plays my successful boyfriend. But now faking feels a lot like falling.

Bailey

I’m a walking contradiction—professional on the job, a hot mess at home, and working my “I’ve got this” smile until my cheeks ache while hiding my hobbies: making maple butter and finding a husband. With my perfect sister’s recent engagement, I’m desperate to avoid Mom’s pitying looks and matchmaking attempts.

Carson

I used to be hockey’s laid-back southern charmer until a crushing rejection from my high school sweetheart transformed me into a workaholic. When I’m unexpectedly traded to a new team, rumors circulate about whether the gentleman wingman lost his edge. I’ll do whatever it takes to prove them wrong.

Bailey

When our worlds collide after a dessert disaster, we come up with a mutually beneficial solution to our respective woes: a fake relationship. The rules are simple: I get a “successful” boyfriend for family events. He gets a “stable” girlfriend for team image. No feelings, no complications, and a definite expiration date.

Carson

But between posing as a couple at the fall festival, midnight maple butter-making sessions, trying to keep our stories straight, and undeniable chemistry, what started as a convenient lie is beginning to feel inconveniently real. As the clock runs down on our arrangement, we’ll have to decide: walk away when the final buzzer sounds, or take a shot at the love neither of us saw coming.

Skating and Fake Dating is a heartwarming hockey romcom featuring Bailey and ‘Bama who are perfect for each other in all the most imperfect ways, plus, small-town charm, family shenanigans, and a guaranteed happily ever after sweeter than homemade maple butter blondies.

Welcome back to Maple Falls—the small town where hockey players fall in love! This is a multi-author series of seven full-length books that could be read as standalones, but we think you’ll enjoy them best in order.

Check out the rest of the Love in Maple Falls Series

August 13: Fake-Off with Fate – Whitney Dineen
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August 20: Offside and Off-Limits – Kate O’Keeffe
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August 27: Checking Mr. Wrong – Anne Kemp
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September 3: Skating and Fake Dating – Ellie Hall
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September 10: Goalie and the Girl Next Door – Elsie Woods
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September 17: Soulmates and Slapshots– Melissa Baldwin
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September 24: The Icing on the Cake – Grace Worthington
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Skating and Fake Dating Blitz

Exclusive Excerpt from Skating and Fake Dating

I the plane lurches and my elbow hits the molded plastic wall.

The overhead speaker crackles and a male voice says, “Ladies and gentlemen, we’re experiencing some unexpected turbulence as we cross the Rockies. Please, return to your seats and fasten your—”

Another jolt. I stumble forward as the bathroom door swings open, colliding with someone as momentum then shunts us back into the bathroom. The door springs closed as the woman shrieks.

An arm flies forward, mushing against the side of my face as the hand towel dispenser cushions the blow to the back of my head.

“What the—?”

“Sorry, sorry, sorry. The lavatory in coach was occupied and I really needed to—” She goes quiet.

“Bailey?” I say at the same time she says, “Mr. Crane?”

Pressed against the sink, Bailey’s eyes wide with shock, and still wearing her mismatched pantsuit and pineapple blouse, somehow makes this whole scenario even more absurd.

The plane dips again. I brace myself with one hand against the wall and find Bailey’s waist to hold her steady. So much for maintaining professional boundaries.

“We keep meeting like this,” she says.

“In an airplane bathroom?” I immediately regret it, belatedly realizing what she means.

“Small confined spaces. The elevator, my cubicle, and now—”

The plane shakes again, jostling us with the reminder of how very close together we are.

“We were lucky earlier and didn’t get stuck in the elevator. Let’s hope the plane—” I stop myself because not only do I seem to struggle with stringing sentences together around this woman, but I don’t want to scare her.

I jiggle the sliding lock mechanism on the door to try to open it and show her we’re fine, but it’s jammed.

She can’t crane her head to see, but asks, “Is it stuck?”

“Appears so.”

I knock on the door a few times but refrain from hollering, Help! I’m impossibly close to a beautiful woman who makes my pulse bounce off my ribs like a puck against a stick during close passing drills.

Lifting her voice, she calls, “Excuse me. I think we’re stuck in here. Please open the door.”

Bailey is shorter and smaller than me, but having had to stuff myself in here, now with the extra occupant, we’re nearly face-to-face. She makes me feel like a rookie again and not because I was abruptly traded to a brand-new team. More like off balance, unsure, hyper-aware of everything … including how very close we are, mashed together, right now.

Her inhales and exhales press against mine like a seesaw. I peer down at her. The fluorescent light casts a bluish glow over her face. Strands of her blonde hair have fallen loose from their clip. I’d brush them away from her wide, hazel eyes, but my arm is pinned. The scattering of freckles dotting her nose are brighter now as if her makeup wore off over the course of the long day.

I draw a shaky breath. “It’s going to be okay. Promise,” I say when no one responds to her cry for help.

She swallows thickly.

To help set her at ease, I try humor and I say, “Fancy meeting you here.”