Books Like Consider Me — 10 Hockey Romance Reads With Golden Retriever Energy (2026)
You finished Consider Me and you have not recovered. You spent the entire book watching Carter Beckett be unapologetically, structurally, almost pathologically devoted to a woman before she has finished deciding whether she wants him, and at no point did you find it excessive. Becka Mack built the golden retriever MMC the hockey romance shelf had been waiting for: a professional athlete whose emotional availability is not a character flaw to be corrected by the third act but the structural engine of the entire book. He falls first. He falls loudly. He falls with the kind of patient, visible, architecturally inevitable devotion that makes the reader want to shake the heroine and say “please look at this man who is looking at you.”
What makes Consider Me land structurally is not just the hockey setting. It is the specific combination: a male lead whose emotional openness is the structural load-bearing element rather than his brooding or his danger, a heroine whose walls are the architecture the hero’s patience is designed to dismantle, the found-family energy of a professional hockey team that functions as a support system rather than a backdrop, and Mack’s particular gift for making the he-falls-first dynamic feel structurally earned rather than shortcut. The hockey romance shelf has more titles that hit adjacent architecture — some Mack-adjacent in the trad-pub sports romance lane, some indie KU reads that run the same golden-retriever-plus-found-family engine at registers the trad-pub shelf does not reach.
Ten reads below: five trad-pub hockey and sports romance comps that anchor the BookTok golden-retriever-hero shelf, then five indie KU hockey and sports romance reads from Fractal Enigma — spread across four pen names hitting the he-falls-first, fake-dating, enemies-to-lovers, and found-family architecture at the indie KU inferno register. The trad-pub picks are priced individually on Amazon; the indie picks are free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription.
What Makes a Great Consider Me Readalike
The structural criteria:
- A golden retriever MMC whose emotional availability is the engine — not a reformed playboy, not a grumpy hero softening. A man who is openly, visibly, structurally devoted from early in the book and whose vulnerability is treated as strength.
- He-falls-first architecture where the falling is visible — the reader sees the hero fall before the heroine does. The tension is not “will they” but “when will she notice what the reader has been watching for two hundred pages.”
- Found-family team dynamics that feel structural — the hockey team is not wallpaper. The teammates are characters, the locker room banter matters, and the team ecosystem is a functional support system.
- On-page heat that matches the emotional openness — the explicit scenes feel like a natural extension of the hero’s devotion. The vulnerability continues into the bedroom.
5 Trad-Pub Books Like Consider Me
1. Consider Me — Becka Mack
The book this list is anchored on. Carter Beckett is a professional hockey player whose emotional availability is so structurally loud it should come with a volume warning. He decides he wants Olivia and then proceeds to be the most patient, the most visible, and the most architecturally inevitable man on the BookTok sports romance shelf. Mack writes the golden retriever MMC with the conviction that a man who says what he wants, shows up when he says he will, and refuses to play games is not boring — he is devastating. The Playing for Keeps series continues with Play With Me.
If you have somehow found this list without having read Consider Me, start here. Get Consider Me on Amazon →
2. Play With Me — Becka Mack
The Playing for Keeps series continuation with a new couple from the same team. Same Mack voice, same found-family team dynamics, same emotional architecture where the hero’s vulnerability is the engine. Different specific trope stack but the same structural conviction that hockey romance works best when the athletes are emotionally available people whose locker room banter is load-bearing for the team dynamics the reader has been building investment in since Consider Me.
For readers who finished Consider Me and immediately needed more of the team. Get Play With Me on Amazon →
3. Icebreaker — Hannah Grace
The college hockey variant that runs adjacent architecture through a different specific trope stack. Anastasia Allen is a figure skater whose rink time gets absorbed into the hockey team’s schedule; Nate Hawkins is the team captain whose grumpy exterior is the structural cover for the golden retriever underneath. Grace writes the forced-proximity dynamic through the shared-ice architecture with the same found-family energy Mack deploys — the hockey team functions as a team rather than a backdrop. Different register from Consider Me (college rather than professional, reverse grumpy/sunshine rather than pure golden retriever), but the same structural conviction that the team is a character.
For Consider Me readers who want the same found-family team energy in a college setting. Get Icebreaker on Amazon →
4. Mile High — Liz Tomforde
The professional hockey variant with a curvy heroine and the enemies-to-lovers architecture. Zanders is a professional hockey player whose public persona is constructed chaos; Stevie is the flight attendant who sees through it on the team plane. Tomforde writes the enemies-to-lovers dynamic through forced professional proximity with the body positivity the contemporary romance shelf rewards — the heroine’s confidence is structural rather than aspirational, and the hero’s public arrogance is the cover for the golden retriever devotion underneath. Same sports romance DNA as Consider Me with a different specific entry angle.
For Consider Me readers who want enemies-to-lovers hockey with a hero whose public persona is a structural mask. Get Mile High on Amazon →
5. Pucking Around — Emily Rath
The why-choose variant for Consider Me readers ready to push past single-pair hockey romance. A medical professional embedded with a hockey team discovers that the connection she has with one player extends to his teammates in ways none of them were expecting. Rath writes the sports-based reverse harem with the same found-family team dynamics Mack deploys, multiplied — the team ecosystem is not just a support system but the structural architecture of the romance itself. Higher spice ceiling than Consider Me, with the polyamorous dynamic the why-choose reader specifically searches for.
For Consider Me readers who loved the team energy and want to see what happens when the team IS the relationship. Get Pucking Around on Amazon →
Where Indie KU Takes Hockey Romance Past the Trad-Pub Heat Ceiling
The trad-pub hockey romance shelf above runs the found-family-plus-golden-retriever architecture at the BookTok mainstream register. Mack, Grace, and Tomforde all open the door and keep it open, but the on-page register is calibrated for the mass-market sports romance audience. The indie Kindle Unlimited hockey shelf does not have those constraints — the golden retriever devotion stays intact, the found-family team dynamics stay load-bearing, but the on-page work engages the heat the slow-burn has earned at the inferno register.
Five indie KU hockey and sports romance reads below, from four Fractal Enigma pen names, hitting the fake-dating, enemies-to-lovers, he-falls-first, and forbidden architecture across MF and MM pairings. All five free with Kindle Unlimited.
5 Indie KU Hockey & Sports Reads from Fractal Enigma
6. The Blurred Playbook — Rowan Black (MF College Hockey + Fake Dating)
The closest MF college hockey comp. An NHL prospect failing Econ makes a deal with the coach’s niece who happens to be an analytics genius: she tutors him, he pretends to date her, and neither of them accounts for the part where the fake arrangement becomes the most real thing in either of their lives. Rowan Black writes the fake-dating-to-real dynamic with neurodivergent representation (dyslexia) handled with care, the Blackwood Ravens team functioning as a genuine found family, and the grumpy/sunshine architecture Consider Me readers recognise. The heroine refuses to be talked down to; the hero’s golden retriever energy emerges once the academic pressure stops crushing him.
For Consider Me readers who want college hockey with fake-dating architecture and rep. Inferno heat. Read chapter one free →
7. Good Pucking Boy — Chase Power (MM Hockey + Praise Kink)
The year’s MM hockey standout and the book most readers point to when asked for the indie KU equivalent of Consider Me’s golden retriever energy in an MM pairing. Chase Power writes the he-falls-first dynamic through the specific register Consider Me readers are searching for: a hockey player whose emotional openness is the structural engine, whose devotion is visible from the first chapter, and whose vulnerability in the locker room and in the bedroom is the same vulnerability — the praise kink architecture is the structural expression of a man who needs to hear he is doing well in every room he enters. Found-family team dynamics, sharp locker room banter, and on-page heat that makes the emotional openness the most explicit thing in the book.
For Consider Me readers who want the same golden-retriever-MMC energy in MM hockey at the inferno register. Read chapter one free →
8. The Mountain’s Keeper — Milo Hart (MM Grumpy/Sunshine + Mountain Man)
The emotional-depth variant for Consider Me readers whose favourite architectural element was the hero’s vulnerability. A grumpy mountain man whose carefully constructed isolation is the structural cover for everything he lost, and the sunshine baker whose refusal to respect the isolation is the first thing that has cracked the architecture in years. Milo Hart writes the grumpy/sunshine dynamic with the same patient, emotionally-calibrated register Mack deploys — the hero’s slow opening is the engine, and the on-page heat tracks the emotional vulnerability with precision. Different setting (small-town mountain rather than hockey), same structural golden retriever energy in the sunshine lead, same conviction that emotional availability is the most attractive thing a character can be.
For Consider Me readers who came for the emotional architecture and want the same devotion in a different setting. Read chapter one free →
9. Puck Off — Chase Power (MM Hockey + Rivals-to-Lovers)
The rivals variant for Consider Me readers who want the same found-family team dynamics with more friction in the entry. Two hockey players whose on-ice rivalry is the structural cover for everything happening off-ice. Chase Power writes the MM rivals-to-lovers dynamic through the hockey team ecosystem with the same locker room banter architecture that makes Mack’s team dynamics structural rather than decorative — the teammates see it before the rivals do, and the team’s slow reaction to what is happening between two of their own is part of the engine. Sharp on-ice tension, sharper off-ice heat.
For Consider Me readers who want hockey with more friction and the same found-family payoff. Read chapter one free →
10. Step Puck — Jace Wilder (MM Hockey + Forbidden)
The forbidden variant for Consider Me readers who want hockey romance with structural stakes beyond the game. Jace Wilder writes the MM forbidden dynamic through hockey with the age-gap and daddy-kink architecture the trope rewards — the specific tension of two men whose connection is structurally prohibited by the relationship that puts them in each other’s orbit is the engine. The hockey setting is load-bearing (the team dynamics add professional stakes to the personal ones), and the praise-kink architecture the Consider Me reader recognises from Carter Beckett’s devotion runs at the inferno register through the forbidden lens.
For Consider Me readers who want the same devotional energy pushed through forbidden territory. Read chapter one free →
Frequently Asked Questions
What book is most like Consider Me?
For trad-pub: Play With Me by Becka Mack is the direct series continuation with the same team and voice. Outside Mack: Icebreaker by Hannah Grace (college hockey, found-family team dynamics) is the most-recommended cross-author comp. For indie KU: The Blurred Playbook by Rowan Black (MF college hockey fake dating with neurodivergent rep) is the closest MF comp; Good Pucking Boy by Chase Power is the closest golden-retriever-energy comp in MM.
Is Consider Me on Kindle Unlimited?
Consider Me’s KU status may vary — check the current Amazon listing. The five indie KU picks above (The Blurred Playbook, Good Pucking Boy, The Mountain’s Keeper, Puck Off, Step Puck) are all free with Kindle Unlimited.
What’s the spice level of Consider Me?
Consider Me rates 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ (4/5) on the standard spice scale. Open door, explicit, with the heat functioning as an extension of Carter’s emotional openness. The indie KU picks above run at inferno (5/5).
Are there MF hockey romances like Consider Me on Kindle Unlimited?
Yes — The Blurred Playbook by Rowan Black (college hockey, fake dating, neurodivergent rep) is MF hockey on KU with the same found-family team architecture. The wider Rowan Black catalog includes the Chicago Sentinels NHL series (Sin Bin, Five Hole) for MF professional hockey. For MM hockey on KU, Chase Power and Jace Wilder each run multiple hockey romance series at the inferno register.
This post contains Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Fractal Enigma earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. The five Fractal Enigma titles link to their book pages on this site where you can read the first chapter free.
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