Paloma Blake is, at best, antagonistic. But beneath the hairspray, attitude, and promiscuity is a scared girl whose trauma runs deep. Still, the walls she’s built are strong, ensuring everyone only sees Paloma’s sexy façade. Everyone except for Bennett.
Bennett Reiner, the carefully controlled, neurodivergent goalie, has his routines and sticks to them, which helps him keep a hold on his OCD compulsions and the crippling anxiety that comes with them. The quiet and meticulous Bennett sees everything, especially the girl beneath Paloma’s ever-present masks. And he always has.
Unbeknownst to their friends, Bennett and Paloma were each other’s first real love, which ended in crippling heartbreak. Bennett still doesn’t know what happened, and Paloma is determined to stay away from the comfort she used to find only in his arms. For years, Bennett has remained her protective shadow, coming to Paloma’s rescue whenever she asked, keeping her as close and safe as she’ll let him. But, like a tumultuous sea to a constant shore, Bennett and Paloma find each other once more.
Alternating between scenes from their past and present, Unbound contrasts the tentative tension and passionate beginnings of first love with the devastating loneliness and deep yearning of having that love ripped away from you without truly knowing why. As Bennett discovers the truth about Paloma’s past, the threads to his careful control start to come unbound, and both begin to realize that letting go of everything else might be worth it, if it means they both get the real love they once shared again.
Rhys Koteskiy is back — at least, he’s supposed to be.
During last year’s Frozen Four, the Waterfell University hockey captain, and NHL legacy, took a brutal hit that left him with a concussion and a new discomfort on the ice. Plagued by nightmares and panic attacks every time he attempt to skate, Rhys wonders if he’ll ever play again — if he’ll ever want to.
Sadie Brown is staying focused this semester — no matter what.
Currently drowning in debt, custody hearings for her younger brothers and skating practices, she's just trying to make it to the next day. A spitfire figure skater known for her bad attitude and frequent disappearing acts, she has a reputation on campus. And it’s not a pretty one.
When she accidentally witnesses one of the golden boy hockey captain’s panic attacks and attempts to help him, a strange sort of understanding strikes up between them.
No questions asked. Just comfort.
But Rhys finds himself drawn to Sadie. Where he feels empty, a shell of the man and player he was before, Sadie is so full of everything it bursts from her; every emotion she feels seems like it’s blasted at max. Rhys is desperate to feel anything, Sadie wants to stop feeling so much.
But healing doesn’t mix with secrets, and they’re both skating a thin line,
unsteady.
Matt “Freddy” Fedderic is all smiles—at least on the surface. On the ice, he’s the star left winger for the Waterfell Wolves with a stellar reputation in bed and a potential future in the NHL. But in the classroom, he’s barely scraping by on a 2.0 GPA, retaking failed classes and struggling with a rough mix of dyslexia, dyscalculia, and ADHD. Now tied to an NHL contract upon graduation, Freddy needs help to pass Biology with a professor he has a tumultuous past with.
Ro Shariff is a hopeless romantic with terrible luck in love—and now, Freddy’s newly assigned tutor. Trying to convince herself that she’s very happy with her on again/off again boyfriend, Ro is desperate for real affection. As her tutoring sessions with Freddy lead to late-night phone calls and a deep understanding of each other’s hidden pains, a real friendship strikes up between them.
And, inevitably, a wistful secret pining hidden by them both. Ro can’t stop thinking about her first kiss her freshman year with Freddy—a spine-tingling moment that Freddy doesn’t seem to remember. Meanwhile, Freddy can’t let go of Ro’s drunken heartfelt confessions from the night she doesn’t remember.
While Freddy is determined to protect Ro from his reputation and prove to her how worthy of love she is, Ro wants to show to Freddy that despite what others have led him to believe, he’s worth more than just his body. Together, with gentle affection and true admiration, they will show each other how easy it is to love the right person, no matter their flaws.
meet the author
I write romances with imperfect characters, angst and lots of heart. My stories come with a healthy dose of swoon and angst, of hurt and comfort, and—though it make take them some time, they always end with a happily ever after.
I’ve been writing since I was a kid in my head, but I’m finally letting those stories live further than my notes app.
If I’m not writing, I’m making another cup of coffee, rewatching Twilight and probably frantically reading through my own endless TBR.
I love to laugh, but my books might make you cry.
It is everything and more. It shows the difficulties we find in healing, in loving another and in letting ourselves be vulnerable.”
I was immediately drawn to the characters, the story and Peyton’s writing. A million and one stars for Unsteady.”
The way Peyton Corinne writes emotions and these characters through their struggles and journeys, shows her mastery of creating these perfectly imperfect characters who are realistic and relatable, and still enthralling to watch grow.”
Peyton Corinne is represented by Caitlin Mahony at William Morris Endeavor. For queries on foreign rights, audio rights, and all other business inquiries, please contact: cma@wmeagency.com
For queries on book signings & events and all other inquiries: holly.rice@simonandschuster.com