Pucking Sweet

Pucking Sweet (2024) is the third novel in American writer Emily Rath’s best-selling Jacksonville Rays series, following Pucking Around (2023) and Pucking Wild (2023). Rath’s series first gained popularity with Pucking Around, which was widely shared on the social media platform TikTok. Like the previous two novels in the series, Pucking Sweet is in the “why choose” subgenre of romance, meaning that its protagonists have a polyamorous relationship. The novel explores The Challenges of Craving Familial Validation and follows the protagonists’ journeys toward Pursuing Desires Despite Fear of Public Recrimination. 

This guide refers to the 2024 Kindle edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of sexual content, illness, death, child abuse, emotional abuse, antigay bias, racism, addiction, substance use, and cursing.

Plot Summary

Pucking Sweet follows Poppy St. James, head of public relations (PR) for the Jacksonville Rays professional hockey team, and her changing relationship with players Lukas Novikov and Colton Morrow. The novel begins with Poppy and Lukas in conflict, as Lukas is frequently pictured online “partying,” something that interferes with the team’s public image. Poppy is regularly frustrated by Lukas’s insistence on playing pranks and his failure to, as she sees it, take things seriously. She instructs him to have each of his sexual partners sign nondisclosure agreements (NDAs), which Lukas finds offensive. He begins sending Poppy NDAs filled out with the names of fictional characters.

Meanwhile, Poppy has a far more positive relationship with Colton, with whom she worked on their previous hockey team based out of Washington, DC. During an encounter between the two neighbors, who both live in Rays housing, Colton and Poppy kiss, though they vow to remain platonic. However, Colton cannot put aside his longtime crush on Poppy and is curious about the heated but contentious relationship between Poppy and Lukas.

While with the team on a long stint of away games, Poppy has lunch with her powerful political family in Washington, DC. There, she learns that her younger sister, Violet, is engaged to Poppy’s unfaithful ex-fiancé, Anderson Montgomery. Poppy’s mother, Annmarie, threatens to take away Poppy’s inheritance from her grandmother if she doesn’t accept the marriage and attend the wedding. At the lunch, Anderson is cruel to Poppy.

Lukas and Colton note Poppy’s strange mood after her lunch with her family. At a team outing at a local club, Poppy’s friend Tina encourages her to seek a casual sexual partner, as Poppy hasn’t had sex since her breakup with Anderson. Poppy dances suggestively with a stranger and then decides against having sex with him. Lukas helps her separate from her dance partner and accompanies her to her hotel. They flirt and decide to have sex, promising themselves that they will only have a single encounter before returning to being just coworkers. Lukas pushes Poppy away after sex, something they both know is due to his fear of emotional intimacy.

The team members see Poppy reading an article about Anderson and tease her before realizing that he is her ex-fiancé and is due to marry her younger sister. Violet comes to see Poppy and expresses her feeling that marrying wealthy, well-connected Anderson is her only way to be of value to her family. Sympathetic, Poppy agrees to be Violet’s maid of honor. After the conversation, she and Colton get trapped in an elevator together, and Colton explains his history of heart health issues. He and Poppy have sex.

Lukas and Colton argue about their mutual attraction to Poppy. Colton urges Lukas to stay away from her, and the two men argue when Lukas flirts with Poppy at a team event. Colton tells Poppy that she must choose between him and Lukas, leaving her torn. Lukas fears that he will lose both Poppy and Colton, and Lukas and Colton discuss the idea of being in a group relationship with Poppy.

Poppy attends Violet’s bachelorette party with Tina. Violet’s friend Olivia plans a raunchy bingo game and then goads Poppy about being a “prude” because she won’t play. Poppy does not plan to do any of the bingo actions until Colton and Lukas meet the party at a bar. They volunteer to help Poppy win the game, which she enjoys, though she is confused by the sudden absence of jealousy between the men. They have sex as a group at a hotel and agree that they will not see others but that “anything between the three of [them] is allowed” (377).

The three grow closer, particularly as Lukas begins staying with Colton while his house is being renovated. Lukas fears that his struggles with intimacy will affect his relationship with Poppy and Colton. Poppy realizes that she is pregnant, though she doesn’t know which of her partners is the biological father. Meanwhile, Colton and Lukas’s relationship becomes more directly romantic as they begin exploring their sexual attraction to one another.

When Lukas is injured during a game, Colton and Poppy are both intensely worried. Lukas considers stepping out of their relationship, as he fears the public fallout if the three are exposed as being in a polyamorous relationship. However, Colton refuses to let Lukas do it.

Rachel Price, the team doctor, comes out as being in a polycule with two Rays players and a member of the support staff, which causes a media storm that Poppy must manage. Poppy keeps her pregnancy private, as she fears that it will push Lukas to return her admission of love before he is ready. At the Price family’s impromptu wedding, however, Colton and Lukas realize that Poppy is pregnant immediately after Lukas discusses how he never wants children. Lukas, overwhelmed, moves out of Colton’s apartment and begins avoiding Colton and Poppy.

Several weeks later, Colton grows tired of Lukas’s avoidance. He moves into Lukas’s house and begins constantly reassuring Lukas of his love. Lukas, who feels that he will never be worthy of love, waits for Colton to tire of caring for him, but Colton persists. The two discuss their fears about fatherhood, which brings them closer. They have sex, their first romantic encounter without Poppy present, which they both see as a positive milestone in their relationship.

Lukas works on showing his love to Poppy, including by adopting a kitten she loves and building a nursery for their baby. The night before he plans to show Poppy everything he’s done, Lukas encounters her at a party. She fears that he plans to break up with her permanently, so Lukas confesses his love. He, Poppy, and Colton have sex.

All three move into Lukas’s house, which they consider their family home. Colton’s cardiologist recommends that Colton retire from professional hockey. Though Colton hesitates to take this step, he sees his future as more than hockey now that he has Lukas, Poppy, and their child. They make plans for legal protection for their family, as they cannot legally marry.

Poppy explains her relationship and her pregnancy to Annmarie, who is not supportive. Annmarie threatens to give Poppy’s inheritance to Anderson and Violet if Poppy doesn’t come to the wedding and keep her relationship private. Poppy’s plan to hide their relationship until after the wedding displeases Colton and Lukas, though they do come out to the Rays team members, who are supportive.

At the wedding, Anderson is judgmental and unkind to Lukas and Colton. At the rehearsal dinner, Olivia reveals that Anderson and Violet began sleeping together before Anderson and Poppy broke up. Poppy announces her pregnancy and polyamorous relationship to the guests. She overhears Violet and Anderson talking about how Anderson is paying Violet to marry him because Annmarie took away Violet’s inheritance.

When Violet tries to call the wedding off, Anderson grabs her forcefully, prompting Lukas to punch him. Poppy explains to her father, Hank, that Annmarie has been manipulating her children. She sees him as complicit in ignoring his wife’s behavior. Hank promises to fix Violet’s financial situation and cancel the wedding.

Four months later, during a youth camp, Colton is struck in the chest with a hockey stick, which causes dysrhythmia. Poppy becomes afraid for him and goes into labor, leaving Lukas torn between which of his partners to follow. Colton gets a pacemaker, which will extend his life but end his hockey career. The trio have a son, whom they name Bennett.

In the Epilogue, it is six years later; Poppy, Lukas, and Colton are on vacation with their two children, and Poppy is pregnant with their third child. They proclaim how much they enjoy their lives together. Poppy, still the head of Rays PR, receives a phone call from another player, who has married a member of support staff and needs immigration help.