Exclusive Interview
Emily Rath Teases Personal Connection to ‘Pucking Strong’s Demisexual Romance
When it comes to writing her viral BookTok hockey romances, Pucking Around author Emily Rath isn’t afraid to depict the kind of love stories she wants to read on the page.
Leading up to the fourth book in her Jacksonville Rays series, Pucking Strong, which comes out on August 26, Rath sat down with Swooon to give readers an exclusive first look at what they should expect from her new MM slow burn romance.
Pucking Strong follows Teddy O’Connor, a former PT intern of the Jacksonville Rays, who was introduced back in Pucking Around. Six years after his time working for the team, Teddy returns to the staff. However, when the team’s Swedish star forward (and Teddy’s longtime crush), Henrik Karlsson, faces the loss of his sister, the unexpected duo travels abroad to retrieve Henrik’s niece. One thing leads to another, and suddenly, Teddy’s very real crush becomes his very fake husband.
Scroll to find out everything Rath shared about her upcoming fourth instalment of her Jacksonville Rays series, Pucking Strong.
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Looking back, what inspired you to start writing hockey romance?
Emily Rath: I was a fan of the genre. I loved reading hockey romances. And the thing that I loved about it, like my first love, was always fantasy. In most fantasy series, you’re following the same cast of characters across multiple books, and hockey romance was one of the first times I dove into the idea of interconnected standalones. And so it was that idea of, okay, it’s the same team and all the characters are making cameos in each other’s books, or there’s plot lines that thread through each other’s books, but it’s a totally different thing each time.
For me, the writer brain was like, “Man, that would be fun to make my own fantasy-sized universe of this big cast of characters, [where] each book lets you try different things, tell different stories, have different POV characters.” I kind of marinated it for a while [thinking], “Hockey romance is a ton of fun to read. I think it would be fun to write. And I’ve never done that kind of thing as a writer, doing those interconnected standalones.” I was just kind of back-burnering it until I found the right idea for that first book that would catapult it. And then once that happened, there was no stopping it. And here we are four books later.
When it comes to your fourth book, Pucking Strong is your first real slow burn book in the series. What inspired you to make that change for this specific story?
Rath: I think it had to be that way because of the dynamics of the characters, particularly with Henrik. It’s not too much of a spoiler. I’ve been talking about it ad nauseam on almost all my socials and everything. Henrik, as a character, is demisexual, right? And so it has to, naturally, be a different kind of book, if you’re a person who is not sexually attracted to someone at a glance, if you’re not ready to push someone up against a wall.
In some of these earlier books, you had that I-want-it-gotta-have-it kind of feel, but that’s who those characters were. And so, to honor Henrik and let Henrik sink into his feelings for Teddy, [and] be truthful with Teddy about how he feels about sex and relationships and all of these things, it had to be a slow burn.
Teddy had to put the brakes on himself as well and be like, “That’s not where he is. Where is he? Let me find where he is, meet him where he is, and let’s see where this could go at his speed.” Which makes for, in my opinion, a delicious, angsty, slow burn, right? Because you have Teddy, who’s just dying for love of this man, and Henrik, that’s like, “I don’t know that I know how to love, but I’m willing to try, if you’re patient with me.”
Teddy and Henrik’s dynamic was really interesting, and you represented demisexuality in such a beautiful way, especially since you don’t see demisexuality represented in a lot of media.
Rath: It was definitely very healing for me, because I went into it feeling—you know, the moment these characters pop into my head, they’re real to me, like there they are. So from the moment I had the picture of Henrik and the feel of Henrik, I knew he was demisexual. But, at the same time, I hadn’t done a real deep dive into understanding really fully what [demisexuality] even meant. And so for me, it was like, I have to be very careful with Henrik. I have to do my homework. I have to research this so that it feels true and real.
Not that all demisexual people are a monolith, but it’s the kind of thing where, what so often happens for authors is, once you start diving into these things, you’ll be like, “Oh no. Now this is just therapy, and I’m learning things about myself.” And it’s like, I went into this thinking, “I don’t really know much about demisexuality,” and now I’m like, “It hurts so much because it’s me.” So it’s like, “Oh, there it is. There it is. The therapy I wasn’t expecting today. I am Henrik, wow. Okay, cool. Let’s keep writing this and feeling this. There’s always something new to learn about myself, isn’t there?”
Teddy was introduced in Book 1. When did it hit you that Teddy needed his own story?
Rath: The moment he was on the page. Teddy and Henrik have the shortest of possible scenes in Pucking Around, which is Book 1 in the series. It’s almost like you blink and you miss it. Rachel is just kind of weaving through a busy room. All the players are there. Some of them are getting physical therapy assistance, and some are just kind of around. So she’s looking for someone else, happens to pass by Teddy, [who] is an intern [at that point]. Teddy is just wrapping Henrik’s shoulder in ice, and Rachel teases him. It’s like a three-line thing. Rachel’s like, “You doing good, Karlsson? Okay, Teddy’s about to start the amputation.” And Teddy’s just like, ‘What?’ He’s so nervous and anxious.
So I knew the moment that happened. Because I think I write like, “Carlson chuckles,” and I’m just like, “I ship them.” I don’t know their story. I don’t know what’s gonna happen between these two men, but I want them to kiss. I’m like, “No, it’s done. That’s gonna be a book.”
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What can you tease about Henrik and Teddy’s love story?
Rath: I think it’s definitely a feeling of opposites attract, right? One of the lines that I’ve used a lot is, “Your quiet matches my loud.” And I think there’s something really beautiful in that, of how many like readers already have resonated with that. Of how often that happens to be the case: You find your perfect person and their quiet matches your loud. It’s almost like those balloon weights that you can buy: Henrik is this balloon weight, and Teddy just gets to be a balloon. It’s just like, “You can weave with whatever wind blows. You can be as anxious as you want. You can float up as high as you want, but I will ground you, and I’ll keep you safe. You can’t float away.” That’s the dynamic that you get between these two.
Another thing I love is fake marriage with real feelings, right? Which I think is such a delicious, delicious trope. Oops, [we’re] fake married, but I have real feelings for this person. It’s unrequited insta-love. That’s another fun one because some people are like, I hate insta-love, and it’s like, but what if it’s unrequited? What if it’s only one-sided That makes them for some great pining.
Pucking Strong by Emily Rath comes out August 26, 2025
