A hockey love story
Book signing Friday
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HOUGHTON -- Michigan Tech alum and admitted hockey-lover, author Hannah Layne, will be at Michigan Tech Friday to promote her "Lift Bridge" hockey romance series, at the MUB from 2-2:30 p.m., and at the Van Pelt and Opie Library 3-4 p.m.
After earning her Geological Engineering degree in 2017, Layne now lives in Minnesota where she has been writing the book series since 2024. After publishing the series this year, the 31-year old now looks ahead to promoting her work. "I've always been a writer. I've worked for newspapers but this is my first fiction endeavor," she said.
The series follows six characters in a fictionalized Houghton setting. Each book follows them through the trials and tribulations of college hockey, navigating the Keweenaw winters and brewing romances.
The first entry, "Strange Breathless Days" sees novice athletic trainer, Kara, form a connection with star forward, Blaze. The two start the novel on different paths, but they are forced to meet and compromise, forming a deeper bond along the way.
Layne said she wanted the setting and places within the series to be its own characters as well. "One of the things I did bring from Houghton that I love is that I feel like every house has its own story too," she said. "So, the house itself is almost like a character."
Other recognizable spots are based on Keweenaw staples as well.
"One of their friends inherited a bar, based on The Dog (Douglass-House Saloon), because that's my favorite bar," Layne said. "They go to Copper Harbor at one point. In book three, he (Blaze) is the landscaper for the Moose Lodge. That's based on the VFW in South Range."
Layne said she always wanted to write what she loved to read.
"I love reading hockey romance specifically," she said. "Everything that I was reading was set one the west coast or east coast. There are no books being set in these very deep-rooted hockey places."
Layne's series, "Strange Breathless Days" and "Sharp Blue Morning" and the final installment, "Small Buried Echoes," are out now available thru Amazon.
"They say write what you know and I know the U.P.," she said. "That's what I want to bring to other people because I think it's a special community.”