Rewind it Back (Windy City, 5)

The book you've been waiting for! Don't miss Rio + Hallie's story in the final book of the global phenomenon, Windy City series.

Hallie
When I was eleven, my family moved next door to his.

When I was thirteen, he was my first crush.

When I was sixteen, we fell for each other.

And when I was nineteen, we broke each other’s hearts.

Six years later, I’ve landed an internship with a big-name interior designer in a new city. Unfortunately, that city just so happens to be the one he plays hockey for.

I thought Chicago was big enough to avoid him, until I get the surprise of a lifetime and unknowingly move in right next door. And even worse? The renovation project I’m assigned to in hopes of turning that internship into my full-time dream job…

It’s his house.

But how am I supposed to update his bachelor pad into a family home when we can’t even stand to be in the same room?

I may have loved Rio DeLuca once, but I’m not that same girl anymore.

Rio
I never thought I’d be the only single one left in my friend group. But after years of trying to find love, I’ve concluded it may not exist for me anymore.

That is, until I accidentally hire Hallie Hart to renovate my house and our jaded history has me rewinding memories I’ve kept secret for years.

You see, there’s something that my friends don’t know.

That connection I’ve been looking for since I moved to Chicago, that one person some search their entire lives to find… I had already found her when I was twelve years old.

And now the only girl I’ve ever loved is moving into the house next door.

Again.

Liz Tomforde is a New York Times bestselling author of sports romance novels that depict realistic and healthy relationships. Her books offer a mix of witty banter, undeniable chemistry, a healthy dash of spice, and swoon-worthy men who look good in uniform.

Born and raised in Northern California, Liz is the youngest of five children. She loves all things romance, traveling, dogs, and hockey. When’s she’s not writing, Liz can be found relaxing at home or listening to a good book while on a walk with her Golden Retriever, Luke.

Rewind It Back by Liz Tomforde is a slow-burn, second chance sports romance that mixes emotional healing, found family, and playful banter with some heavier themes like grief, trauma, and learning to trust again. It’s part of her “Windy City” hockey universe, so we’re back in the world of the Chicago professional team and their circle of friends, but this time the spotlight is on two people who have already been hurt badly by life: a sunshine leaning, stubborn heroine and a closed off, emotionally scarred hero who would rather carry the weight of the world alone than let anyone help him. The story asks what happens when two people who don’t really know how to move on from their past are forced to live side by side and slowly, painfully, start to become each other’s safe place.

The heroine, Caroline (often called Caro or Carrie, depending on who’s talking to her), is introduced as someone who outwardly looks like she has it together but is quietly stuck. She’s smart, determined, and deeply caring, but she’s also living in the shadow of something terrible that happened in her past. That event changed the trajectory of her life and convinced her that she doesn’t deserve everything she once dreamed of. She keeps herself busy with work, routines, and responsibilities, convincing herself that this smaller, safer life is enough. Underneath, she’s full of longing: for a fresh start, for a sense of belonging, and for someone who sees past the mask she wears for everyone else. When an opportunity arises that pushes her into a new living situation connected to the hockey world, she takes it, half hesitant, half hopeful.

The hero, Benny (Bennett), is a professional hockey player for Chicago and part of the already established friend group fans of the series will recognize. On the ice, he’s tough, relentless, and reliable. Off the ice, he is guarded to the point of being prickly. He’s survived his own share of heartbreak and trauma—both from family and from something in his past that left him with deep, invisible scars. His coping mechanism is to shut people out, joke his way past serious conversations, and pretend he’s fine. He doesn’t do vulnerability. He doesn’t do relationships. He definitely doesn’t do messy emotional entanglements with women who seem like they could actually mean something to him. When circumstances lead to him ending up under the same roof as Caroline, he’s not happy about it, but he doesn’t fight it too hard either—maybe because some part of him is already tired of his own loneliness.

Their living situation sets up the heart of the story. Caroline and Benny go from strangers (or near strangers) to reluctant housemates, and then slowly to friends, and eventually to something much more complicated. At first, they rub each other the wrong way. Caroline thinks Benny is rude, emotionally unavailable, and a bit of a brooding jerk. Benny thinks Caroline is too much—too curious, too caring, too ready to poke her nose into the parts of his life he’d rather keep locked up. The banter between them is sharp and funny: they bicker about little things, trade jabs, and push each other’s buttons. Underneath, though, those arguments are a way for them to test boundaries and see how far they can go without being abandoned.

One of the strongest threads in the book is the way their friendship develops in tiny, quiet moments. They start helping each other with small, practical things—rides, meals, household stuff—and then, eventually, with emotional ones. Caroline notices Benny’s nightmares, his flinches, the way he avoids certain topics and situations. Benny notices Caroline’s hesitation, how she shuts down when certain subjects arise, and how she downplays her own pain. Slowly, they begin to talk—not about everything at once, but about just enough to build trust. The walls they built to protect themselves don’t crumble in a single dramatic scene; they’re worn down over time by consistent empathy, shared jokes, and unspoken understanding.

The hockey background gives the story structure and warmth. The team acts as extended family: guys who tease Benny, protect him, and pull him out of his own head, plus their partners and kids who bring softness and chaos into every gathering. Caroline, who has been feeling unmoored and out of place for a long time, finds herself pulled into this group almost against her will. There are game nights, dinners, and group outings that show her what it looks like to be surrounded by people who genuinely care. Those scenes also highlight what she’s been missing—a sense of home that isn’t tied to a place, but to people. Benny, watching her slowly get claimed by his found family, can’t help but fall for the way she fits with them.

At the same time, both characters are still very much wrestling with their pasts. Caroline’s trauma is tied to a moment that changed her life forever and left her with a heavy load of guilt, even though it wasn’t truly her fault. It affects her career choices, her willingness to take risks, and how worthy she feels of love and happiness. Benny’s trauma is different but just as heavy. His experiences have taught him that loving people means losing them, and that if he lets anyone close, he’ll only end up hurting them or being hurt himself. The book doesn’t gloss over these issues; it shows therapy, panic, emotional backslides, and the slow, uneven process of healing. Neither character is “fixed” by love, but loving someone deeply becomes part of their reason to keep trying.

The romance itself is a slow burn with a strong emotional payoff. There is attraction early on, but both of them refuse to act on it at first for different reasons. Caroline is scared of making another big mistake. Benny is terrified of ruining the fragile peace they’ve built as housemates and friends. They develop a rhythm: inside jokes, protective gestures, stolen glances. They become each other’s person long before they admit that they’re in love. When they finally cross that line into something more physical and openly romantic, it feels earned. It comes after trust has been built, apologies have been made, and vulnerabilities have been shared. The intimacy between them isn’t just about chemistry; it’s about finally being seen and accepted completely, scars and all.

Conflict inevitably comes when their old fears collide with their new feelings. Something triggers Benny’s instinct to retreat, to push Caroline away before she can hurt him or leave him. Caroline, still carrying her own guilt and fear, struggles not to let his withdrawal confirm her worst beliefs about herself—that she’s too much, that she’s cursed, that people are better off without her. The tension here isn’t manufactured drama; it grows naturally out of who they are and what they’ve been through. The resolution requires both of them to do something they’ve avoided for years: speak clearly about their pain, take responsibility where it’s truly theirs, and let go of guilt that never should have been theirs to carry.

By the end of Rewind It Back, both Caroline and Benny have changed, but not in a way that feels unrealistic or magically tidy. They are still themselves—still a little broken, still stubborn, still learning—but they are no longer doing it alone. Benny has allowed someone into the darkest corners of his mind and learned that being loved doesn’t make him weak. Caroline has stepped out of the shadow of her past enough to claim joy as something she’s allowed to have, not something she has to pay for. Their living space, once just a shared house, becomes a place of safety and laughter and late night conversations—a home in the truest sense. Surrounded by the cheering, meddling, fiercely loyal hockey family, they find a future that doesn’t erase what they’ve been through, but builds something beautiful on top of it: a second chance at life, love, and a happiness they never thought they could deserve.