ExNHL Star Sean Avery Talks Writing a Steamy Romance Novel Alongside Leslie Cohen: 'We Had Intense Conversations' (Exclusive) Sean NeumannSeptember 10, 2025 at 3:55 AM 0 BenBella Books; Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Sean Avery and the cover of his debut romance novel "Su...
- - Ex-NHL Star Sean Avery Talks Writing a Steamy Romance Novel Alongside Leslie Cohen: 'We Had Intense Conversations' (Exclusive)
Sean NeumannSeptember 10, 2025 at 3:55 AM
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BenBella Books; Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Sean Avery and the cover of his debut romance novel "Summer Skate" -
Former NHL star Sean Avery released his debut romance novel Summer Skate on Tuesday
Avery, 45, co-authored the book with romance novelist Leslie Cohen
The book's main character is a young NHL player who strikes up a steamy romance with a best-selling author looking to escape the pressure of her marriage and career
There's plenty about Sean Avery's post-NHL career that he never expected.
Since the former New York Rangers enforcer hung up his skates in 2012, he's landed small roles in major films like Patriot's Day, Christopher Nolan's Tenet, and even Nolan's 2023 Academy Award-sweeping biopic Oppenheimer. He interned at Vogue for a summer, went into modeling himself, and even wrote a memoir about his ferocious and often antagonizing 12-year NHL career.
While Avery never envisioned himself doing any of that — once even faking sick to get out of a drama camp his mom forced him to sign up for when he was a kid — writing a romance novel was certainly last on his list.
But Avery, who released his first new romance novel Summer Skate on Tuesday, tells PEOPLE he's excited about his new career path — perhaps more than he's been about anything in a long time.
"I'm a bit of a showman," says Avery, 45, about his road to becoming an author. "It's in my blood. I feel it. It's what makes me want to get up out of bed every day, you know, to chase it. So, it's been an interesting journey here, but I think I've found my sweet spot, and I'm starting to really settle into it and have fun."
Mike Stobe/NHLI via Getty
Sean Avery
The former hockey star-turned-multi-faceted entertainer caught up with PEOPLE ahead of the release of Summer Skate, the romance novel he co-authored with Leslie Cohen, which follows a steamy romance between a young hockey player and a best-selling author looking to escape her demanding life of deadlines and motherhood.
The book is Avery's second published work, following his 2017 memoir, Ice Capades: A Memoir of Fast Living and Tough Hockey. Avery says the project stemmed from his agent pitching him the idea.
"He just called me up out of the blue one day and said, 'I just finished your autobiography. Would you ever be interested in writing a sports romance novel?' " Avery recalls. "And I had no idea that the category was so big, and he educated me on it, and it didn't take long: I said, 'Yeah, absolutely.' But also, I said, you know, it'd be nice to write it with a woman. Because, listen, we all need a woman's touch, okay? You know, nothing should be ever done without a woman's touch in my opinion, because they're just, you know, more gracious and patient and smoother than men."
Avery and Cohen spent nights having frank and open conversations about sex and how their characters would interact. "I mean, there were times where you would waffle the actual acoustics of us talking, because it's like, oh my god, we were saying these things," Avery recalls. "Me and Leslie, we were always laughing about it in the end, but we had intense conversations."The father of one says it was also an "eye opener" for him to learn the difference between "what do I think women want versus what [Cohen] thinks women want, and vice versa.""It was nice to have somebody be able to say, yeah, that might be a little too much, or I don't know, I'm not sure if everybody likes that sort of thing," Avery says. "So we had battles. But again, like great teams, you know, people don't see the battles that go on inside dressing rooms. But to get something to be great and a bond to be strong, you have to have friction and tension. That's where the juice comes from, so I really enjoyed the process."
BenBella Books
Summer Skate by Sean Avery and Leslie Cohen
Avery drew from his own life as inspiration for his and Leslie's main character, Carter Hughes, though Carter isn't exactly Sean: "I didn't go to American University, and Carter did. He's much taller than me, you know, he's not a small player. He's a high draft pick. I wasn't a high draft pick," Avery says, listing off the difference he sees between him and his character.
"We got a lot of runway with this guy," Avery says, noting that he and Cohen "immediately" began writing a follow-up book after putting the final touches on Summer Skate.
"I'm excited to go through Carter's entire career," the author says. "And I hope that we've sprinkled in enough for everyone, the romance, the hockey, the trials and tribulations of being young and famous and maneuvering those waters. There's a little bit of everything for everybody."
on People
Source: "AOL Sports"
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