Breathe with Me Summary: A Playing for Keeps Hockey Romance
Introduction
Two years of negative tests have turned a happy marriage into a quiet battleground.
In Breathe with Me by Becka Mack, event planner Cara Hunter Brodie and her husband Emmett, a star forward for the Vancouver Vipers, face a medical diagnosis that reshapes how they see themselves and each other.
Set in North Vancouver and framed by the tight community of a professional hockey team, the novel follows a couple navigating fertility treatment, grief, and a growing friendship with a three-year-old boy living in a children’s shelter.
It is the fifth book in the Playing for Keeps series.
👉 Watch on YouTube: Breathe With Me Summary & Recap
TL;DR
- What it is: A contemporary hockey romance told in alternating first-person chapters by Cara and Emmett Brodie.
- Core situation: After two years of trying to conceive, Cara is diagnosed with diminished ovarian reserve, and the couple moves through IUI cycles, IVF, and repeated failed results.
- Central tension: Cara’s grief turns inward as self-loathing, while Emmett’s devotion stays fixed and steady.
- Turning point: A pause in treatment, therapy, and fostering a three-year-old named Abel redirect the couple’s life.
- Key themes: Self-worth beyond fertility, chosen family, unconditional partnership, and parenthood built through commitment.
- Ending note: The story closes with an adoption, a natural pregnancy, and an epilogue set seven and a half years later.
Breathe with Me Summary: The Full Story (Spoilers Ahead)
Spoiler warning: This section describes the plot, including the ending.
The novel moves between two timelines.
Three and a half years before the main events, Cara Hunter meets Emmett Brodie while working an event, and he announces on the spot that she will be his wife.
Their romance escalates quickly through a first date, a frozen lake, and a house in North Vancouver with a window seat Cara loves.
In the present, Cara and Emmett have been trying to conceive for two years. Fertility specialist Dr. Brenling tells them Cara has diminished ovarian reserve and is unlikely to conceive using her own eggs. Emmett holds her hand through the appointment and takes her home.
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Their first attempts are intrauterine inseminations. Each cycle brings injections, bloodwork, and mood swings, and each result comes back negative.
Breathe with Me shows the couple absorbing the news again and again while their friend group grows around them.
They move to IVF. Five eggs are retrieved and four fertilize, but two embryos arrest. While Emmett is on the road, the clinic suggests canceling the transfer, and he flies back to Vancouver to reach the clinic in time. The transfer still fails.
Grief compounds when friends announce pregnancies, including Olivia and Carter expecting twins. Cara’s sense of self erodes, and Emmett’s brother Craig and his girlfriend Sasha add careless remarks about childlessness. Cara begins to describe herself as broken and defective.
One night she tries to leave. Emmett stops her at the door, and later he fills their living room with photographs tracing their relationship, telling her that her heart is a mosaic. Becka Mack pairs that scene with the couple’s decision to pause treatment and start therapy.
During that pause, Emmett and Cara volunteer at Second Chance Home, a shelter supported by teammate Adam Lockwood. There they meet Abel, a quiet three-year-old who bonds with Emmett first and gradually with Cara. They complete foster training and bring him home.
Cara also meets Abel’s nineteen-year-old biological mother, Catharine, who is finishing her GED after being rejected by her family. Cara mentors her and encourages her to apply to university. Catharine is admitted to the Creative Writing program at UBC.
That summer, Catharine decides Abel should have a permanent home and signs her adoption rights directly to Cara and Emmett.
On Halloween, four months later, the family celebrates the official bond. On New Year’s Day, Cara discovers she is naturally pregnant.
The epilogue takes place seven and a half years later. Emmett and his teammates are retired and raising children together in the same backyard.
Cara and Emmett have eleven-year-old Abel and seven-year-old Lana Olivia Brodie, and the final scene ends with Emmett and Carter whispering “Oops” as the kids collide.
Summary by Chapter (Spoilers)
This section offers a brief summary of each chapter for readers who want to see what is inside.
The book contains an author’s note, 34 numbered chapters, and an epilogue, alternating between Cara’s and Emmett’s first-person perspectives.
Chapter 1: I Don’t Get On My Knees For No —Whoops, I’m On My Knees (Cara)
In a flashback, Cara meets Emmett while managing catering at a venue. He enters “Mrs. Brodie” into her phone and finds her again at midnight on his 27th birthday.
Chapter 2: Dr. Donkey Dick (Cara)
Cara and Emmett meet fertility specialist Dr. Brenling, who bluntly diagnoses diminished ovarian reserve. Emmett holds her hand through the appointment and their friend group gathers in quiet support.
Chapter 3: Let Me Just Triple Knot This… (Emmett)
The morning after their first meeting, Emmett arrives at Cara’s apartment reciting facts about her business. Her best friend Olivia finds him in the kitchen, and he refuses to untie Cara until she agrees to date him.
Chapter 4: Obsessed Boy Falls First and Harder (Cara)
Housekeeper Natasha makes backhanded comments while Emmett cooks breakfast. At a team pool party, Carter makes Cara a s’more, and she later admits to Olivia that she cannot picture her future.
Chapter 5: I Devour Tacos Like I Devour Cock (Cara)
Emmett takes Cara to a Mexican restaurant for their first date and talks about his abusive father and critical mother. A taco-eating contest with Carter leaves Cara sick at home while Emmett holds her hair.
Chapter 6: The Cum Police (Emmett)
A clinic nurse instructs Emmett to abstain for five days before the IUI. Emmett calls Cara “strength personified” and gives her the first injection before joining the guys to build a playhouse at Second Chance Home.
Chapter 7: Hey, God? Ignore the Part About the Last Supper (Emmett)
Emmett takes Cara ice skating on a frozen lake, and she admits she practiced beforehand. They exchange their first “I love you”s on the ice.
Chapter 8: Will the Fuckery Never End? (Cara)
Cara video chats with her grandmother Mémère, who has dementia. At Adam and Rosie’s wedding reception, a gender reveal goes wrong, and Cara later reads a negative IUI result at home.
Chapter 9: Her, In My Window Seat (Emmett)
House hunting in North Vancouver, Cara falls for an upstairs window seat where she imagines reading to future children. Emmett quietly writes the deposit check and surprises her with the news.
Chapter 10: The Pussy Pounder 5000 Needs New Batteries (Emmett)
At the playhouse, Lily tells Emmett he will be a great dad. Craig and Sasha make insensitive remarks at dinner, Cara puts Sasha in her place, and another IUI result comes back negative over FaceTime.
Chapter 11: All Dressed in White (Cara)
On New Year’s Eve, Cara finds a children’s book called Look Up at the Stars with a handwritten note from Emmett. A candlelit path leads to the backyard, where he proposes.
Chapter 12: If the Bird Shits, I’m Out (Cara)
Cara confides in her friends about treatment, and a sparrow flies into the house. At the home opener, Craig and Sasha repeat their comments, and blind elder Hank shares his own loss with Cara.
Chapter 13: A Lifetime Pack of Fun, or Breakdowns, Who Knows (Cara)
After a victory, an early pregnancy test shows one line. Natasha hands Cara a three-month box of tampons, and official bloodwork later confirms the IUI failed.
Chapter 14: Forgetting How to Swim (Emmett)
An hour after egg retrieval, a stranger tells the couple they are lucky to be childless. Four of five eggs fertilize, two embryos arrest, and the clinic suggests canceling the transfer while Emmett is in Boston.
Chapter 15: The Dad Who Stepped Up (Cara)
Mémère tells Cara to dress up for the transfer. Emmett flies back and runs up six flights of stairs to reach the clinic, and the friend group waits at home with a fort and “baby dust.”
Chapter 16: This Is How You Fall Apart (Cara)
A montage covers 29 months of negative tests and mounting exhaustion. At a backyard gathering, Olivia and Rosie announce pregnancies at the same time, and Cara’s grief breaks open.
Chapter 17: Failure (Cara)
Cara buys baby items in secret while waiting on a blood draw. A nurse reports an hCG level of 3, and Craig and Sasha arrive moments later with their own pregnancy announcement.
Chapter 18: The Art of Putting People in Their Place (Emmett)
Emmett makes Cara a bead bracelet labeled “Thunderstorm” and sees Abel arrive at the shelter. After Natasha makes cruel remarks, Emmett fires her, and Cara says she hates herself and tries to leave.
Chapter 19: Thunderstorms (Emmett)
Cara insists she is broken and that Emmett would be better off alone. He tells her he does not exist without her, and she kisses him before walking out into the rain.
Chapter 20: Self-Sabotage (Cara)
Carter finds Cara sobbing in his yellow ball gown costume and talks about grieving his father. Olivia comforts her in bed, and the next morning Emmett, who slept in his truck, takes her home.
Chapter 21: Our Story (Cara)
Emmett has covered the living room with photos from their relationship. He tells her she is not whole but broken, and that brokenness leaves more room for light.
Chapter 22: For You, I’d Climb Every Mountain (Emmett)
They decide to pause fertility treatments, and Cara deletes her tracking apps. Emmett draws two stick figures on the mirror with the words “No mountain is too high.”
Chapter 23: My Favorite View (Emmett)
The group attends Garrett and Jennie’s winter wedding at Capilano Lake, where Carter plays Santa. Emmett draws a heart around Cara’s reflection on the mirror and labels it “My favorite view.”
Chapter 24: Grandpa Kinks (Emmett)
On Emmett’s 31st birthday, he meets Abel at Second Chance Home and the boy bonds with him immediately. Cara later reads to Abel until he sleeps, and therapist Emily recommends a specialist in infertility PTSD.
Chapter 25: Penises, or If You Will, Penii (Cara)
Olivia goes into emergency labor with twins while Carter is in the air, and she asks Cara to hold her hand in the room. The twins are named Brodie and Hunter, and Cara tells Emmett she wants to foster Abel.
Chapter 26: Sacrilegious Pineapples and Family Promises (Emmett)
Emmett and Cara finish foster training and prepare the nursery. Abel arrives frightened, and they sit on the floor at his level to make a “family promise” about calm voices.
Chapter 27: Oreo Has Entered the Chat (Emmett)
On a Valentine’s road trip, Cara sends Emmett a photo of Abel’s “love monster” painting. For Carter’s birthday, Emmett presents an official letter granting him his own Oreo flavor.
Chapter 28: Not a Dinosaur (Cara)
Abel spills paint on new boots from Mémère, and Cara reassures him that accidents happen. That night he explains that dinosaurs only protect themselves, but his Cara is not a dinosaur, and Cara later meets Catharine at the park.
Chapter 29: My Abel (Emmett)
Abel tells Emmett he is lucky to have him, and Lily asks about Cara’s “booboo Band-Aid.” At a game, Abel blows Emmett a kiss to put in his pocket.
Chapter 30: Officer Daddy (Cara)
Over Victoria Day weekend, Carter buys ride-on cars and dresses as a sexy cop with the team. Abel takes space on the stairs and tells Cara he missed her, and a podcast later mocks Cara’s fertility publicly.
Chapter 31: Worthy (Emmett)
Cara hires security to keep the players off the bouncy castle at a charity fundraiser. Catharine attends and reveals her UBC acceptance, and Emmett realizes Abel’s trust has made him feel worthy.
Chapter 32: Carter Beckett’s Double Cream Pie (Cara)
During Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, Carter’s Oreo commercial airs on the jumbotron and the Vipers win in overtime. That night Abel asks if he can call Emmett and Cara daddy and mommy.
Chapter 33: Today, and Every Tomorrow (Cara)
On Canada Day, the extended family gathers for fireworks before the placement meeting. Catharine signs over her adoption rights to Cara and Emmett, and Abel officially becomes their son.
Chapter 34: Taste the Rainbow (Cara)
On Halloween, Abel wears his dinosaur costume for the kindergarten parade while the players dress as Mean Girls characters. On New Year’s Day, Cara discovers she is naturally pregnant.
Epilogue: Oops (Emmett)
Seven and a half years later, the retired teammates inflate the forbidden bouncy castle in the backyard. Eleven-year-old Abel and seven-year-old Lana join the chaos, and Lana punches Carter’s son Hunter after he kisses her cheek.
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Characters in This Book
| Character | Role |
|---|---|
| Cara Hunter Brodie | Co-protagonist and CEO of the event planning company Fête & Flair, who undergoes fertility treatment and later fosters and adopts Abel. |
| Emmett Brodie | Co-protagonist and NHL player (#88) for the Vancouver Vipers, husband to Cara and adoptive father to Abel. |
| Abel Brodie | A three-year-old in foster care at Second Chance Home who is fostered and then adopted by Cara and Emmett. |
| Catharine | Abel’s nineteen-year-old biological mother, who finishes her GED, is admitted to UBC, and signs over her adoption rights. |
| Carter Beckett | Captain of the Vancouver Vipers, Emmett’s best friend, and husband to Olivia. |
| Olivia Parker Beckett | Cara’s best friend of ten years and wife to Carter, who gives birth to twins named Brodie and Hunter. |
| Garrett Andersen | Vipers player, member of the friend group, and husband to Jennie. |
| Jennie Beckett Andersen | Carter’s sister, Garrett’s wife, and one of Cara’s core friends. |
| Adam Lockwood | Vipers player, husband to Rosie, and founder and supporter of Second Chance Home. |
| Rosie Lockwood | Wife to Adam and mother to Connor, Lily, and Iris. |
| Jaxon Riley | Vipers player and husband to Lennon. |
| Lennon Riley | Vipers team photographer and wife to Jaxon. |
| Dr. Brenling | Fertility specialist who delivers Cara’s diagnosis of diminished ovarian reserve. |
| Natasha | Housekeeper for Cara and Emmett who makes insensitive remarks about fertility and is fired. |
| Mémère | Cara’s grandmother in an Ottawa care facility who lives with dementia. |
| Emily | Therapist and social worker at Second Chance Home who supports Abel’s care and Cara’s treatment. |
| Marlene | Abel’s social worker. |
| Hank | Blind elder and pseudo-grandfather to the team who shares his own experience of loss. |
| Craig & Sasha | Emmett’s brother and his girlfriend, who make insensitive comments about childlessness. |
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Quotes from Breathe with Me
“Nobody’s worth is tied to their body’s ability to reproduce.”
— Author’s Note
“You’re strength personified. You’re a forest fire, burning the bridges that hold you back. You’re a wildflower, rising again and again, growing without abandon, no matter the weather. You’re a firefly, baby. When the stars are tired, you light your own way, and the way for everyone else too.”
— Emmett
“If you and your mama were the only stars in my sky, that would be all I needed.”
— Emmett, inscription in Look Up at the Stars
“Breathe, baby. Breathe with me. Because I can’t breathe without you.”
— Emmett
“Your heart is a mosaic. Thousands of pieces woven together, each one with its own story. Your heart is beautiful and kind, and it loves the way it does not in spite of all its pieces, but because of them.”
— Emmett
“From what I gather, infertility is a lot like grief. Grieving what could’ve been every month. Grieving the future you’d planned… There is a life to be built, a future that has the possibility to be just as beautiful as the one you’d hoped for. It doesn’t have to be the end. There is never an end where love exists.”
— Carter
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Who Is Breathe with Me For?
This book suits readers of contemporary and sports romance who follow long-running series centered on a single friend group.
The hockey setting appears through games, road trips, and team events, while the narrative weight sits on the marriage rather than the sport.
Readers drawn to fertility, fostering, and adoption storylines will find those subjects covered across multiple stages, including medical appointments, failed cycles, foster training, and a placement meeting.
The book also contains heavier emotional material, including scenes of self-loathing, dissociation, and a character attempting to leave her marriage.
The pacing alternates fast dialogue and ensemble comedy with slow, interior chapters. Flashbacks break up the present timeline and provide the couple’s origin story.
Carter and the wider group supply recurring comic relief between the emotional beats.
Because it is the fifth book in the Playing for Keeps series, readers who know the earlier couples will recognize recurring characters, weddings, births, and long-running jokes.
The central arc focuses on Cara and Emmett.
Books Like Breathe with Me
Consider Me by Becka Mack — Book 1 of Playing for Keeps, following Carter Beckett and Olivia Parker and establishing the Vipers friend group that surrounds Cara and Emmett.
Play with Me by Becka Mack — Book 2, focused on Garrett and Jennie, whose winter wedding appears later in Breathe with Me.
Unravel Me by Becka Mack — Book 3, following Adam and Rosie, whose camp and family connect to the Second Chance Home storyline.
Fall with Me by Becka Mack — Book 4, centered on Jaxon and Lennon, completing the friend group whose couples appear throughout this novel.
Icebreaker by Hannah Grace — A hockey romance with strong team dynamics and a protective lead, sharing the sports setting and ensemble cast structure.
Mile High by Liz Tomforde — A sports romance pairing a protective hero with a heroine working through insecurity, similar in emotional register and banter.
First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison — A contemporary romance built around emotional healing and family dynamics, with a supportive lead at the center.
Book Snapshot
- Genre & Subgenre: Contemporary Romance / Sports Romance (Hockey Romance)
- Core Narrative Tropes: Obsessed male lead / falls first, found family, fertility journey, marriage under strain, hurt/comfort, fostering and adoption
- Tone & Atmosphere: Emotional, humorous, affectionate, candid, and vulnerable
- Primary Conflict: Cara’s grief and self-loathing after a diminished ovarian reserve diagnosis and failed treatments, which pushes her toward leaving Emmett
- Pacing Style: Chronological present-day arc with flashbacks to the couple’s origin, shifting between heavy emotional beats and fast dialogue
- ISBN: 978-1638932451 (ISBN-10: 163893245X)
- Pages: 448
- Book Structure: Author’s note, 34 numbered chapters, and an epilogue, alternating Cara’s and Emmett’s first-person points of view
- Author Background: Becka Mack is a Canadian romance author and the writer of the Playing for Keeps series, published by Slowburn
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