This book falls into my Contemporary Reading Challenge.
I recently read See Jane Score by Rachel Gibson, which has a hockey player as the hero. I enjoyed it so much I went looking for other hockey-themed books. I stumbled across Body Check and grabbed it. I had read one other book by Ms. Martin, With A Twist (review to come soon), and couldn't decide if she was an author I would read again or not. After reading this book I says YES!!!
Janna MacNeil is a publicist newly hired for the New York Blades hockey team. She's a bit nervous as she's never done PR for a sports team and doesn't know much about hockey. The new owners of the team want her to "spruce up" the reputation of the rowdy team, starting with their captain, Ty Gallagher. Ty is a great player, focused soley on the game. He doesn't care about corporate and all the PR stuff that goes with the sport. Things are not off to a great start; after Jane's first meeting with Ty, she promptly goes into the ladies room and throws up!
Ty is not immune to Jane's sparkle and personality. After a faux-pas involving a charity dinner and her sister, things start to heat up between Jane and Ty, but they've got to keep it on the DL for professional reasons. Of course things don't go smoothly and there is plenty of drama to keep things moving. There are several side stories, Jane's roommate Theressa has some problems, Jane has family issues, Ty's inability to focus on anything but winning the Stanlely Cup....it all blends into a great story!
This story kept my attention, I didn't have to suspend disbelief, and none of the characters were TSTL. I'm already moving on to the next book in this series, Fair Play, which is Theressa's story. I give Body Check 4 1/2 out of 5 stars!
Oh cool! I just got one of hers for review..I think it is called Straight Up! I've never read her before. Nice review :)
ReplyDeleteMandi - I just looked it up on her site - Straight Up is one of the characters in With A Twist that I enjoyed...more than the main characters, actually! It's not a hockey story but it does sound good.
ReplyDeleteI'll be looking forward to your review!
This is a new author for me. Your review was great. Off to add this to my list to check out!
ReplyDeleteI've never read any of this author's books Patti but her stories sound fun!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
L
Hockey themed books sound interesting, I'd like to read one.
ReplyDeleteGreat review!!
I'll have to check this one out sometime - thanks!
ReplyDeleteAmy J - I am loving her books, I read two more since I wrote this post.
ReplyDeleteLea - very fun. The only one I thought was just okay was With A Twist.
Hilda - They're fun, light reads. I only wish I knew hockey lingo b/c there are a few references I'm not familiar with.
Chris - If you like Rachel Gibson's hockey series then you should like these too!
I tried reading this one, but if memory serves there's a point when her friend is nearly sexually assaulted by another player on the team and it comes down to 'us' and 'them' between the women and the hockey players? Or am I making that up and thinking of another book?
ReplyDeleteSo, the winter Olympics are really influencing a lot of reading at the moment, lol. I personally just want the Olympics to be over so all my regular TV shows can come back on air ('The Office', 'The Good Wife', '30 Rock'....)
Great review hun.
More ice-hockey for you, cool :D
ReplyDeleteIt does sound fun
Sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteI dropping by to say `Hi`
I love sports stories every now and then. Wonderful review :)
ReplyDeleteDanielle - yes, that's the one, although I didn't see it as an "us" vs "them" kind of thing, maybe you didn't get far enough into it?
ReplyDeleteBlodeuedd - you have no idea. My February Wrap Up post will go into my current obssession a bit more.
Joyful - Thanks! Hi to you too :)
Janna - I didn't think I was into sports stories although I did read Slow Heat and liked that one too.