Icebreaker by Deirdre Martin

[katekintailbc]

Icebreaker
by Deirdre Martin

As one of the characters, Adam, states near the end of the book, he is sort of the bridge between the old crowd (Ty, Michael, etc.) and the new crowd. I assume that means a reboot of sorts with the New York Blades. It sort of needs it. I'm not saying this book wasn't good, because it definitely was. But it felt too much like the other books. The magic is just barely hanging on there.

The concept of the book seems like something you'd see in a writing prompt. Sinead is an up-tight control freak lawyer whose family owns a bar. Adam is an old-time hockey star brought in to captain a team that's just got to win the cup. They fight crime. I mean, they fall in love.

Or do they? Adam is Sinead's client, and that's kind of a no-no in the law firm (even though EVERYONE in the law firm seems to be doing it, including Oliver, who is an awesome friend and character). And then there's this complication of kids that I don't think was written as a sub-theme so well. And there are her migraines which seem like an important part of her character but then drop out of the story completely. Still, they manage an on again, off again relationship throughout the book. When it's on, it's excellent. When it's off, the characters moan and angst about wanting to be with each other. Which means that they get together in the end for a happy ending, of course.

I could have lived without the kids issues. I could definitely have lived without the restaurant-ness again (I'm tired of so many restaurants and bars--when you have players who frequent a restaurant AND a bar because you need to bring both families in, it starts to get a little too contrived), and I could DEFINITELY have lived without the Stooges (I love that Adam and Anthony became friends and bonded, but I'm with the women in this book--I freakin hate the Three Stooges!).

As for the hockey, it was great. I love me some old-time hockey with open ice hits and fighting. Life imitating art, certainly, as people debate about cleaning up hockey's image. I thought the run for the cup was WAY too fast. But I loved all of Adam's interactions with his team (especially the playboy young guns who aren't taking things as seriously as they should). Oh, and I LOVED Rick and Ray. I thought they both brought a LOT to Adam's character and they were so realistic and good.

In all, it was another great Deirdre Martin book, and I still love the series. But it didn't grab me the way the others in the series did. I'll keep reading, don't you worry. But it's not my favorite.