Reviewed by Carissa
TITLE: Offside Pass
SERIES: Blue Line Hockey #1
AUTHOR: Stephani Hecht
PUBLISHER: eXtasy Books
LENGTH: 138 pages
BLURB:
At one time Devon Canton and his two brothers were the talk of the NHL. Set to become the next superstars of the sport, they had lucrative contracts and numerous endorsements within their reach. Then the bottom fell out of their world and everything changed. Now struggling to make ends meet, they have been reduced to playing in the minor leagues. To make matters worse, they all end up playing for the same dead-end team, the Battle Creek Hawks. Not only hasn’t that team won a game in three years, but their arena is falling down around them and is in danger of being condemned. Then Devon and his brothers hit a new low when they get thrown out of their first game for getting into a brawl…with each other.
Battle Creek Times sports reporter Saul Davis knows the instant he see the three brothers beating the snot out of each other that he has a story. It only takes a little digging to find out how far the once promising hockey players have fallen. Intrigued, Saul tries to pin down Devon for an interview, only to be rudely rebuked. Unfortunately for Devon, that only makes Saul more determined to get to the bottom of the story.
Then Saul uncovers something about the brooding hockey player that could not only destroy the man’s reputation, but also ruin any chance of him every playing on the professional level again. Saul knows he should go ahead and run the story, but as he finds himself growing closer to Devon, he realizes that his feelings for the other man are too strong to ignore. When a rival reporter also discovers Devon’s secret, Saul recognizes that he may have to make the most painful decision of all – his own journalism career or Devon.
REVIEW:
The three Canton brothers are a menace. On the ice, off the ice, it really doesn’t matter. For all their talent they lack discipline, and this time their antics have finally come back to haunt them. With only one team even willing to consider them, the Canton boys are shipped to play for the Battle Creek Hawks. A team that hasn’t even won a game in three years. And even if all common sense says that things couldn’t get worse for the Hawks…well, then the Canton brothers are there to show them different. By starting a brawl. With each other. On ice.
Devon is used to protecting his brothers, and his family, but even he has to admit that they are probably taking more damage from themselves, than other people. Still, when Saul Davis, sports reporter, starting sticking his cute nose in where it don’t belong, Devon once again takes on the role of protector. Trouble is, that this time he is rather attracted to the enemy, and the enemy is more than attracted to him. With a whole army of skeletons in his closet, Devon can’t dare let Saul close, even if he really really wants to.
When I heard that this month’s theme was going to be sports, there really was no doubt what I would be reading about. I love hockey and I love any reason to read about hockey, so this gave me a perfect excuse to start a series I have been circling around for some time.
I really liked all three of the Canton brothers. They were fun characters and I could tell that reading about them wasn’t going to be a burden at all. And Saul was pretty great as well. I like the idea that this man went into reporting sports with hardly any knowledge, but was more than willing to learn. Plus, Devon and Saul had all types of good I-hate-you/I-want-to-bang-the-ever-loving-shit-out-of-you chemistry going on.
Mostly this book suffered from a lack of pages. It was an interesting story, with good characters and situations, but it felt way to fast to me. The first half of the story was build up to the big reveal, and then the last half just zoomed by without pausing to take a breath. Devon went from not trusting Saul, to trusting him, to loving him, in like a snap of the fingers. I had a real hard buying that. And yes, short stories do move at a quicker pace sometimes, but there was not a big enough foundation for me to believe everything that happened at the end of the story.
Especially with the other reporter. That was just…unbelievable, really. I’m not saying that all reporters are evil and can’t wait to destroy people’s lives, but to just…. Yeah. I didn’t buy it at all.
But I did enjoy most of it. It may have had it flaws, but for a quick read, it wasn’t half bad. And I’ll probably even pick up the later book in the series at some point. I just may have to dial down my expectations a little bit in order to really enjoy them. Worth a look though, if you have a couple hours to spare and want to get a quick hockey fix.
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