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Body Check (New York Blades #1)

3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 · rating details · 4,691 ratings · 126 reviews

This game's going into overtime.

Janna MacNeil is a publicist on a mission to change the image of the bad boys of hockey: the Stanley Cup Champion New York Blades.

Ty Gallagher is a captain on a mission— to get his team to win the Cup again... at any cost. His determination is legendary, as well as his unwillingness to toe the corporate line.

When the persistent publicist an...more

Paperback, 336 pages

Published February 25th 2003 by Jove

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Jul 07, 2008 Eastofoz rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Readers who enjoy hockey themed romances

Recommended to Eastofoz by: Auntee (on loan)

Shelves: contemporary

If you like sports, hockey in this case, as a backdrop to your romance this is a good one to pick up. The story isn’t typical cookie cutter fare and the hero is a real jerk on more than one occasion. Our eye candy on skates, Ty Gallagher, has a few scenes that make you want to smack him around a little and say “wake up dammit!”. Janna, the team's PR person, could have let him suffer a bit more I thought but she still held her own. You really feel the hockey atmosphere too without being bogged do...more

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Jan 21, 2011 Blodeuedd Finland rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-romance

My thoughts:

I seem to be reading a lot of contemporary romance lately, and I do like that. Just normal people falling love and so on. Sweet.

I did like the main characters. Janna was very driven, but at the same time she was very insecure and did not think she could accomplish what she wanted. Ty was stubborn, a leader, and I liked him. He was also afraid. He had been burned, and felt that women stole the determination he needed to win. But there was passion between these two, even if one person...more

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Sep 15, 2011 Nikki rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Ice hockey fans; sporty contemporary romance lovers.

Shelves: own-ebook, sports-romance, sports-romance-series, perfect-heroine, delicious-hero, best-h-h-ever, favourites, 5-stars

5 stars.

God this was so much fun! Witty, well-written, perfect H/h. It was so much better than what I thought it would be and I consumed it all in one sitting.

Even though I'm Australian and ice hockey isn't a huge sport here, I've always fancied myself a bit of a fan. I'd love to one day go to the US or Canada and see a game in real life. So I was pretty excited to start this series in my new (and random) sports romance glom.

Body Check brings together the new publicist for New York's hockey tea...more 5 stars.

God this was so much fun! Witty, well-written, perfect H/h. It was so much better than what I thought it would be and I consumed it all in one sitting.

Even though I'm Australian and ice hockey isn't a huge sport here, I've always fancied myself a bit of a fan. I'd love to one day go to the US or Canada and see a game in real life. So I was pretty excited to start this series in my new (and random) sports romance glom.

Body Check brings together the new publicist for New York's hockey team - the Blades - and the captain of the team as h/H respectively. Janna MacNeil is simply trying to do her job but finds herself constantly up against the icy (ooh, a pun!) wall that is Ty Gallagher, who wants nothing to do with the PR side of hockey. They're both passionate and stubborn and it's only a matter of time before they get it on - sooner rather than later which was pretty awesome!!

Of course it's not all smooth sailing and I found their journey to be pretty enthralling what with the hockey action and the sparring and making up. I also really loved them both as characters.

Janna is someone who is brilliant at her job and will do whatever she has to do to get shit done. Her internal monologue shows the reader that a lot of the time she has to swallow down her fear of failure and literally "fake it till she makes it". I really identified with that. She soon starts winning the team over with her sass and humour and ever-growing love of the game (which I also really liked).

Ty doesn't take crap from anyone and certainly not from the new girl on the block. I loved how he just didn't care what anyone thought of him and that he led by example, always. I really liked his scenes in the book even when he was being a tosser at times.

(view spoiler)

I loved this book; the hockey didn't overshadow the romance in any way so you don't necessarily have to be a sports nut to enjoy this.(less)

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Jan 15, 2008 Anna rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: hopeless romantics

Shelves: chick-lit, fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 15, 2013 Victoria Mellor rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have just re-read this book, waiting for pay day to come around so I can download more on my kindle!

I forgot just how good this book actually is, and the humour that Ms Martin injects into her stories.

Storyline
Janna MacNeil has been hired by the Corporate Company that owns the Blades, New Yorks Hockey Team, to clean up their image; After winning the Stanley Cup last season, the 'Guys' took it for a tour of New York, including bars, strip clubs etc. Her main snag is Ty Gallagher, the teams capt...more

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Nov 09, 2012 Jillian rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: romance

Janna is a publicist who has been hired to change the image of the New York Blades. These men are players in every sense of the word and they need to start projecting the family image or the owners may start firing people. Ty is team captain and all he cares about is winning, he doesn’t let anything get in the way. He doesn’t do romance and he doesn’t have time for the Janna. They are attracted to each other and they begin a relationship, but Ty still won’t let anything interfere with his career...more

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Jul 02, 2012 Maryori rated it 4 of 5 stars

Muy interesante, me ha parecido muy entretenido, y me ha bajado de manera considerable el estrés por los finales, un protagonista bastante pesado a la hora de seguir a su corazón y una chica tonta que supone que ser rubia y de ojos azules es ser súper simple (lo cual me deprime, ¿qué seré yo si ella es simple?) Inseguridad Everywhere pero el final estuvo lindo, muy bueno.

Si me preguntarán ¿el libro es bueno? ¿me lo recomiendas? les diría ciegamente: ¡HÁGANLO! que está muuuy bueno, es un libro qu...more

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Mar 28, 2012 Holly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Publicist Janna lands an awesome job with the hockey team the NY Blades. She is expected to polish up their image after their rambonxious behavior when winning the Stanley Cup, attempting to make them more 'family friendly'. But her main obstacle is team Captain Ty Gallagher. He is a jerk who somehow doesnt seem to understand the necessary evil of publicity in order to get money for the team and fans in the seats. Of course Janna nags him incessantly and has to rely on him to get the other playe...more

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Mar 09, 2012 Alyssa rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: famous, sports

I went into reading this book because I had just finished The Chinooks hockey series and was craving for more. However I must say I'm pretty disappointed.

The plot is pretty much as simple as the summary says: Janna is hired as a PR Assistant for the New York Blades Hockey team to revamp their team's image after a series of bad PR after winning the Stanley Cup. However, she constantly finds herself butting heads with team captain, Ty Gallagher, who refuses to play the corporate game of PR and liv...more I went into reading this book because I had just finished The Chinooks hockey series and was craving for more. However I must say I'm pretty disappointed.

The plot is pretty much as simple as the summary says: Janna is hired as a PR Assistant for the New York Blades Hockey team to revamp their team's image after a series of bad PR after winning the Stanley Cup. However, she constantly finds herself butting heads with team captain, Ty Gallagher, who refuses to play the corporate game of PR and living for the press.

Usually I get pretty into stories but I must say I couldn't really for this one. The characters were beyond underdeveloped, to the point where I didn't even think they should end up together because they felt so wrong for one another. Maybe it's because Deirdre's book spanned the entire hockey season, but a ton of parts felt skipped over and the only parts that were emphasized only seemed to emphasize how not into one another Janna and Ty were, how much they didn't care about one another, and thus how they should not end up together.

Ty was a complete jerk, both in and out of the relationship, both before, during, and after. Actually he was okay before it, but during and afterwards... Janna would come to him to vent and have a real relationship and he just wouldn't really care and would think of ways to get rid of her. In describing this later on, Janna says "Ty really listened to her," which seems to me at leas the complete opposite of what happened. In the end, Ty comes back and gets everything handed to him so easily, just the way he wanted it. It all just rubbed me the wrong way, and the way he treated her feels like the way he would have treated any other girl he didn't really care about and didn't love or want anything from beyond a physical, casual, fun relationship.

Janna, on the other hand... I am all for insecurities. I like emo things that clench my insides because I understand how they're feeling. So that part didn't bother me. What did bother me was her unrealistic expectations of Ty. She enters into a casual relationship saying that's all she wants, and then she runs to Ty with her life problems, vents them all out, and expects him to help her deal with them. And then she tells him she loves him and expects him to respond. Really? There needs to be at least some kind of buildup other than just that. It doesn't make sense and it is not reasonable for her to expect more than just a casual relationship from Ty when that is what she JUST agreed to.

All in all, this was a pretty bad story. I would not recommend buying this, especially for $8. And I'm undecided whether I even want to continue with this series, despite how much I love reading the hockey series type stories.(less)

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Mar 08, 2012 Ellada rated it 3 of 5 stars

OK this book was really strange. It was like two different people had written this book - one who is more reasonable and realistic, and the second one who is all romantic and fairy tale. And that's how the book looked liked and so the hero and the heroine. I can't say I liked that very much because it wasn't making any sens, for example how a person in one moment can be so sure of her-self and in her work and in the next moment freak out because some pretty boy is flirting with her, also that sa...more

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Mar 15, 2011 Brianne rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was my read for the March TBR challenge hosted by Wendy the Super Librarian. The category was New to you author.

I read an excerpt from Icebreaker along with a review of it and it interested me. But I have a thing about reading series from the beginning when I can. I dont like spoliers in general, and reading out of order sometimes lead to some doosies. So anyway, that is how I came to have Body Check on my TBR.

I really liked the book. Confesiion: I am a sports nut (as you might remember, la...more

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Feb 12, 2011 Katy Rustemeyer rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: No idea I never read books like this...

Shelves: i-adore-you, 2011

Rare, I'm reviewing a book and not a magical thing happens, well if you think love is magical, then ok fine magic does happen. Janna Macneil is a tiny, yet feisty publicist. She is a take charge no nonsense type of girl. Sort of pretty, but her sister is a model, so she's got some self esteem woes. She takes a new job with the New York Blades, I'm assuming there the books version of the Rangers. She likes hockey well enough her little brother Wills is a big fan, but she's just luke warm about it...more Rare, I'm reviewing a book and not a magical thing happens, well if you think love is magical, then ok fine magic does happen. Janna Macneil is a tiny, yet feisty publicist. She is a take charge no nonsense type of girl. Sort of pretty, but her sister is a model, so she's got some self esteem woes. She takes a new job with the New York Blades, I'm assuming there the books version of the Rangers. She likes hockey well enough her little brother Wills is a big fan, but she's just luke warm about it, but the pay raise is mucho, so she deals with it. Most of them team is welcoming, Lou her boss is great, she really likes him, sort of like a father figure. I can deal with that, I grew fond of Lou as the book went on too. Janna's main goal is to revamp the image of the Blades, they are the current holders of the Stanley Cup, and are making a run for it again this year, so she's got to make them choir boys basically. She hits a few snags when it comes to getting the guys to do charity work, and good PR. That main snag would be Tye Gallagher, the team Captain. He eats sleeps and yah know hockey, its his main focus, his drive, I seriously am not kidding his will to live. He refuses to cower to the suits, and does not wish to do any sort of PR unless it strikes his fancy. He and Janna lock horns, she nags, she pleads, he will not budge. She thinks he's evil, cold hearted, a stupid dumb brute, she might be right, or not. Wills is Janna's little brother, and he idolizes Tye Gallagher swoon, so when he asks Janna to introduce them, she is scared to death, Tye is a jerk, he'll embarrass me, she thinks. It turns out Tye has a soft spot for the little kid, why he has no idea, but he gets a funny feeling in his stomach when he's see the approval on Janna's face, what's this? This book had a slew of interesting characters, you grow attached to them all. Also plus, for some, I love hockey, but in case you don't, this book does not bore you with hockey jargon, and sports banter, its a love story through and through. I at times grew frustrated with Tye's insane drive to win, and disregard of mostly all other living things, but trust me its worth it. I know this sounds funny, but Tye and Janna didn't really have that sizzle, the chemistry that makes you feel awkward at times, that maybe you should put the book down,and just give them their privacy...they don't have this. However, they do have a closeness thats much deeper, and transcends lusty fiery gazes, and its instead replaced with them sharing a plastic cup of Coke, just an ease they share and a comfort, much better in my eyes. I really had a problem with this, but that might just me, they made the sleaze Russian, I hated that, I love Russian hockey players Evengi Malkin, Ovechkin, I just really hope they aren't evil like in this book. I can seriously understand the author's reasoning though, its not anything to get too worked up over, honestly. I totally loved this book, I thought I'd hate it, that its hockey theme would of course not be enough to hold my attention, because its not supernatural or a YA, but a book for grown ups, but I was wrong happily. I was also amazed at the authors ability to keep me fully interested with a couple different plots. I sometimes find myself bored to tears unless something is occuring between the two main characters, but not with Body Check, I was enthralled with it all. This has been a really long review for me, thats just how much I liked this book. Also just because this almost happened to me do not confuse this book with the Elle Kennedy Harlquein Blaze book, TOTALLY different story, Body Check is the title, but not at all the same...trust me(less)

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Dec 29, 2010 Sarah Eiseman rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the first book in her NY Blades series–a series that I’ve enjoyed, but have read completely out of order. I think if I had read this book before Fair Play it may have become my favorite, but Fair Play was just too good.

Janna MacNeil is a young professional working for the NY Blades organization as a publicist. Her goal: to get the grouchy players to improve their bad-boy image. Her nemesis: Ty Gallagher, NY Blades team captain. Ty isn’t exactly as bad as the other players on the team, bu...more

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Sep 28, 2010 Jane Stewart rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-sports-romance

Good and interesting. More toward the realistic rather than entertaining escapism. Too much telling not enough showing.

STORY BRIEF:
The new owners of the New York Blades hockey team hire Janna to change the image of the players – the bad boys of hockey. Her first challenge is to get each player to sign up for three charity events during the coming year. When she addresses the group asking for volunteers, no one comes forward. Then she asks Ty (team captain) hoping he will be first; he defiantly s...more Good and interesting. More toward the realistic rather than entertaining escapism. Too much telling not enough showing.

STORY BRIEF:
The new owners of the New York Blades hockey team hire Janna to change the image of the players – the bad boys of hockey. Her first challenge is to get each player to sign up for three charity events during the coming year. When she addresses the group asking for volunteers, no one comes forward. Then she asks Ty (team captain) hoping he will be first; he defiantly says no in front of the rest of the team. The story continues with other aspects of Janna’s PR job as well as getting the players to do charitable work. A coworker is jealous of Janna, making things difficult. A couple of the players continue to misbehave causing more work for Janna. Although Janna and Ty are attracted to each other Ty doesn’t want a relationship. Past experience has shown that he doesn’t play as well when there is a woman in his life. Hockey comes first. The most he wants is a short-term casual affair.

REVIEWER’S OPINION (WITH MILD SPOILERS):
There were a few scenes where the author told rather than showed, which bothered me. Examples follow.

1. Page 52: For a month “Janna the Human Terrier had been on him (Ty), relentlessly cajoling and wheedling and pleading and begging and bargaining, trying to get him to show his face at an event, any event. Which, of course, he wouldn’t.”

2. Page 67: Ty speaking to Janna: “You march into the locker room day after day and tell the team what’s what.” “You should feel proud about how many of the guys have been willing to see things your way and cooperate on the PR stuff. It’s a testament to your feistiness and powers of persuasion.”

Regarding both of the above, I wanted to see some actual conversations. I wanted to see examples of her saying and doing different things to Ty. I wanted to see examples of what she said to individual players that persuaded them to do charitable events. I wanted to see examples that would cause me to say “Wow. She is good.” Instead the author merely tells me that she was feisty with powers of persuasion.

3. There was a sex scene on page 125 and an attempted rape scene on page 130, both of which were told about after the fact rather than shown. Again, I was disappointed. The reader was deprived of experiencing the story. Sometimes telling can be good, but in these cases showing would have been better.

The story was not as lighthearted as I expected, being a sports romance. For example it touches on some of life’s frustrations and unfortunate events: the fighting of parents which indirectly hurts their children, a jealous and conniving coworker sabotaging another, a wealthy man abusing a woman who will lose because she doesn’t have enough finances to fight him fairly, a good man who nearly dies because he overeats and doesn’t take care of his health. These elements take the reader more toward the thought provoking as opposed to entertaining escape. This is worthwhile. It’s just different than I expected.

The ending with Ty and Janna was too sudden – his actions and her “too easily accepting” needed more development.

DATA:
Story length: 323 pages. Swearing language: strong. Sexual language: strong. Number of sex scenes: 3. Total number of sex scene pages: 8. Setting: current day New York and Connecticut. Copyright: 2003. Genre: contemporary sports romance.(less)

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Mar 01, 2012 Smut Junkie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-romance, library, read-in-2012, series, sweet-vanilla

Gosh! What a fun read! There were times when I was literally laughing out loud while reading this gem! The characters were SO likeable - even Ty, who acted like an ass. You KNEW deep down he was just hiding his good guy side and I'm so glad that side came out! I loved watching her relationship with the whole team grow and hope that the rest of the books in the series touch on some of the other guys. Lou - what a gem of a boss! And Kevin - Ty couldn't ask for a better friend. The storyline was fa...more

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Nov 30, 2011 Jamie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction

This book is like a five cheese lasagna. Cha-eesy! :)

I found it along with two others in the same series at a book sale and I just couldn't pass up a romance centered around a professional hockey team. The Canadian girl in me wouldn't allow it. (I must confess that I am a sucker for guys who play hockey. I don't know what it is but there we have it.)

I am not, however, one for steamy romance novels. And to its credit this wasn't too steamy (minus one or two intimate encounters) all things consid...more

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Feb 26, 2010 Patti Loves FAB Romance rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary

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...more

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Feb 03, 2012 Tracy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-romance, sports-romance

Warning: The following review contains spoilers, language that may not be suitable for all audiences, and several laborious climbs onto a fairly large soapbox. I try to keep the thing locked in my storage shed, but it marched itself out and plopped down right in front of me, refusing to budge until I purged my spleen. Quite a persistent bugger, that soapbox.

Needed a Bit More Spin Doctoring

The New York Blades have been very, very bad boys.

Turns out that's good news for publicist Janna MacNeil, at...more

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Feb 18, 2011 Vicki rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Vicki by: Renee

Heavy on the deja vu. Maybe I've read one too many hockey romance novels lately, but this was strikingly similar to the Rachel Gibson 'Chinooks' series - playing for the same championship cup (I assume it is the name of a real life hockey cup) - even the lead guys' names are the same.

That said, this book was enjoyable enough although I thought the rift between the two lead characters was too expansive to make the speedy happy ending believable. But hey, we're talking romance novels so believabil...more

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Jun 22, 2008 Maria rated it 4 of 5 stars

Tough, aggressive Ty Gallagher finds a girl who makes him love something other than hockey. I am ecstatic I found the NY Blades series. It not only subdues my trashy romance desire, it throws in hockey. Mmmm

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Mar 01, 2012 Jen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: library, adult-romance, adult-fiction, library-read-it, read-in-2012, series, sweet-vanilla-romance

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Oct 22, 2012 Leanne rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was my first Deirdre Martin book and very likely my last. There was absolutely no chemistry between Janna and Ty and minimal character development for the rest of the cast. I found it quite boring and mostly flipped through the pages to get through to the end of this one.
I'm so glad I only bought the one book by DM. I should have downloaded the preview first.

My favourite sports/romance books are Rachel Gibson's Seattle Chinooks hockey series and Susan Elizabeth Philiips, Chicago Stars footb...more

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Apr 16, 2011 Photojim rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-reads, contemporary-romance, jim-swap-shelf, romance

Since we are in the middle of the hockey playoff season, I had to read a book dealing with that hockey excitement. This actually does a decent job of that.

Janna MacNeil is the newest PR rep for the NY Blades. She will be responsible for polishing the image of the rough and tumble players and their captain Ty Gallagher in particular. I liked the hockey. I liked the writing. I liked the heroine. So why only three stars and not four? Because Ty Gallagher (our hero) is an ass. I just thought that he...more

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Jan 18, 2012 Victoria rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, contemporary-romance, hockey, nook-color-books, sports, romance

I found this book to be a nice break from the supernatural I had been reading over the past several weeks.

I liked the build up of Janna and Ty's relationship. Once they did get together for 'casual sex' I knew their feelings would grow to more and was waiting for the ball to drop. I did enjoy reading about their time together. I thought it was good that they were able to keep their relationship professional when they were at work.

I loved Ty. He was such a hot, hard ass who knew what he wanted...more

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Nov 02, 2012 Shari rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-book-challenge

Over the summer I had a giveaway of sports related romance books. I asked the question, what are your favorite sports romance books? Body Check and the New York Blades series was suggested several times. Right away I put a ton of books on my wishlist. So when I was looking for a good alpha athlete and his spunky heroine, I picked this one up as my first try.

Janna MacNeil is a successful publicist, working to turn around even the worst images. When a winning hockey team needs a new image, she jum...more Over the summer I had a giveaway of sports related romance books. I asked the question, what are your favorite sports romance books? Body Check and the New York Blades series was suggested several times. Right away I put a ton of books on my wishlist. So when I was looking for a good alpha athlete and his spunky heroine, I picked this one up as my first try.

Janna MacNeil is a successful publicist, working to turn around even the worst images. When a winning hockey team needs a new image, she jumps at the job only to be stone walled by one player in particular, Ty Gallagher the captain of the New York Blades. Ty’s only goal is to win the Stanley Cup again and doesn’t give a fig about what the owners want.

The two clash over everything and it gets old fast. I don’t think Janna asks to much for the players to volunteer for good causes, but Ty stands firm on not doing anything that the owners want. He’s not really a bad guy, just jaded. He feels he got the owners the Stanely Cup and plans to get it again. What more do they want from him.

Then there is Janna who puts on a good tough front, but inside she doubts herself over and over. Coming from a family with really no love. Her parents don’t get along, her sisters are beautiful bitches and a younger brother she adores, but is so messed up by his parents arguing. Secretly she wants to own her own publicist company, but to scare to go out on her own.

Then there is an incident that didn’t sit well with me over all. One of the other players abuses Janna’s best friend on a date. She escapes, but when she presses charges, it is Janna’s department looking for dirt on the friend and trying to discredit her. While Janna wasn’t involved with the dirt finding, she was pressured to work on the friend to get her to drop the charges. Ty didn’t totally believe everything at first, but then he steps in with a solution that I thought was a piece of crap. In the end, the friend probably would never have won, but this just didn’t seem to give the other player much of a punishment for his actions.

So the story was just ok. I didn’t grow to love either character nor any of the side characters. They all just left me feeling the world is filled with useless people who don’t give a crap about anyone but themselves. Oh, wait I did like two characters. I liked Kevin and his wife. Kevin was an assistant captain and Ty’s only friend. Unfortunately, the book wasn’t about Kevin.

In the end, there is a twist that made me really want to throw Ty into outer space and leave him there. He just wasn’t a stand up guy and no way would I ever trust him with my heart. Janna just wasn’t the confident female she needed to be to put Ty in his place. She was his doormat I felt and bent to what he wanted. While there was the element of sports, I think I am done with this series unfortunately.(less)

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Jan 13, 2011 Jan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Jan by: Dear Author

Shelves: romance, z-2011, contemporary-romance

I was in the mood for some instant gratification reading yesterday (I've been on a Robin Hobb readathon lately, so I'm in dire need of something cosy and shortish), and decided to pick something out of my ever growing Romance TBR list (currently at about 150 books).

Body Check came highly recommended by the nice people at Dear Author and Smart Bitches, and though I don't know anything about hockey, sports romances in general are quite my thing.

Over all I really enjoyed Body Check, and I see why i...more I was in the mood for some instant gratification reading yesterday (I've been on a Robin Hobb readathon lately, so I'm in dire need of something cosy and shortish), and decided to pick something out of my ever growing Romance TBR list (currently at about 150 books).

Body Check came highly recommended by the nice people at Dear Author and Smart Bitches, and though I don't know anything about hockey, sports romances in general are quite my thing.

Over all I really enjoyed Body Check, and I see why it is such a popular novel. Janna and Ty are both real people, with convincing flaws and character traits, and it's easy to see why they end up in each others arms. The relationship develops naturally, with some minor and major hiccups on the way. The conflicts they have to overcome are quite varied, and I liked how they were both caused by external and internal factors.

Janna and Ty share a work floor, and mostly when we see them interact with each other it's work related. This is fine, it's a hockey romance after all, but when they actually get together, I would have liked to see the actual relationship. Now we went from 2 clashing people who have to work together, to attraction, to slow appreciation, to hook-up and then we spent the rest of the book (+/- 50%) with Janna and Ty dealing (and not dealing) with the bumps in their relationship and their life seperately.

I also thought Ty could have been slightly more developed, because now his entire devotion to hockey sometimes seemed more due to lack of character developement. The small things we learn about Ty's background Janna never learns about herself, or so it seems, but that ties in with my previous remark.

The actual ending seemed slightly rushed, or rather it ended quite abrubtly, and while I have faith that they'll stay Happy Ever After, I wouldn't have minded an epilogue. But since there's several more books in this series, I suspect we might catch a glimpse of them later on.

All in all, a charming contemporary romance with lovely and endearing characters, and I'm definitely going to read more hockey romance.

3.5 stars, but the toss went for rounding down.

***

I'd like to add a pet peeve to this review that really bugs me, but that has nothing to do with plot or character or writing style and thus probably doesn't matter to anyone else.

Ty is an athlete, who I suspect would be careful with his health, yet there is no condom in sight in this entire book. Last time I checked there were still STD's in 2003. Even romance hero's (and heroines!) need to be responsable imho!!! Behaviour like this always irks me. *Grumbles*(less)

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Aug 03, 2010 Trang Nguyen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-romance-sport, read-in-2010

I really enjoyed my first read by Deirdre Martin. I really wish I would have been able to give this book a 5 star rating because at times I cried, my stomach fluttered when the H/H finally had their time together and I laughed with the dialogue. However, there was that "something" lacking in the book that just didn't do a 5 star for me.

Ty Gallagher is the captain of the Blades Hockey team, one of the oldest memebers of the team he is a no-non-sense guy who is stubborn and set in his ways. Howeve...more

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Sep 12, 2012 Rach rated it 5 of 5 stars

I picked this book up and after reading a few other sport romances but different authors I was excited to start it.

I started to read this book at 3am thinking I would only reads a few chapters but could not put it down, ending up going to bet at 7am very satisfied!
The chemistry between Janna and Ty was hot, I loved the bickering and and the fact that none of them backed down.

I cannot wait to read the rest of the series I am convinced it will be a thrilling read.

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Dec 23, 2012 Denise rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: chic-lit, rom-stars-fame

So, I'm going to go ahead and read book 2 of the series because to be quite frank, the women leads in the other books can not be as bad as this dumb chic. I really liked Ty, but I always wonder why in the h, e, double hockey sticks, would a dude that cool want to be with a woman that incredibly stupid? And how did her BFF even look at her again? Ugh. I don't know... I just can't find any excuse to redeem Janna in any way shape or form.

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Apr 19, 2013 Maxine rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 50-book-pledge-2013, americana, contemporary, did-not-finish, ebook, romance, sports, sports-romance, terrible

DNF.

This is terrible. The characters are shallow and obnoxious, their actions are reprehensible and I cannot stand Ty. He is the epitome of an absolute jerk.

(view spoiler)...more

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About Deirdre Martin

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

New York Times Bestselling Author Deirdre Martin was six when she wrote her first "book,”a Peanuts parody. In addition to penning bad, maudlin poetry in junior high school and serving as the Arts Editor on her high school newspaper, she was also the Arts Editor at her colleg...more Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

New York Times Bestselling Author Deirdre Martin was six when she wrote her first "book,”a Peanuts parody. In addition to penning bad, maudlin poetry in junior high school and serving as the Arts Editor on her high school newspaper, she was also the Arts Editor at her college newspaper at the University of New York at Buffalo, where she earned her BA in English in 1985. While writing for the student newspaper there, she sold her first freelance magazine article and won a city wide play writing contest. Her play, Spin Cycle, about two lonely people at a laundromat, was subsequently performed in a theater space in downtown Buffalo.

Ater graduating college, Deirdre worked at a series of trade magazines before landing a job at Soap Opera Digest. While she says it was fun working in a place where she got to watch TV all afternoon, she longed to branch out, and after two years, left to begin freelancing full time. Over the course of her twelve year freelance career, her work appeared in a wide variety of publications, including Seventeen, YM, McCall's, Fitness, New Woman, Bride's, Bridal Guide, Inside Sports, Woman's World, Modern Maturity, Islands, Newsday, and the New York Times. In 1998, her first non fiction book was published: Investing for Retirement (Avon). She also contributed to Lifescripts for Managers, Lifescripts for Employees, and Lifescripts for the Self Employed. (MacMillan, 1999).

A fan of the romance genre and of soap opera ("If Dickens were alive today, he'd be writing for a soap," Deirdre maintains), she decided to try her own hand at writing a romance novel. The result, BODY CHECK, was published in March, 2003, followed by USA Today Bestseller FAIR PLAY in 2004, TOTAL RUSH in 2005, THE PENALTY BOX in 2006, and USA Today Bestseller CHASING STANLEY in 2008.

2008 also saw the publication of JUST A TASTE, which made The New York Times Bestseller List. Deirdre returned to the world of the Blades in 2009 with POWERPLAY. 2009 was also when she launched a new series, The Wild Hart Saga, centering around a large Irish American family who own a pub in Manhattan. The first book in the series, WITH A TWIST, was quickly followed by STRAIGHT UP in 2010, and there are plans for at least two more. But the New York Blades keep calling her back: her next book, ICEBREAKER, will be published in 2011.

A resident of Ithaca, NY, Deirdre enjoys hiking and biking with her husband, Mark Levine, co author of the financial bestsellers, Die Broke and Live Rich. When not busy lavishing affection on her beloved Newfie, Rocky, she also enjoys reading, baking, listening to music, yoga, photography, and hanging out with her friends from acting class. She's had the same best friend since she was ten and adores the color purple.(less)

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/427078.Body_Check?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1329571806l/427078.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/427078.Body_Check?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Body Check by Deirdre Martin[/url]

Body Check (New York Blades #1)

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