Book 22, 2015
Mar. 15th, 2016 07:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chez_jaeYesterday, I brought my work book home, and I finished it last night. It was The Penalty Box by Deirdre Martin.
Katie Fisher used to be bullied in school, because she was overweight and brainy. Paul van Dorn was the high school hockey star who went on to play in the NHL. Now, Katie is back in town to work on her book and to help her mother take care of her nephew, while Paul has returned after injury cut his playing career short. He now owns and operates the local bar, The Penalty Box. The two of them meet up again at their high school reunion, and neither can forget the other.
They begin dating, but Katie wants to keep things on the down low, for fear people will believe Paul is favoring her nephew, whose hockey team he coaches. Katie is afraid of falling for Paul, because she can't wait to leave her small hometown behind once more and return to her career in academia. Paul is reliving his glory days at the bar and dodging the unwelcome advances of the town barracuda, Liz Flaherty. Liz was Katie's biggest tormentor in school, and she continues in that vein as she tries to win Paul over.
The story was interesting and had a lot going on, what with Katie's sister Mina being in rehab, Liz and her evil machinations, Katie making friends with former classmates, and the inevitable clashes between Katie's desire to keep their affair a secret, and Paul's rather public persona. I liked the hockey back drop, although I wanted to body check the author for misspelling Conn Smythe. Gah!
While the book was enjoyable for the most part, the ending fell flat on its face. It was far too rushed, and too much was left unresolved. I rolled my eyes when I finished, and that's not a good way to end a book.
Favorite lines:
♣ So here she was, dressed to the teeth and wearing more makeup than a drag queen at Mardi Gras.
♣ "At least I wasn't naked. If this were a sitcom, I would have been naked."
Average book, average rating:
♣♣♣
Katie Fisher used to be bullied in school, because she was overweight and brainy. Paul van Dorn was the high school hockey star who went on to play in the NHL. Now, Katie is back in town to work on her book and to help her mother take care of her nephew, while Paul has returned after injury cut his playing career short. He now owns and operates the local bar, The Penalty Box. The two of them meet up again at their high school reunion, and neither can forget the other.
They begin dating, but Katie wants to keep things on the down low, for fear people will believe Paul is favoring her nephew, whose hockey team he coaches. Katie is afraid of falling for Paul, because she can't wait to leave her small hometown behind once more and return to her career in academia. Paul is reliving his glory days at the bar and dodging the unwelcome advances of the town barracuda, Liz Flaherty. Liz was Katie's biggest tormentor in school, and she continues in that vein as she tries to win Paul over.
The story was interesting and had a lot going on, what with Katie's sister Mina being in rehab, Liz and her evil machinations, Katie making friends with former classmates, and the inevitable clashes between Katie's desire to keep their affair a secret, and Paul's rather public persona. I liked the hockey back drop, although I wanted to body check the author for misspelling Conn Smythe. Gah!
While the book was enjoyable for the most part, the ending fell flat on its face. It was far too rushed, and too much was left unresolved. I rolled my eyes when I finished, and that's not a good way to end a book.
Favorite lines:
♣ So here she was, dressed to the teeth and wearing more makeup than a drag queen at Mardi Gras.
♣ "At least I wasn't naked. If this were a sitcom, I would have been naked."
Average book, average rating:
♣♣♣
