The Trouble With Valentine’s Day By Rachel Gibson Release Date: April 1, 2005 Publisher: Avon Book #3 in the Chinooks Hockey Team series Number of pages: 368 Kindle Edition Source: MCL Contemporary Romance M/F Rating: XXX Read 2/27/18 – 2/28/18
What a relief that this book did not delve into the hero’s hockey playing too much. Less room for the author to make an error. I’ve made it no secret that, while I enjoy the stories and the characters in this series, the mistakes and inaccuracies when it comes to the actual hockey have driven me nuts. Since I enjoy the chemistry of the characters I had expressed hope, in my review of See Jane Score, that this story wouldn’t delve too deeply into hockey. Yay! Wish granted.
Rob was a hockey player in the NHL (one of the few issues I had in the story was a sentence that stated he was in the NFL…such lazy editing on that one!) but those days are far behind him. I think the reason he no longer plays is a bit of a spoiler so I won’t give that away. He has his reasons. They are the same reasons he no longer cats around and picks women up in bars. All of them are very good and very legitimate reasons, too. Rob is not a jerk, and for most of the story the reader knows that even if the heroine does not. I’m glad of that because I needed to like Rob in order for this story to work for me.
As shocking as the things Rob has been through are, Kate’s reason for leaving her own life behind are just as terrible. She had trust issues, with good reason. The way Kate and Rob initially meet does not help matters for this tough woman with a fragile heart. Her insecurities are touching and help to show the reader her vulnerabilities.
The addition of setting this story in a small town was wonderful. All the gossips in the fussbudgets in town help to keep things interesting.
Although Kate and Rob had great chemistry, I didn’t feel their story as much as I did the couple in the previous book. So although the mistakes in the book are much fewer, it’s still getting a tad bit lower rating. It was still excellent and, quite honestly, saved this series for me since I now feel the writing is moving in a positive direction.
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