icebreaker.

Attorney Sinead O'Brien's new client is Adam Perry, the star of the New York Blades. It's a good thing she doesn't date clients, especially jocks. Charged with assault on another player, the private, no-nonsense Adam knows this is his last shot at Stanley Cup glory. Sinead quickly discovers that there's a wounded man under that helmet, and she's falling for him-hard. Can they play on their feelings without penalties?

I knew going into this one that I wouldn't like it. But I wanted to be surprised. I really wanted Martin to give me something worth reading.

She didn't.

Icebreaker played out the way the last few NY Blades books have - poorly. I didn't care about the characters and didn't especially like them, either. The last Blades story I liked was Chasing Stanley. That added to the first two makes a total of 3/9 that I've enjoyed in this series. Those are terrible odds. She doesn't use the sport to really enhance the story at all. It's just... there. Susan Elizabeth Philips (Chicago Stars, football) and Lori Foster (SBC, MMA) have done well with sports series. Head there if you're interested.

Martin doesn't do anything different or fantastic here. There's no great sex, no great emotions, no jokes. The friendship between Anthony Dante and the hero Adam Perry is odd and comes out of nowhere. I felt like the author just wanted a reason to have Anthony in the story. Or needed a friend for Adam to talk to and plugged him in. I don't know why I continue to read her books after being burned so many times. This will be the last though. I refuse to be bamboozled again!

Seriously... recommendations, anyone?