This was just okay. I liked the kids Allie and Tim. Allie was more well developed than Tim. He could have used more time on screen. I liked the hero, Bryan more than the heroine, Clare. Clare didn't open up at all until the last 2 or 3 pages. She was very closed in and stand offish. Her sudden turn around was a little unbelievable.

There was so much time spent with the kids and their problems that the romance was given very little page time. They were basically never together alone. I didn't see them fall in love at all. I kept expecting Clare to tell Bryan about her sister earlier and them to work together to see her overcome her fears. Instead there are scenes like the one where Allie gets her period and Bryan needs help in the grocery store picking the right feminine products. He asks Clare to come talk to Allie but she refuses in order to keep her emotional distance. So no payoff from that scene and there were plenty of other scenes like it. Scene after scene showing Clare protecting her emotions but none showing her really reaching out and taking a chance and growing. I don't really know what Bryan saw in her. There were 2 scenes which included kissing. There was no sex at all with the hero. In fact she was the one to come on to him the first time. I kind of got the feeling she was seducing him and he wasn't really interested mentally just physically. The second time very late in the book didn't seem to have any real reason behind it. Clare had just told him about her sister who had died of a disease years earlier. That was the reason she's so scared of letting anyone close. So he necks with her in the back of a car to make her feel 'cherished and safe and whole.' That didn't really make much sense and they didn't become any closer because of it.

Also, I didn't like quite how promiscuous Clare seemed to be. She had a new boyfriend just for sex in everytown. I'm open to my modern heroines having love lives before they meet the hero but hers seemed excessive especially with her having a son born out of wedlock.

Bryan was well written as a man who traveled alot and didn't know his daughter or how to be a single parent but who was trying hard and muddling through.

Lack of real romance however pulls the entire volume down. This is a Harlequin Romance after all. The romance should be central. ( )

Eh. There are two major themes here, and one is something I know little about (hockey) and the other is something I know zilch about (single parent of a teenager). There's a lot of angst and "tragic pasts", a bit of girl talk about how hot the hero is, and three kisses with some heavy petting. There's nothing wrong with the story - the writing's fine, the characterization is fine, etc - but the story just doesn't catch me. It's almost a mainstream novel (though it does have a happy ending) - too much angst for my taste, and not enough romance _or_ sex. Someone might like it, not me. I think I'll pass it to my sister, who plays hockey (that's how I know anything about the sport). ( )