See Jane Score

At long last, Seattle Times columnist Jane Alcott has a shot at a full-time assignment. She badly needs the income, but unfortunately, the opening is for a sports reporter traveling with the Seattle Chinooks hockey team and she knows nothing about the game. To add to her difficulty, the team doesn't want her, especially Luc "Lucky" Martineau, the Chinooks $33 million goalie. The team stonewalls when she tries to interview them and they haze her mercilessly; it isn't until the superstitious Luc decides that she brings good luck that Jane gets a shot at being a real journalist. But when her acceptance by the team leads to spending more time with Luc, Jane finds, to her dismay, that he s more than a handsome, empty-headed sports jock and her heart is in danger.

For his part, Luc learns that behind "plain Jane's" boring dark clothing and black-rimmed glasses lies a quick wit, nerves of steel, and a personality that charms him. And when Jane appears at a team banquet with a new haircut, makeup, and a killer red dress with matching sexy stilettos, Luc's affection fast-forwards into a major case of serious lust. But if Jane lets herself fall in love, she'll have to find a way to explain the secret she's hiding before it becomes public knowledge and Luc's passion turns to hate. Can she bring herself to tell him the truth? And if she does, will he forgive her?

Set in the rough and tumble world of professional hockey, See Jane Score features an intelligent, likable heroine and a hero with depth beneath his sports jock fa ade. The layered characters, intriguing setting, and the novel's compelling emotional plot all add up to an excellent contemporary romance. Don t miss this one. --Lois Faye Dyer