Review: See Jane Score

Title: See Jane Score
Author: Rachel Gibson
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: January 2003

Contemporary Romance Challenge

From the back cover ~

THIS IS JANE

A little subdued. A little stubborn. A little tired of going out on blind dates with men who drive vans with sofas in the back, Jane Alcott is living the Single Girl existence in the big city. She is also leading a double life. By day, she's a reporter covering the raucous Seattle Chinooks hockey team—especially their notorious goalie Luc Martineau. By night, she's a writer, secretly creating the scandalous adventures of "Honey Pie"...the magazine series that has all the men talking.

SEE JANE SPAR

Luc has made his feelings about parasite reporters—and Jane—perfectly clear. But if he thinks he’s going to make her life a misery, he’d better think again.

SEE JANE ATTRACT

For as long as he can remember, Luc has been single minded about his career. The last thing he needs is a smart mouthed, pain in the backside, reporter digging into his past and getting in his way. But once the little reporter shed her black and gray clothes in favor of a sexy red dress, Luc sees that there is more to Jane than originally meets the eye.

Maybe it’s time to take a risk. Maybe it’s time to live out fantasies. Maybe it’s time to....

SEE JANE SCORE!

I've never read a book by Rachel Gibson. Don't really know why not but I would guess because I don't read that much contemporary romances. Thanks to Brie's challenge I have been reading more and trying some new authors. I have a few favorites that I read: Brockmann, SEP, Julia Harper, Linda Howard etc. So why Gibson? And why this book in particular? I blame nath, Monroe and Kristie. You see, nath and Monroe did a wonderful review of Jill Shalvis' Double Play over at Breezing Through . And that's where See Jane Score was mentioned by nath in the review and then again by Kristie in the comments. Sold! And in case you're wondering why I didn't read Double Play, the library didn't have it in yet but they had See Jane Score just sitting there waiting for me. :)

So we've got Jane, a very likable heroine. She's the type of heroine that you'd want as a friend. She practical and loyal. She's also funny and easy to talk to. She's a reporter that writes a monthly column, Single Girl in the City, for the Seattle Times. She also supplements her income writing very explicit stories for the men's magazine, Him. Those explicit stories star Jane's alter ego Honey Pie - the woman who loves men so much she puts them into comas. :)

No one but Jane's editor and her best friend Caroline know that Jane is the author of the Honey Pie serials. The last thing Jane wants is for that information to get out. When she's offered a job as the traveling sports reporter for the Seattle hockey team, the Chinooks, she takes it even though she knows nothing about hockey. Jane has a dream of someday owning her own home and taking the sports reporter job will get her that much closer to fulfilling her dream.

Luc Martineau is the star goalie for the Chinooks. He's not only talented, he's also got the looks to go with all that talent. He suffered an injury two years ago that lead to surgery and recovery. Now he's back playing the sport he loves. What did I think of Luc? I could have just gobbled him up. :) When Luc says the word 'about' he pronounces it 'aboot'. So cute! He is definitely sigh worthy. His relationship with his teammates and his 1/2 sister were just part of what made up this wonderful hero. While he's far from perfect, he has such heart for the sport he loves. Gibson has Luc's heart coming through so vividly in this story in how he treats others. He's very protective of his privacy and his teammates. Hockey is his life but that starts to change when he becomes the guardian for his 1/2 sister Marie and then Jane enters the picture.

Luc + Jane = perfect couple. I just loved these two. It's not that they're perfect people but that they are perfect for each other. It doesn't start out that way. Jane is sooo not Luc's type. Luc's type is the super model, Barbie doll type. Jane, ummm... isn't. There's a scene where the team and Jane are on the road and they're at the hotel. Luc leaves his room to get ice for his knee when he spots Jane at the vending machine. Jane, in need of a late night snack, decided to make a quick trip to the vending machine in her pjs, thinking that the players were already in their rooms.

She bent over, and that's when he noticed her nicely rounded butt with cows on it. In fact, she had cows all over her blue flannel pajamas. The thing was one piece and from the back looked like long johns. She turned and he was confronted by a horror worse than those pajamas. A pair of black-rimmed glasses sat on her face. The lenses were small and square, and he supposed they were in style with militant women's groups. They were just plain ugly.

Seeing him, her eyes widened and she sucked in a startled breath. "I though you guys were supposed to be in bed by now," she said.

Damn, he didn't think a woman could look any more sexless. "What is this?" he asked and pointed the bucket at her. "The I-don't-ever-want-to-get-laid-again look?" page 47

So to say that Luc wasn't attracted to Jane at first would be accurate. But he was intrigued by her. Also annoyed by her. :) And as he slowly started to noticed little things that he found attractive about Jane, he still couldn't believe that he was attracted to her. Poor, confused Luc. LOL And I'll briefly mention the sex scenes - hot, funny, hot, tender and yeah, hot. Trust me, these two work very well together, once they get together. ;)

Jane can't help but notice that Luc is good looking. She gets to go into the locker room after the games, seeing a whole lot a Luc before she even gets to know him. He's not her type either but he's the star and she needs his cooperation. They're both stubborn and aggressive when they need to be. Luc wants nothing to do with Jane the reporter. He has a reputation for not giving interviews and Jane wants an interview. They butt heads a lot and finally come to an agreement.

On the whole hockey aspect ~ I don't watch hockey but I did as a kid growing up in the burbs of Chicago where everyone rooted for the Blackhawks. I even played some hockey at at the neighborhood rink. Usually because the boys took over the rink and if we girls wanted to skate we had to play. We were good too! :) The first game in See Jane Score has the Chinooks traveling to Phoenix to play the Coyotes. The way Gibson describes the games gives the reader enough info to understand what's happening on the ice but it's more about what the players, in particular Luc, are feeling and thinking. She also has the fans reactions, specifically Jane. I totally got into the hockey aspect and even had the crazy thought of going to a Coyotes game. LOL

The secondary characters and the overall plot had a good, even flow to them. Luc's teammates were real characters. LOL There's some real guy talk going on in this book. Had me laughing and thinking that yes, guys really do talk like that. Their superstitions with regards to the game were both interesting and amusing. When I did have to put the book down I had no problem getting back into the story. See Jane Score scored high with this reader. Now my question is, which Rachel Gibson book should I read next?

Rachel Gibson and her books can be found here at the author's website.

Rating: A