Adam is a taciturn kind of guy who hates talking about his feelings. Sinead’s first interview with him is like pulling teeth, and ends with Adam thinking Sinead is an uptight pain in the butt and Sinead convinced Adam is only one step up the evolutionary ladder from Neanderthal. They are both wrong, of course, and story revolves around their discoveries about each other.

Sinead’s family owns an Irish pub where a number of hockey players hang out. She’s the workaholic of the family, and her mother is always on her back about finding a guy. With one divorce behind her, Sinead is in no hurry. Adam keeps to himself, for the most part. He’s almost at the end of his career, and this might be his last best shot to win a Stanley Cup. Faced with a lawsuit, a struggling team, and a couple of young teammates with attitude problems, he has his hands full. When Sinead enters the picture, he admires her looks, but can’t see how they’d be anything more than bed partners.

Frankly, neither did I, and the predictability of the plot didn’t help. Sinead travels to Adam’s hometown in western Canada to gather character references, and meets his best friend, who is in a wheelchair. Any guesses as to how he ended up there? Could this be the reason why Adam has a giant chip on his shoulder and is carrying a mountain of guilt? Sinead came across as pretty humorless and uptight, and I couldn’t really sense much attraction between them other than the physical. She thinks he’s hot. He thinks she’s a knockout. Send ‘em to bed. Friendship? Not so much, and even their time spent together at a cabin in upstate New York didn’t convince me. These two just seemed monumentally mis-matched.

The secondary cast seemed to include most of the leads from Martin’s recent novels. There’s a funny subplot involving the Three Stooges, and one of Martin’s previous heroes plays a major role as Adam’s new buddy. Sinead’s law partners all seem to sleep with their clients, and her best friend at the firm is a womanizing alcoholic, which struck me as pretty unlikely. The author is obviously a hockey fan, as her descriptions of the game ring true. There’s a lot to like in this story, but the romance isn’t a standout.

Icebreaker isn’t Deirdre Martin’s best, but fans who have enjoyed her other stories about the Blades may want to give it a look.

--Cathy Sova