Esa Saari plays hockey for the New York Blades. He is not
having a very good year and to top it off he has gained
custody of his niece Nell. Esa has no clue how to deal with
an 8 year old's grief when he is having trouble dealing with
his own. The family that Michelle Beck had been the nanny
for decided to move out west. Michelle did not want to leave
her father and brother so opted out of her job. Esa is given
Michelle's name and when she interviews for the job she is
not impressed with Esa or his bad boy image. However, she
knows what it is to lose your mother at a young age and
feels that she can help Nell. She is also worried that Esa
will neglect his niece and is determined not to let that happen.
HIP CHECK is one of a series of books about the Blades
hockey team. This one does not disappoint in any way. Esa is
quite the playboy who needs to change his lifestyle and
realize that the world does not revolve around him. Michelle
is a strong young woman who will not let Esa shrug off his
duty to Nell. Lot's of bumps in the road for both of these
characters to overcome, Michelle's father's health and Esa
shaky future with the team. It's nice to see characters from
earlier books like Michael Dante and his wife Theresa, who
help Michelle get the job. An endearing minor character in
this book is Esa's teammate Ulf, who lends humor and brings
out Esa's jealousy. Ms. Martin weaves a wonderful story of
compassion and how people deal with grief, mixed in is a bit
of humor and lots of love. She is one author that I know
when I pick up her book that I am going to love it. If you
have never read a book by Ms. Martin, you are really missing
out on something special.
Esa Saari is a hockey player for the New York Blades with a
bad-boy rep both on and off the ice. But when he suddenly
becomes the guardian of his eight-year-old niece, Nell, he
knows his excessive lifestyle is about to get body checked.
So he hires a live-in nanny. Her name is Michelle Beck, and
she gets along great with Nell. What surprises him, though,
is that he instantly hits it off with her, too. Getting
romantically involved would be a bad idea, but he’s finding
it impossible to ignore the intense connection between them.
Michelle, however, takes her job very seriously, and must
decide whether to listen to her head or her heart. And Esa’s
got to decide if he can give up his bad- boy image for the
love of a good woman…
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