Why I read it: This is one from my own TBR.
What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Calder Griffin needs to get back in shape. Sidelined last season by a knee injury, he’s determined to return to the San Diego Barracudas and play the best hockey of his career. This might even be the year he gets out of his talented older brother’s shadow.
For months, Becca Chen has poured her energy into Cups, the restaurant she owns, desperate to prove to her parents that she can succeed in the career of her choice, not theirs. But after she spends a five-hour plane ride flirting with charming, magic-on-the-ice Calder, she tells herself she needs a fling.
Becca and Calder can’t keep their hands off each other, but they know the relationship can’t last. They live on opposite coasts, and they’re both too devoted to their careers. All they have to do is prevent their feelings from crossing the line from lust to love…
What worked for me (and what didn’t): I enjoyed On the Surface, the first book in the In the Zone series very much so I really have no excuse for taking so long to buy and read this one. Especially because it turns out, I pretty much lapped this one up with a spoon.
Calder Griffin is the younger of two hockey playing brothers. At 25, he’s got plenty of hockey left in him and he’s itching to get back onto the ice after a knee injury sidelined him for most of the previous season. On a plane from his home in San Diego to his folks’ place in Ithaca, New York, he meets Becca Chen. Becca had been in San Diego at a restaurateurs convention and was returning home to Ithaca and her cafe, Cups on the Commons. It turns out that Becca and Calder knew each other in elementary school – and when I say knew each other, I mean that he used to tease her horribly.
They get to talking on the flight home and Calder makes a point of visiting her cafe once they land. He’s fascinated by the beautiful Becca. She’s smart and funny and so very determined to succeed. These are things which Calder understands and appreciates and it’s icing on a very delicious cake that he finds her stunningly attractive.
I really liked how the different POVs showed that while Becca thought her breasts were too small and her butt was too flat, Calder thought her rack was gorgeous and her ass was “amazing”. This rang true to me in all the ways.
I have so many good things to say about this book. I could tell why Becca and Calder were initially attracted to one another, I could see why they pursued a relationship; they had great chemistry and character traits in common. They also understood each other’s family dynamics and this created another bond between them. The sex was hot and creative and their conversation was open. Neither of them were perfect but the story didn’t go down the track of cheating or jealousy, a thing I was happy about. Becca is a control freak and extremely self-reliant. Calder has trouble expressing himself at times and when he’s angry, he says hurtful things without thinking about their potential impact. Both of these things combine to cause friction in their relationship. The conflict was very realistic and so was the solution. I liked that both characters learned and grew and that for the most part, the conflict was internal rather than external.
There are other things going on in the book to do with the team and with Calder’s brother, Hart. Calder has had a somewhat fraught relationship with him but over the course of the book, secrets are revealed and their relationship is renewed and strengthened. I liked the way the book touched on the competitive jealousy between the brothers and Calder’s changing reactions to it.
What else? One of the great things about this series is the banter between the various teammates. The author clearly loves her hockey. I don’t know much about the game but it felt authentic to me and I love the way she writes the guys – their banter and their camaraderie.
Becca’s parents are perhaps too stereotypical. I’m not qualified to comment on whether the portrayal was fair or whether it went too far. I read Courtney Milan’s Trade Me immediately before this and I’d have to say that Milan’s take was more nuanced but I can’t say whether or not this aspect of Across the Line was problematic.
FWIW, I didn’t find Calder’s attraction to Becca in any way fetishising.
I read this book in about a day. It was a lot of fun and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who likes sports romance.
Grade: B+
BUY IT:
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Who found his attraction to Becca fetishizing? It never even crossed my mind.
I’m enjoying this series. I do love me some sports romance.
@Lori: I don’t know that anyone has Lori. 🙂 The thing is, that a few years ago I’d never even heard of orientalism or fetishising Asian characters. I wouldn’t have recognised it if I tripped over it. I think I’m better at spotting some things now but I’m still very much a work in progress. So I mention these things in the hope that I leave space for someone who feels differently to tell me otherwise and so I can understand better. In this book, the common things which tend to be called out, so far as I can tell anyway, were not an issue for Calder. He didn’t bang on about Becca’s small hands or her “exotic” looks for example – or at least, not that I noticed.
I think it’s possible that some readers could find the portrayal of Beccas’s parents problematic and in that context, I wanted to say that I thought Calder’s and Beccas’s relationship felt… not problematic. Hope that makes sense!
I wanted to add that Calder does actually refer to Becca at least once in the book as “exotic” and I gather from a brief conversation I had with a friend at a conference recently, it does seem there might be more problematic elements than I appreciated when I read it. I’d love to hear from anyone with a view on this.