Chasing Stanley (New York Blades, #5) in Romance Series Lists

Mar 27, 2008 jenjn79 rated it liked it

Shelves: info-full, reviewed, genre-romance-contemporary, stars-3, 2009, series-blades, published-2007

Rating: 3.5 / 5

This book started off really good for me. The first 150 or so pages were great, but as the book progressed I ended up getting annoyed with the heroine and finding something lacking in the relationship between Jason and Delilah. It wasn't that I got bored or anything, more that relationship stumbled while the rest of the storyline kept me reading.

Chasing Stanley is the sixth book in Deirdre Martin's light-hearted-romance Blades series about the fictional New York Blades hockey team Rating: 3.5 / 5

This book started off really good for me. The first 150 or so pages were great, but as the book progressed I ended up getting annoyed with the heroine and finding something lacking in the relationship between Jason and Delilah. It wasn't that I got bored or anything, more that relationship stumbled while the rest of the storyline kept me reading.

Chasing Stanley is the sixth book in Deirdre Martin's light-hearted-romance Blades series about the fictional New York Blades hockey team. Jason Mitchell, a left winger, was just traded to his dream team, the Blades, and so moves to NYC with his huge Newfoundland dog, Stanley. Stan's been used to open space and doing as he pleases, but in NY, things aren't so easy. While at the park one day, Stan's misbehavior catches the eye of dog trainer/walker/boarder Delilah Gould.

Delilah is horrified at Stan's lack of training and takes Jason to task. Jason is amused by her spitfire attack. Soon, she is training Stan, walking him during games, and boarding during road trips. And she's finding her attraction to Jason isn't one sided. The two hit it off. It's not long before Jason realizes that the plucky Delilah he first met only comes out when there's an animal in need. The rest of the time, she is painfully shy, prone to babbling or blurting when in social situations. More than once her nervous habit has caused him embarrassment. Even worse is the fact that they discover they have little in common and have different ideas for fun. Neither is sure they can find a way to mesh their lives together.

I put off reading this book for quiet a while. I've read a couple of Martin's book and while they weren't bad, they sometimes tend to be a little too light and fluffy for me. I like books with a bit more meat on their bones. So I just didn't feel like reading this one. But I finally figured I needed to read it.

Overall, the book was good. Not something I loved or would want to read again, but enjoyable enough. Hey, any book with a big, goofy dog will get my attention. Stanley was definitely that. I liked reading about him. And it was sweet how Jason and Delilah bonded over pets.

Being a hockey fan, I also liked the sports aspect of the story. It's definitely fun when something I like in real life is incorporated into a book I read. I can't say how realistic Martin's portrayal of a player's life is, but for a fun, light, romance, it worked for me.

Where this book lacked, in my opinion, was with the character of Delilah and the relationship between Jason and Delilah. At first, I thought she was a very cool character, more average woman than you typically read about. Pretty, but not stunning, not a fashion plate, not afraid walk around with dog hair on her clothes, troubled by some nervous habits, etc. I just found it nice to read about someone more typical. But her social phobias got annoying. The woman had some serious neuroses. If I were Jason, I'd be afraid to take her anywhere because you never knew what would pop out of her mouth. It was a pretty big issue in their relationship and when the book ended, I didn't feel like it was resolved. There was just a small part where she said she was going to try and get help.

I also hated that by the end of the book, it seemed like Jason was shouldering all the blame for what went wrong between them. No, he wasn't perfect, but I didn't like how he was thinking how he shouldn't have done this or that or whatever. To me, Delilah was more to blame, but that's just me. I also thought she came off a bit selfish...I mean, Jason made an effort to understand her and her job, but Delilah put in almost no effort to understand his life. Not until the very end did she even bother to learn anything about hockey. That doesn't say much about a relationship, in my opinion.

And overall, I felt there was a bit of a lack of passion and chemistry between the two. They had almost nothing in comment except for the dog. I almost felt they were better friends than lovers. I even skipped a love scene or two because I just wasn't interested in reading them.

Basically, I found the story of the book more interesting than the romance and the character of Delilah. At least for the second half of the book. If the book had ended with Jason and Delilah being very good friends, I'm not sure I would have minded. Which says a lot. ...more

5 likes · Like · see review