REVIEW: Body Check by Elle Kennedy

KaetrinBook Reviews / C ReviewsContemporary / hockey / NetGalley / re-release / revised and expanded / Sports1 Comments

Hayden Houston is a Professor of Art History at Berkeley (25 seems young for that but what I do know about the US education system?). Her father is the owner of the Chicago Warriors hockey team. He was formerly a coach but after a “wise investment in a pharmaceutical company” made him millions of dollars, he bought the team. Hayden’s mother died in a car accident when she was only a baby so it’s just been her dad and her – and hockey. Hayden didn’t enjoy moving around so often as her father moved teams when she was a child, she didn’t enjoy constantly travelling to games. And she didn’t enjoy her father’s attention being on hockey and not on her so much. However, her father did make an effort in the off season to spend time with her.

Since her dad has been a team owner however, things got worse and it was even harder to get her father’s attention, so she decided to move to California and put down some roots. She longs for a home and family.

Hayden has been dating a fellow professor at Berkeley, Doug, but he’s kind of very boring. He’s a nice guy but Hayden’s libido has been frustrated by Doug’s desire to get to know her very well before they cross the “intimacy bridge” (lol). When during a college break Hayden’s dad asks her to come to Chicago to support him through his divorce (he married a much younger woman a few years before and they’re going through a messy separation), she tells Doug she needs a break from their relationship to decide whether she wants to commit to him or not. Hayden’s dad is also embroiled in a scandal; he’s been accused of throwing two games and betting on the outcome of them and players from the Warriors have been accused of taking bribes. This is all happening as the Warriors are in the playoffs so the media is having a field day.

Given the situation with Doug, when Hayden arrives in Chicago her libido is crying out for help and, at the suggestion of her good friend, Darcy, she decides a one night stand is just the ticket.

Brody Croft is star player with the Warriors. He’s more recently decided he’s sick of one-night stands and short term encounters. He’s after a relationship. Still, when Hayden meets him in a bar (not knowing who he is at all given she doesn’t follow hockey), he’s willing to accept Hayden’s terms in order to be with her at all. Still, he’s hoping he can change her mind. After some of the hottest sex of both of their lives, Hayden finds herself quite persuaded by Brody and eventually agrees to have a fling with him while she’s in town. But it needs to be kept quiet given the scandal brewing around the team. Brody agrees but asks Hayden to keep an open mind to the possibility they could be more to one another.

I liked Brody but had a little discomfort about the way he pushed Hayden to change her mind. I get what the author was going for but what I (probably would have) enjoyed in 2009 is not the same as what I enjoy now. I did enjoy that it was Hayden who wanted the one-night stand and Brody’s reaction to her not initially wanting to see him again made me chuckle – the shoe was very definitely on the other foot there.

I did like that Hayden’s dad’s soon-to-be ex-wife had a bit of nuance to her and things weren’t quite as black and white as they may have originally appeared when the book began. The match-fixing/players-taking-bribes subplot took up a little more of the story than I expected it would. It felt like a lot was going on in such a short book. Still, I did believe the connection between Brody and Hayden.

I don’t know exactly what was changed/expanded/revised in Body Check but it feels like a book written in 2009. It was originally a hot, quick read, in keeping with the Blaze line. Now it’s a little longer but it’s still pretty hot and not super long. I usually like Elle Kennedy books but this one was not my favourite. I think the author has grown significantly as a writer in the 15 years since this book was originally published and Body Check just doesn’t compare to something like last year’s The Summer Girl or The Graham Effect (or even The Deal, which was released in 2015). Body Check has pockets of what Kennedy would become but it lacks the vibe and humour of The Off Campus or Briar U books (for instance).

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