Round one of the final phase of judging has been completed, and TOSSING THE GLOVES by Christy Finn is this week's elimination.
Ultimately we felt she had a fun, wish-fulfillment story line, but unfortunately there wasn't enough spark in the voice to make it stand out in romance market. Congratulations, Christy, on making it this far in the contest, and best of luck in your writing career!
Here's what our readers had to say:
Diane - I thought the author did a nice job with her characters, and the storyline was cute. What woman wouldn’t want a super-hunky hockey player to cuddle up with? I was just hoping for a little more contact sport, if you know what I mean. Some places were a bit predictable and slow, but I liked the heroine's conflict between her fear of violence and love for a hockey player. In the end, though, there just wasn’t enough to hang a hat-trick on.
Alma - Unfortunately, I wanted to toss this book right along with the gloves. It was predictable, dull, and uninspiring. While I was hoping for a score, this one just left me cold.
Susan
- I enjoyed this book very much. Hockey is one of my favorite sports, and this book kept me interested from beginning to end. The characters were a good mix and reminded me of myself and my friends…a few years ago <ahem>. The hockey players seemed very believable, as did their emotions and conflicts. I'm glad I read this book, and I hope the author keeps up the good work.
Duana - The story was fun to read but way too predictable. The sentences in the first few pages were lengthy and confusing at times, though after that the writing did seem to settle into a smoother rhythm. Unfortunately, this type of storyline has been used often, and this book did not really offer anything new. There were no cliffhangers or moments where I truly wondered what would happen next. This was just a nice, "read this before" kind of story.
Hope everyone has a great holiday. We'll be back on after the New Year with Round 2.
