Deirdre Martin admirably dodges the sophomore slump in her second romance, Fair Play. A terrific read, it is, by turns, fast, compelling, frustrating, devastating, annoying, thrilling, but never less than engrossing. I hung on every page and finished it in one sitting.

In Theresa Falconetti’s book, Michael Dante has three strikes against him. He’s Italian, he’s from the Brooklyn neighborhood where she grew up, and worst of all, he’s a professional hockey player for the New York Blades. Theresa isn’t interested in Italian men, and she certainly doesn’t want one from the old neighborhood. Her last date with a hockey player ended when he tried to rape her, and her quest for justice turned her into tabloid fodder, an ordeal she still hasn’t completely recovered from. She’s still not comfortable around athletes, and definitely not hockey players from the same team as her attacker. As she and her business partner struggle to keep their PR firm afloat, dealing with Michael is the last thing she needs.

Long interested in Theresa, Michael determines to chip away at the barriers she’s built up against him. He gets his opportunity when he hires her to publicize his family’s restaurant, much to the disgust of his brother, who likes things just the way they are. Between battling his brother and struggling to win over Theresa, Michael loses focus on the ice, something that hasn’t escaped the notice of his coach.

As if the situation weren’t tough enough, Michael finds himself facing some unexpected competition for Theresa’s attentions when she meets her dream man. Cultured, polished, and every bit the WASP, Reese Banister is a Harvard Law grad and everything Theresa always believed she wanted. But just because Mr. Right seems to have arrived doesn’t mean it’s going to be that easy getting Michael out of her life.

I haven’t read a contemporary that sucked me in and kept me glued to the pages like this one did in a long time. It’s one of those books that really plays with your emotions. All the adjectives used at the beginning of this review do apply. It’s a ride with highs and lows, lighter moments and wrenching ones, that sucks the reader into the lives to two very well-developed and complicated people.

Michael and Theresa aren’t perfect people. They don’t always do the right thing and I certainly didn’t agree with everything they did. That’s exactly what makes them interesting and so much more compelling to read about. It’s impressive how Theresa isn’t an unsympathetic heroine, even when it’s obvious that the lady doth protest too much. Most readers will probably think she’s out of her mind for not falling for Michael sooner, and some of her actions are definitely frustrating, but Martin does a good job showing just how conflicted she is without making her a weak character.

Michael is a charmer, but he’s no one-note Casanova. A gritty competitor on the ice, a stubborn fighter off of it, he’s just as complex as she is. A good example of how nuanced these characters are is a scene where Michael finally lashes out at the way she’s treating him. His explosion is devastating. It’s easy to see where he’s coming from, but it’s hard to take any pleasure out of the moment, no matter how outright unreasonable Theresa is being, because I felt for her too. Martin provides a number of these memorable emotional moments, including one where Theresa’s sister-in-law makes an astonishingly insensitive comment and she fights back exactly as a strong heroine should. For a fast moving plot, the author never loses sight that this is a story built on two real people. None of these moments would be as powerful if she hadn’t done such a good job laying the groundwork for their characters. Then there’s the incredibly tense, truly gripping hockey scenes that push the intensity level up another notch. The characters’ reactions in the aftermath of the biggest games show an understanding for the game and human nature that is unusually insightful and highly rewarding.

That doesn’t mean the story doesn’t have its flaws. While there’s no doubt who the hero of this story is, I had hoped Reese would turn out to be a perfectly viable alternative to make the story more interesting. At first that seemed to be the case, until his storyline begins to unfold in a typical way that’s so obvious the heroine seems incredibly dense for not catching on to him sooner. Likewise, it would have been nice if Theresa’s family had been less stereotypical. A comeuppance I really wanted to see didn’t arrive, and the fate of the PR firm isn’t as concrete as I might have liked. It’s more realistic this way and doesn’t tie everything up neatly, but that’s kind of what I wanted after everything they’d been through. There’s also a period of separation where the romance dwindles that may not work for those who want the love story front and center at all times, but there was more than enough happening during this time, including the most exciting hockey sequences, to hold my attention.

I could pick at the weaknesses, but that wouldn’t get across what a great read Fair Play. Compelling from start to finish, it proves the author is no one-hit wonder.