I asked for this book since I had not reviewed Barbara Delinsky before and it had a sports background which I love. Fast Courting is a re-print of a book first published in 1983 and is dated in certain ways. Old movies show their age in outdated clothing and hair styles. Fast Courting showed its age when it came to technological advances. When the characters needed to make a telephone call, they hunted for a payphone. Nia was amazed that Daniel had a machine that taped shows off the television. Journalist Nia did all her research in front of a microfilm reader and there wasn’t a computer to be seen in the whole book.

Antonia (Nia) Phillips is a journalist. When the magazine she works for decides to do a feature on the Ten Most Eligible Easterners and assigns her the story, she isn’t too happy especially when it turns out that one of the bachelors is Daniel Strahan, coach of the New England Breakers basketball team. Nia hates sports, most particularly basketball since her first husband was a sportswriter who used his trips out of town to cover the team as an opportunity to cheat on her.

Daniel hates the press as much as Nia hates basketball. The reasons for his aversion are not gone into in much detail; I never did figure out why he despises reporters so much. Daniel ignores Nia and refuses to return her calls. As he is the only one of the “eligibles” to totally rebuff her requests, she is incensed and tracks him down at practice. At first annoyed by Nia, he becomes intrigued and they have lunch together.

The attraction between Nia and Daniel is the heart of the book and it is a strong one. I liked Daniel as a character, even though he was almost too perfect to be believed. He had been a very good basketball player himself, and now he one of the best professional coaches in the leage. He saved the money he earned as a player, invested it and sends a large chunk of it to support his laid-off father and crippled mother. He is also extremely close to earning his PhD in clinical psychology. What a paragon! After their initial awkward meeting, he is all tenderness and caring toward Nia. He is tall, dark and handsome, a great lover and even enjoys going shopping. Yes, Daniel is quite the perfect man.

Nia is not so perfect. She is tall and beautiful, and is a good reporter who loves her work and is respected by her peers. But she is not as emotionally together as Daniel. Nia’s aversion to basketball is a bit over the top and she has a tendency towards angst when it comes to her relationship with Daniel, reminding me of nothing so much as a teenager suffering her first crush. When the relationship between Nia and Dan begins to look serious, she worries over the time that his career will take on him and their relationship, even though he has spent far more time with her than with the team. He even hangs up on the owner to be with her!

Fast Courting is smoothly written for the most part, but is also marred by purple patches of prose and a few glaring typos, including the one that is guaranteed to make me shudder. “He was not phased.” Ack!

Fast Courting was pleasant enough, but it was so very bland that it could be held up as a perfect example of the average romance. It was not good enough to engage me, but it wasn’t bad enough to upset me. I closed the book with a strong desire to put on a beige sweater and eat some rice cakes.