Unsportsmanlike Conduct by Sophia Henry

Unsportsmanlike Conduct is another book in Sophia Henry’s series revolving around members of a minor league hockey team in Detroit. I’ve read and enjoyed all the earlier books in the series, but I didn’t remember them that clearly so I think it would be fine to read without having read the earlier books. There are references to those characters and what happened earlier, but the reader can basically get what’s going on without having read or remembered what went on.

This is about two young people who, for different reasons, have built up walls to prevent themselves from having a meaningful relationship with someone. But a one-week Caribbean cruise seems to provide enough of an escape from real life for Kristen and Pasha to fall for each other.

It’s not much of a spoiler that the heroine, Kristen, has cystic fibrosis. Knowing that she might not have a normal life span has led her to devote herself to living her life to the fullest. She is also afraid to have a real relationship because she fears forcing someone she loves to have to suffer through her early death. Pasha has had a rotten life because his father was abusive and then both parents died suddenly in a car accident. He fears that he could become abusive like his father, but he’s actually, deep down, a very sweet and sensitive guy. And a very hot guy with an extremely active sex drive.

So Kristen and Pasha spend a wonderful week together without her knowing who he really is. He doesn’t tell her because of something rotten that he tried to do to her best friend. What are the chances that a guy who had been nasty to her best friend would end up on the same singles cruise and run into her (literally) on the first day? But we have to suspend disbelief or there wouldn’t be any novel.

This is a very rewarding book. I would not have thought that I would enjoy a book about a girl with CF, but Henry tackles that with sensitivity. Kristen refuses to be defined by her disease and Pasha also refuses to see her as a diseased woman. I enjoyed the book much more than I expected to, especially considering that there is no sports in what is, ostensibly, a sports romance. But there is a very nice romance where the complications come from the plot and not her illness.

I received a free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.