Heat It Up: Off the Ice, Book One

Despite a far-fetched plot twist, Lindenblatt's contemporary romance about two Minnesotans visiting Helsinki, Finland, works rather well. When Sofia Philips gets into a work-swap program, she's delighted to escape Minneapolis, with its attendant bad memories of a philandering father and a cheating boyfriend, and start a brand new life. Helsinki isn't quite what she pictured, however: she's scrubbing urinals and saunas at a sports center by day and sleeping in her Finnish grandmother's living room at night. When she accidentally sprays naked ex-NHL hockey player Kyle Bennett with cold water, she's unimpressed and largely unapologetic. Sofia has sworn off men forever, but her grandmother's trying to set her up with a local fellow, so she asks Kyle to fake being her boyfriend. The ensuing triangular romantic exercise brings out the best and worst in each of the three main characters and climaxes in a just-right balance of comedy, tragedy, heat, and ice. (June)