Waiting To Score by J.E. MacLeod

So I've got a late inclusion here for the 2009 hockey book year. And I'm not quite sure what to make of it.

It's called Waiting to Score by J.E. MacLeod. It is of the Young Adult genre, which makes the sexually suggestive title complete with the cover boy dreamy model all the more horrifying.

Then you read the inside jacket flap and alarm bells sound.

"Quirky, smart and good looking, Zack Chase is a book-loving, talented hockey player. New in town, Zack's pitted against obnoxious Mac, the hockey team captain with something against Jane, the alluring Goth girl who's caught Zack's eye. As he copes with sore losers, other people's drinking problems and the consequences of making out with too many girls, Zack discovers other ways he wants to score in life, especially as a 15 year old guy with spiking hormones."

Whoa! That was enough for me. I never read another word.

What I did do, against any good judgment I mistakenly thought I possessed, I tossed the book to my girlfriend's 16 year daughter and said "read this flap, isn't this terrible?" She wouldn't give it back to me, and began reading it!

She got through over 100 pages in a couple of hours, so this teen smut is apparently a quick read. When I asked her what she thought of the book, she said" it's okay, but guys suck. They only think about hockey and sex."

It seems Ms. MacLeod has done a good job purporting that stereotype. I tried refuting that claim with my young reader, although I guess replying to "what else do guys think about?" with "cars, heavy metal and money" was not the proper parental thing to do.

I want to say there's no way in hell I'd let a kid read this, but apparently I have. And her reaction to the book was not negative.