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Still Waters
March 19th, 2025 07:32 am
Determined to face her fear of water, Maddy Gordon signed up for beginner swimming, and found herself surrounded by seven-year-olds! And why did her instructor have to be golden-muscled Olympic swimmer Zach London, whose grin still gave her goose bumps? Stunned by the emotions Zach aroused in her, Maddy sought refuge behind her puppets. Perfect for her work with children, they also helped keep other people at arm's length - a barely safe distance where Zack was concerned! Zach knew Maddy had to face what scared her before she could return his love, but would she trust him enough to conquer her ghosts?
Original Publisher: Bantam
Original Year of Publication: 1986
Page Count: 183
The March 2025 #TBRChallenge is “Rizz,” which is apparently slang for “charisma.” I had no idea this word required slang, but here we are. I have been in something of a meh reading rut, so I chose to go to my Loveswept collection for this month's prompt.
This book certainly looked intriguing enough, with its former-Olympic-gold-medalist swimmer hunk of a hero, and a heroine who used puppets in her work. As it happens, she is a social worker with the county, and uses her puppets in her work with traumatized and abused children. She has empathy for them on many levels, as she herself has some unresolved issues about her body, her place in the world, and of course her fear of water. I thought Maddy had a lot of potential as a heroine, lots of interesting facets to explore, but unfortunately the truncated category length stifled much of this.
Maddy, like every other girl her age (25 at the start of the book) worshipped the golden boy Zach London, who was competing at the Olympics when she was a mere tween. He won some medals and lots of fame/celebrity because of that, up to and including the proverbial Wheaties box. We're never really told how old Zach is, but apparently enough time has passed that he isn't instantly recognizable anymore and can teach swim classes at the local public pool without groupies crowding around to swoon.
Maddy gathers her courage and signs up for beginner's swim class, but a mistake means that she's put in a children's class. She feels even more awkward than usual because she's so tall, especially next to a bunch of "babies." She finds instant comradery with the kid closest to her, a little girl named Theresa who clings to her with shyness. Zach tries to send Maddy away, thinking she's a child's mother, which only embarrasses her further. She manages to get into the pool with the kids, but faints fairly quickly, necessitating her removal from the pool and the class. Zach takes her into the office, she realizes who he is, they trade some fairly cute banter. Realizing there isn't an adult beginning class at the pool, Zach offers to give Maddy private swimming lessons - and who is she to turn down private lessons with an Olympian?!
The two further bond over Theresa, who has some telltale signs that maybe all is not right in her world; indeed, at the next lesson, Zach summons Maddy to the pool because Theresa is sporting a black eye and an angry parent hurrying her along to the car. Both Maddy and Zach inexplicably fall in love with this child and decide to rescue her; they report the abuse to the county DHS and each want to adopt her, even though they are both single and have no other children of their own. Maddy resents Zach's desire to adopt Theresa, believing he will have a better chance at winning custody because of Who He Is (how we can tell it's 1986: a single man wanting to adopt a strange little girl would not fly in 2025), but does she tell him? No.
The two have some ~sensuous~ time in the water in the guise of lessons, and both vie for Theresa's attention (she is a remarkably well-adjusted child, considering her parents are dead and her aunt/uncle don't want her and readily relinquish her to be a ward of the court). They are also Fighting Pants Feelings because this *is* a Loveswept book, after all.
Maddy has to face her fear of water, and Zach has his own somber memories to move past (his wife and child are dead before the book opens). It's a very sweet story, but ultimately feels rushed. Maddy's reasons for avoiding water are finally uncovered, and she basically overcomes it in two? lessons. Zack seems to understand that he can't push Maddy too much, but damned if he doesn't spend a good part of the second half of the book yelling at her: for canceling her lessons, for avoiding him, for Doing Stupid Things and Causing Him to Worry. This is supposed to show that he cares for her and wants to protect her, but it really goes over like a lead balloon for me, unfortunately. He also proposes to Maddy because he believes being married will give him a better chance of adopting Theresa (how romantic). He also loves Maddy, but does he bother to tell her? No, of course not, he just lets her believe the worst.
Other problematic elements include the whole subplot to adopt Theresa and how easily it resolves - I mean, I am not someone who generally comments on ~privilege~ in fiction, but it just reeks here. Two strangers, who meet Theresa at a public swimming lesson, end up being able to adopt her via a private transfer of custody in less than 30 days, basically because they are young, white, and affluent. Yay for happy endings, I suppose, but it is pretty cringe-inducing nonetheless.
Still, problematic elements aside, I enjoyed this book. It's pretty quiet and sweet, which is a pleasant surprise for this particular line. I'd definitely read this author again. I also wouldn't be surprised if I discovered that she eventually pivoted to inspirational and/or women's fiction.
⭐⭐⭐
