Under The Spotlight - Book Review

By Kate Willoughby

Synopsis

Stage actress Christine Caspary couldn’t care less about hockey, but when she first sees Joe Rutherford playing in a Barracudas game her mind goes to all sorts of dirty places. By happy chance, her work with Grant A Wish gives her an opportunity to meet him in the flesh.

Right winger Joe Rutherford saw Christine perform when the team went to see Chicago and was so taken with her, he secretly saw the show a second time, alone. When the gorgeous actress with spectacular legs contacts him out of the blue asking for a favor, it’s a no-brainer.

Their chemistry is off the charts. Things heat up quickly and they can’t keep their hands off each other. Soon they’re hooking up whenever their busy schedules allow and having hot phone sex every night at midnight when they don’t. But Joe’s time in the hockey spotlight is fading, just as Christine’s star begins to rise. When she gets her big break into a TV career, how will Joe take to being the arm candy for a change?

Review

I have to admit, I couldn’t remember Joe at all from the previous books, and it didn’t take me long to realise why. Simply put, Joe is just your garden-variety nice guy. Heck, I’d even go so far as to say he’s unremarkable, and he quite likes it that way. But I think it’s because of that that I really liked him. It’s nice to read about a guy who doesn’t have anger issues. Who isn’t a manwhore. Whose life hasn’t been shaped by a terrible event that happened to him twenty years ago. He’s just a nice guy who hasn’t found the right girl yet. Christine is effectively his total opposite. She’s a theatre actress hoping to land a TV role that would turn her into a household name. While Joe is more than happy with his relative anonymity, Christine is hopeful her talents will be recognised and seen by a much larger audience. Thankfully she’s not a diva and doesn’t seem like the type who’ll let fame go to her head. But their hectic schedules don’t leave much time for romance, and while he may be a nice guy, can Joe’s ego handle his career possibly coming to an end just as Christine’s career begins?

UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT is told in dual POVs and while it is part of a series, it can be read as a stand-alone. I loved reading the scenes that involved Joe’s teammates as they showed how the team is like a big family, annoying kid brother included. A family that’s ready to stand up for you or knock you down a peg or two when needed. The pranks and jokes they played on each other were funny and kept the book relatively light. I’m assuming there will be a fifth book, but at this stage I can’t figure out who it would be about. Not that it matters to me who it’s about because I’m sure I’ll be reading it as soon as I can get my hands on it.