Pass Interference

TEST

Football season is over, but if you’re jonesing for the gridiron, a football themed romance might help. While there is not a lot of actual ball playing involved, Pass Interference features characters from the San Antonio Hawks football team.

Growing up the daughter of the owner of the Hawks, Tyler Gillette has had enough exposure to football to last a lifetime. She wants nothing to do with the organization or any of its players, only occasionally making appearances at charity events for the sake of keeping her considerable trust fund. Tyler has Daddy Issues, though, and really, just issues in general. Feeling that her father has always paid more attention to his football team than to being a dad, she attempts to embarrass him at every opportunity by behaving outrageously. Her antics have finally landed her in a heap of trouble though, as she has acquired a stalker who persistently calls and texts her while leaving threatening messages.

When she once again finds herself in a dangerous situation, Tyler calls on Rafe Ortiz, the head of security for the Hawks and their former running back. Rafe finds himself a reluctant rescuer of the spoiled party girl. Once the truth is revealed about her stalker and the incidents begin to escalate, Rafe is charged with protecting the woman to whom he is extremely attracted. The feeling is mutual and the pair must spend time in close proximity to one another as danger closes in on Tyler.

I liked the premise of the story quite a bit. Tyler grew up in the shadow of the Hawks and has no interest in dating a football player, current or former. She’s attracted to Rafe though, and being forced to spend time together while he is acting as her bodyguard could have made for good conflict. Conflict they do, but it’s not in an enjoyable way.

The parts of the book I liked, I really liked. Unfortunately, the parts that didn’t work for me prevent me from giving it a recommendation. The romance felt way underdeveloped, with the main characters spending approximately 85% of the book at odds with one another. They’re attracted to one another physically, but they don’t seem to like each other very much and spend a lot of time bickering and not treating each other very well. And it wasn’t the fun bantering sort of bickering where they swap sly insults. He sees her as a birdbrained trollop, which is exactly how she presents herself, and reacts to her with a mixture of exasperation, resignation, and a whole heap of disdain. Individually, their characters aren’t bad. Together, they’re terrible. Eventually they reach an accord, but it takes far too long to get there and by then I had abandoned hope of them ever having any sort of healthy interaction.

Her outlandish behavior as a 32-year-old woman was ludicrous and I found it difficult to believe none of her friends had intervened to stop her self-destructive behavior. I liked that she transformed during the course of the story from wild child into a more genuine person. I liked that she eventually was able to meet her father halfway and begin to develop a relationship with him, though for the majority of the book I was convinced she needed a therapist, not a boyfriend. And I had a really tough time believing that she knew nothing about football whatsoever.

The book is well-written and the author can spin a story. It kept me guessing until the big reveal as to whom Tyler’s stalker was. Unfortunately, the romance did not really work, given that the protagonists spend the majority of the book not only at odds with one another but seemingly holding each other in contempt. Plus, Tyler’s acting out just made me sad for her and I wasn’t thrilled that she had to change to be “worthy” of Rafe’s affections. I’d give Pass Interference a pass.

Reviewed by Heather Stanton

Grade: C-

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date: 13/04/16

Publication Date: 2016/04

Review Tags: bodyguard football

Recent Comments …

  1. excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.

I read romance of any sub-genre, but particularly love contemporaries. Well-written stories of any variety interest me though and I'm always on the hunt for my next favorite book. I love smart-mouthed heroines and tortured heroes, unusual time periods and just about anything medieval. On a personal note, I'm a political junkie, Cushing's Disease survivor, mom to 11 rescued dogs and too many cats to actually count.

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