Caught Offside

Caught Offside is a great story by Liz Crowe. It is part of Decadent Publishing's 1 Night Stand series. If you like soccer and romance, this is definitely a book for you!

Ramon Castillo is a soccer star who's had a career-changing injury. Instead of dealing with his situation, Ramon is holed up in his family's hotel so that he doesn't have to deal with the outside world.

Gillian Winter is the banquet manager for a major Las vegas hotel. She is a former soccer star herself and she has a young son. Gillian has thrown herself into her work and into raising her son so she doesn't have time to deal with the emotions of being a widow.

While in the lobby of the Castillo Hotel, Gillian's son flips out when he sees Ramon, his soccer idol. Gillian arranges, through Ramon's cousin, for Ramon to spend some quality time with her son. What she doesn't expect is that she may be the one who enjoys the time with Ramon more than the boy.

I really enjoyed this story. I think part of the reason is I love soccer so much, but I also thought Ms. Crowe did a great job showing how the characters changed through the story. Gillian and Ramon are attracted to each other from the start, but their personal, internal pains make them both reluctant to engage in any type of romantic encounter. The emotional journeys they go through and the relationship that evolves make the story believable and heart-warming. It is a fast read and a perfect way to spend a raining afternoon. This will definitely not be the last story I read from Liz Crowe!