Caught Offside

1Night Stand #75

by Liz Crowe

Ramon Castillo, world famous soccer player and international playboy has been brought low by a career-ending injury. After the humiliation of a shattered leg at the World Cup final, he has spent a year enduring surgeries and painful therapies, the last three months of which are at the Castillo resort in Las Vegas under the watchful eye of his cousin, Jackson Castillo and owner of the Castillo hotel chain. But Ramon’s lack of interest in soccer, women, or in anything besides the blackjack tables has Jackson worried.

Gillian Winter, catering and banquet manager for the MGM Grand Hotel is nurturing her own deep wounds. Her beloved husband has died unexpectedly, leaving her with a young son whose one dream is to meet his Number 17 on the American National Soccer team, Ramon Castillo. When an apparent chance encounter in the lobby of the MGM reveals Ramon's presence in their midst, everyone's lives are changed forever.

Can Madame Eve work her magic and bring true healing to Ramon and Gillian? Or is it too late?

Genres: Romance, Sports, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Ebooks, Anthologies, Erotica

43 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 27, 2011

About the author

Liz Crowe is a Kentucky native and graduate of the University of Louisville living in South Carolina. She's spent her time as a three-continent expat trailing spouse, mom of three, real estate agent, brewery owner and bar manager, and is currently a digital marketing and fundraising consultant, in addition to being an award-winning author.

The Liz Crowe backlist has something for any reader seeking complex storylines with humor and complete casts of characters that will delight and linger in the imagination long after the book is finished.

Her favorite things to do when she’s not scrolling social media for cute animal videos is walk her dogs, cuddle her cats, and watch her favorite sports teams while scrolling social media for cute animal videos.

Reviews

[Alexa Bourne · Rating 4 out of 5]

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!

[Simply Love Book Reviews]

4 Stars

This story was fast paced and descriptive and the same time. It’s not always easy to do both, but she did it well. She created two well flashed out characters who you wanted to root for.

To read the rest of Rhayne's review please visit
http://www.guiltypleasuresbookreviews...

[amanda s. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it better than the other one. Pretty fast and I finished it for like two hours or so. I enjoyed it. Look forward to read the rest.

[Rhayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 STARS

Ramon is a sexy soccer star whose whole life has revolved around soccer. After a devastating injury at the world cup he feels as though his world is closing in on him and there is not much left to live for. He heads to Vegas to stay with his cousin, Jackson and try to recover and re-think his future.

This story was fast paced and descriptive and the same time. It’s not always easy to do both, but she did it well. She created two well flashed out characters who you wanted to root for.

Complete review posted here: http://www.guiltypleasuresbookreviews...

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fast paced romance. I read it without putting it down. I downloaded it based on the review of a Goodreads friend so I was not familiar with the series. I didn’t realize the books are novellas verse novels so when I noticed I was 73% through the book I knew I would want more. And I did. In a short time Liz Crowe developed two characters that have survived heart break and are not sure it they are ready to move on. Their instant connection was palpable and the action went full steam head. I just wish the story continued…..

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite 1Night Stand books I've read thus far. Ramon and Gillian are bother broken. I notice the theme of this series is usually one or two broken people who mend each other. I love this story. Jackson is totally playing matchmaker with Madame Eve and I love that he helped hook these two up. Now once they sort of realized they were in love it was a tiny little bit corny for me but not enough for me to not have loved this story. Short quick read and it made me smile a couple of times which is always nice when reading.

[Stevie Carroll · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not at all a fan of football, but I was intrigued by the hero of this one, and the story definitely delivered. Plus the heroine is a former sporting legend in her own right, which makes for an interesting match. A fun little read.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I think it would have been even more fabulous as a full length novel. I would have loved to read of more of the getting to know you type stuff with Gillian and Ramon. I immediately liked both of them.Of course, that would defeat the purpose of the series.

[Jennifer Probst · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this story was wonderful. In a short amount of time, Crowe skillfully sets up situation and goes deep with the characters. You care about what happens to them, and it's a sweet love story amidst some great hot sex! Highly recommended - another winner for the 1 Night Stand series!

[Kristine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this story. The hero was super sexy in his vulnerability. My only issue was that I was "told"the little boy was 9, but was "shown" he was much younger. This discrepancy yanked me out of the story more than once.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great short story. A football star faces an uncertain future due to an injury until he meets a catering manager with a young son and realises that maybe there is something more than football in his future.

[Sue Lauzon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good short story from the 1Night Stand series. Even though this one is only 55 pages long it actually had a storyline that could have easily been expanded on to make it a full length romance novel.

[Brandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first 1 Night Stand book from Decadent Publishing and I really enjoyed it.

[Jessica Subject · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story reminded me just how much I love Liz's writing as well as the 1Night Stand stories. She swept me off my feet, along with the characters, and left me completely satisfied.

[Katy Beth Mckee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet and fast-paced. 1NS service that bring healing to both parties.

[TinyVenusAfterDark · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice short love story! even though it was short it was written just the right way!

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story!