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Hollywood Kiwis #3
Under Ground
It was just a little white lie.
When Lana Maitland’s daughter, Casey, identifies a random stranger in a magazine as her father, the stubborn three year old refuses to back down when told he’s not. Eventually, Lana gives in because it’s not as if they’ll ever meet Alex Stone. Is it?
Alex Stone’s star is on the rise. He’s filming a movie that’ll give his career a big boost, and up for another role that could launch it into the stratosphere. What he doesn’t count on is falling in love. She’s blonde, blue-eyed, and three years old. She also insists he’s her father. If only her mother wasn’t just as gorgeous.
Finding love is just the start. A secret that’s been buried for over twenty years is about to be revealed and change Alex’s life forever.
When Lana Maitland’s daughter, Casey, identifies a random stranger in a magazine as her father, the stubborn three year old refuses to back down when told he’s not. Eventually, Lana gives in because it’s not as if they’ll ever meet Alex Stone. Is it?
Alex Stone’s star is on the rise. He’s filming a movie that’ll give his career a big boost, and up for another role that could launch it into the stratosphere. What he doesn’t count on is falling in love. She’s blonde, blue-eyed, and three years old. She also insists he’s her father. If only her mother wasn’t just as gorgeous.
Finding love is just the start. A secret that’s been buried for over twenty years is about to be revealed and change Alex’s life forever.
254 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 16, 2021
169 people are currently reading
388 people want to read
About the author
Wendy Smith
24 books162 followersWendy Smith published as Ariadne Wayne for three years before deciding she didn’t want to be someone else all the time. She’s an Apple Books and Nook bestselling author, whose book In the End, written as Ariadne Wayne, was named one of Apple’s best books of 2017. All her stories come with a quirky sense of humour, and she cries over everything.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
September 1, 2021
It's okay.
The heroine is a single mum with a three year old daughter.
The Hero is a non man-whore type.
No intimate scenes other than the Hero and heroine.
Ex drama for the heroine.
She had strict upbringing, fell for a married man, though he hadn't told her, got pregnant.
Ex wanted her to have a termination, she refused, he signed away his parental rights. But he is now her boss.
She's friendly with his wife, who doesn't know.
The kid has seen the Hero in a magazine and calls him daddy.
Then she meets him and it sparks a relationship.
No real huge angst. Even when the wife finds out it's all sorted out fairly amicably.
Bit of an issue with the fame of the Hero, fans etc.
I was a bit bored to be honest.
HEA.
Epilogue.
ARC.
The heroine is a single mum with a three year old daughter.
The Hero is a non man-whore type.
No intimate scenes other than the Hero and heroine.
Ex drama for the heroine.
She had strict upbringing, fell for a married man, though he hadn't told her, got pregnant.
Ex wanted her to have a termination, she refused, he signed away his parental rights. But he is now her boss.
She's friendly with his wife, who doesn't know.
The kid has seen the Hero in a magazine and calls him daddy.
Then she meets him and it sparks a relationship.
No real huge angst. Even when the wife finds out it's all sorted out fairly amicably.
Bit of an issue with the fame of the Hero, fans etc.
I was a bit bored to be honest.
HEA.
Epilogue.
ARC.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 26, 2023
this book just reminds me why i prefer books without kids. Still cute but…wouldn’t reread
February 1, 2023
Mag Dad
Oh what a lovely story…
A blended family that’s living the dream.
Definitely a must read story, get your hands on it today.
Oh what a lovely story…
A blended family that’s living the dream.
Definitely a must read story, get your hands on it today.
May 21, 2025
Lana’s daughter Cassie pointed at Alex in a magazine and said that’s my daddy. Lana tries to correct her but she is adamant and seen as Cassie is so young she see no harm in it. Until one day Alex just happens to be in the park the 2 of them are walking through and Cassie runs up to him shouting daddy.
Alex takes it all in his stride. He is there to shoot a movie but will only be there for 4 months so Lana is reluctant to get close but she agrees to a date and it goes well. Alex talks to Cassie to explain he is not her Daddy but she says she already knows but she picked him. Cassie is just adorable all through the book
Lana works for the guy that got her pregnant but gave up any parental rights to Cassie because he is married which Lana did not know when she was sleeping with him. But he starts getting jealous when she starts mentioning Alex
Someone takes their photo and there is speculation about if Alex is the baby daddy (same as with Josh and Delaney). I didn’t understand why Lana got so mad. It wasn’t Alex’s fault and he takes it hard. Says he should have protected them but you can protect them from that.
Then someone tries to take Cassie from day care. Her ex takes her cos she at work and too worked up to drive. Cassie keeps saying she wants her daddy which annoys the ex. Says she shouldn’t be calling him that so soon. Lana tells him she call him whatever she wants
I like how she never backed down with the ex. Always told him he had no rights.
Anyway the kidnaping wasn’t as bad as they thought but she breaks up with Alex cos it was one of him fans. Alex is devasted and she isn’t much happier. Then they both get chicken pox and Alex shows up to help them, they get back together after that.
Alex gets a job with Reece and Josh and he asks Lana to go back to America with them. She was a little reluctant at first but there is nothing keeping her there. She doesn’t really have any friends and she has no family.
When they get there they stay with Josh until they can find somewhere. When Alex’s mum visits she drops a bomb on him and one of their friends. Its kind of came out of nowhere and then she kind of just leaves to let Alex deal with it.
Alex is way too hard on himself. He thinks he isn’t providing for them cos he hasn’t found them a house yet, feels like he failed even though she tells him how happy she is. There is a really nice moment when there looking at a house and he says ‘I know its not as big as Josh and Delaney’s’ and she says ‘don’t you get yet?’ he says ‘what?’ she says ‘home is wherever the 3 of us are’
I loved how Lana was the one who got through to Reece. That she stood up to him for Alex. He didn’t deserve the way Reece treated him but it all worked out in the end
A lovely epilogue
Even though nothing really happened it was just nice to read a story about 2 people trying. She had never had a relationship before, he had never been a daddy figure and they both just loved each other and tried to make sure the other was happy. After reading some awful books lately with some questionable main characters then this was a breath of fresh air
Alex takes it all in his stride. He is there to shoot a movie but will only be there for 4 months so Lana is reluctant to get close but she agrees to a date and it goes well. Alex talks to Cassie to explain he is not her Daddy but she says she already knows but she picked him. Cassie is just adorable all through the book
Lana works for the guy that got her pregnant but gave up any parental rights to Cassie because he is married which Lana did not know when she was sleeping with him. But he starts getting jealous when she starts mentioning Alex
Someone takes their photo and there is speculation about if Alex is the baby daddy (same as with Josh and Delaney). I didn’t understand why Lana got so mad. It wasn’t Alex’s fault and he takes it hard. Says he should have protected them but you can protect them from that.
Then someone tries to take Cassie from day care. Her ex takes her cos she at work and too worked up to drive. Cassie keeps saying she wants her daddy which annoys the ex. Says she shouldn’t be calling him that so soon. Lana tells him she call him whatever she wants
I like how she never backed down with the ex. Always told him he had no rights.
Anyway the kidnaping wasn’t as bad as they thought but she breaks up with Alex cos it was one of him fans. Alex is devasted and she isn’t much happier. Then they both get chicken pox and Alex shows up to help them, they get back together after that.
Alex gets a job with Reece and Josh and he asks Lana to go back to America with them. She was a little reluctant at first but there is nothing keeping her there. She doesn’t really have any friends and she has no family.
When they get there they stay with Josh until they can find somewhere. When Alex’s mum visits she drops a bomb on him and one of their friends. Its kind of came out of nowhere and then she kind of just leaves to let Alex deal with it.
Alex is way too hard on himself. He thinks he isn’t providing for them cos he hasn’t found them a house yet, feels like he failed even though she tells him how happy she is. There is a really nice moment when there looking at a house and he says ‘I know its not as big as Josh and Delaney’s’ and she says ‘don’t you get yet?’ he says ‘what?’ she says ‘home is wherever the 3 of us are’
I loved how Lana was the one who got through to Reece. That she stood up to him for Alex. He didn’t deserve the way Reece treated him but it all worked out in the end
A lovely epilogue
Even though nothing really happened it was just nice to read a story about 2 people trying. She had never had a relationship before, he had never been a daddy figure and they both just loved each other and tried to make sure the other was happy. After reading some awful books lately with some questionable main characters then this was a breath of fresh air
July 23, 2023
Overall ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Spicy content 🌶🌶🌶 /5
Spice quality 🔥🔥🔥🔥/5
This book was an adorable little fluffy book. We follow Alex, who is an actor working on a movie in NZ when he goes for a run, and then a little girl runs up to him calling him daddy.
That's when he meets Lana and her little girl Casey.
From there, it is a whirlwind of love and cuteness.
There is no drama in this book at all, just all fluff. It is definitely a cute little book if you need to get out of a reading slump.
I do wish that it was a bit longer and that we would have seen a little more of their life together and seeing Alex getting bigger as an actor with his girls alongside him.
Spicy content 🌶🌶🌶 /5
Spice quality 🔥🔥🔥🔥/5
This book was an adorable little fluffy book. We follow Alex, who is an actor working on a movie in NZ when he goes for a run, and then a little girl runs up to him calling him daddy.
That's when he meets Lana and her little girl Casey.
From there, it is a whirlwind of love and cuteness.
There is no drama in this book at all, just all fluff. It is definitely a cute little book if you need to get out of a reading slump.
I do wish that it was a bit longer and that we would have seen a little more of their life together and seeing Alex getting bigger as an actor with his girls alongside him.
July 11, 2023
Very blah. I love single parent romances but in this case it felt like Casey was more of an after thought a lot of the times and sometimes it felt like Alex was really in love with Lana and Casey was just a nice bonus. There was not enough scenes to show him bonding with Casey to make me believe that they had any sort of decent connection. Also it was very unrealistic that a single mother would move to a whole other country for love, for a man that she has known for 4 months. And all the drama that came up I just couldn't bring myself to care at all.
September 18, 2021
“Kiwis taking over Hollywood, one leading man at a time.”
And thus, the third book in Author Wendy Smith’s fun and addictive Hollywood Kiwis series has been released, and I totally read it in one hit, just as I did with the others.
The whole premise behind the meeting between Lana and Alex carried a strong sense of kismet within it. How would any single mother even dream that the handsome man in a magazine photo who their daughter obsessively asserts is her ‘Daddy’, is the man who happens to show up in town to make a movie??? Call me marshmallow hearted, but I just loved everything about this storyline. Three-year-old Casey was a gorgeously written character, whose sassiness reminded me of our daughter at the same age. A wee girl who would stand their ground, hands on hips, and tell you her truth of any given situation.
I loved the relationship between Lana and Alex. No game-playing, and no half-truths to muddy these waters. Ms Smith simply showcased the complications that Hollywood Stars and their partners have had to deal with, the social learning curves and doing whatever great parents do, put their child first. Especially when the most frightening thing that any parent would ever face happens, leading Casey to question what is best for all of their futures.
While UNDER GROUND is a complete stand-a-lone, I absolutely recommend that you read COMMON GROUND and EVEN GROUND first. I’m saying this just because they are also awesome 5-Star reads and you get to know the ground-work behind the other two couples who feature in this book first, so to speak. You’ll see the background into the unconditional love and friendship between Delaney and Pania. They’re soul-sisters by choice, and it’ll be easy to see why they were so supportive towards Lana and Casey, and Alex too, of course.
Like the first two books, I’ll be ordering this one is signed paperback because it is that good. 5-Stars •🖤•
#mumsalwaysreading #bookblogger #bookreviewer #marnsreads #marnsj
And thus, the third book in Author Wendy Smith’s fun and addictive Hollywood Kiwis series has been released, and I totally read it in one hit, just as I did with the others.
The whole premise behind the meeting between Lana and Alex carried a strong sense of kismet within it. How would any single mother even dream that the handsome man in a magazine photo who their daughter obsessively asserts is her ‘Daddy’, is the man who happens to show up in town to make a movie??? Call me marshmallow hearted, but I just loved everything about this storyline. Three-year-old Casey was a gorgeously written character, whose sassiness reminded me of our daughter at the same age. A wee girl who would stand their ground, hands on hips, and tell you her truth of any given situation.
I loved the relationship between Lana and Alex. No game-playing, and no half-truths to muddy these waters. Ms Smith simply showcased the complications that Hollywood Stars and their partners have had to deal with, the social learning curves and doing whatever great parents do, put their child first. Especially when the most frightening thing that any parent would ever face happens, leading Casey to question what is best for all of their futures.
While UNDER GROUND is a complete stand-a-lone, I absolutely recommend that you read COMMON GROUND and EVEN GROUND first. I’m saying this just because they are also awesome 5-Star reads and you get to know the ground-work behind the other two couples who feature in this book first, so to speak. You’ll see the background into the unconditional love and friendship between Delaney and Pania. They’re soul-sisters by choice, and it’ll be easy to see why they were so supportive towards Lana and Casey, and Alex too, of course.
Like the first two books, I’ll be ordering this one is signed paperback because it is that good. 5-Stars •🖤•
#mumsalwaysreading #bookblogger #bookreviewer #marnsreads #marnsj
February 20, 2022
This series gets better with each book! The thing I love most is the characters we grow to love in book one and two have a large role in book three. I enjoy books that have children in them and Ms Smith includes them in her stories so well. I highly recommend this series.
December 19, 2022
it’s cute
It’s a cute story but it feels like it was written by a high school student. The drama lasts for a few chapters then it’s filled with boring things. I skimmed a lot of the book because I was just waiting for something to happen.
It’s a cute story but it feels like it was written by a high school student. The drama lasts for a few chapters then it’s filled with boring things. I skimmed a lot of the book because I was just waiting for something to happen.
January 8, 2023
This was a great read. The characters were solid and likeable. And the storyline was entertaining. This was the first book I’ve read by this author after seeing a sponsored post on Social media that intrigued me enough to one click.
March 10, 2023
Insta-love. Don't get me wrong I'd like if a hot successful actor saw me once and decided after a couple dates he's in love with me but there was just no build up and made the book pretty boring. I loved Casey though
October 11, 2021
Really enjoyable
I really enjoyed this story. It’s well written, the characters are likeable and I was left wanting to know more about them. Highly recommended
I really enjoyed this story. It’s well written, the characters are likeable and I was left wanting to know more about them. Highly recommended
April 25, 2023
It's lovely but also unfortunately bland. :/
April 30, 2023
Casey took this one to a whole level. She picked her daddy and never changed her mind. I liked the twist with Reece.
September 12, 2021
3.5 stars! This was the 3rd book in this series about a group of American actors who happen to all fall in love with women from New Zealand. We met Alex briefly in the last book but we find out more about him in this one. And we meet Lana and her adorable daughter Casey for the first time in this one. I gave this book less stars than the previous ones because I felt like the focus on this book moved from the romance between Alex and Lana to other things and it was a bit disjointed. I still enjoyed it but wish there was more focus on Alex and Lana together. About halfway through the book it shifted focus and I lost a bit of interest…just a bit! That being said I loved the friendship between Delaney and Pania extending to Lana. I also still love the idea of these famous actors falling in love with these “regular” women. This book was about family…finding family you didn’t know existed and finding family that’s not actually related by blood. If you like a quick, sweet read with a little steam then this book and series is for you!
~Alexis💜
~Alexis💜
September 17, 2021
When I started reading this book I didn't know what to expect, especially as Alex was only mentioned briefly in the previous book so I didn't know where it would lead. Turns out it's my favourite of the series so far! It's funny, emotional, heartwarming, romantic, sad and shocking, everything I want a book to be. Wendy has out done herself with this one and I love how the "old characters" from the previous books get a lot of time in the second half of this book too!
September 16, 2021
Single mom ✅
Cute kid ✅
Movie star on the rise hero ✅
Ex who needs a giant slap ✅
Unexpected family drama ✅
Lana has lived a life showing her that people leave.
Alex was amazing and I’d totally date him. He easy relationship with Casey was lovely to read.
Standalone, though I’d still recommend you treat yourself to the whole series.
Cute kid ✅
Movie star on the rise hero ✅
Ex who needs a giant slap ✅
Unexpected family drama ✅
Lana has lived a life showing her that people leave.
Alex was amazing and I’d totally date him. He easy relationship with Casey was lovely to read.
Standalone, though I’d still recommend you treat yourself to the whole series.
September 12, 2021
I've enjoyed this series. Alex is an actor just finding his feet as an actor hoping to land the prized roll, for his career, while he waits he meets Lana through a very embarrassing way, but they click and the chemistry is awesome. A sweet story with drama and loves of love and friends a great read recommended for an easy read
September 4, 2021
If you're looking for a good quality romance that hits the spot, Alex will have you melting in no time. This sweet charmer finds himself filming his next movie in New Zealand, when life as he knows it changes forever when he lays eyes on three year old Casey. She is convinced he is her daddy and he cannot resist the charms of this three year old munchkin. The fact that he is keen on her mother only seals the deal for him.
I love that we get to see some more of Josh and Delaney as well as Reece and Pania, the bond that formed between the ladies and their leading men was so special. This has been a wonderful series. I was fortunate enough to receive and ARC and this is my honest review.
I love that we get to see some more of Josh and Delaney as well as Reece and Pania, the bond that formed between the ladies and their leading men was so special. This has been a wonderful series. I was fortunate enough to receive and ARC and this is my honest review.
September 2, 2021
Wendy’s books never fail to draw me in from the second I pick them up. The same can be said for Under Ground. I started reading it a few hours ago and found myself unable to put it down.
Alex and Lana’s story is so cute. And to think it wouldn’t exist if Casey hasn’t picked Alex to be her daddy from the cover of a magazine.
Read it for yourself on September 16th!
As the third installment in the series, you get to see more of the previous book couples including Josh and Delaney (my favorites!) and Reece and Pania. It’s so nice seeing how their lives have progressed since we last saw them!
Five stars from me. Thanks for writing these fantastic stories, Wendy Smith!
Alex and Lana’s story is so cute. And to think it wouldn’t exist if Casey hasn’t picked Alex to be her daddy from the cover of a magazine.
Read it for yourself on September 16th!
As the third installment in the series, you get to see more of the previous book couples including Josh and Delaney (my favorites!) and Reece and Pania. It’s so nice seeing how their lives have progressed since we last saw them!
Five stars from me. Thanks for writing these fantastic stories, Wendy Smith!
September 4, 2021
This is undoubtedly the best book of the series. Wendy has outdone herself with Lana and Alex’s book.
September 24, 2021
I loved Casey!
Single parent Lana Maitland never thought that she would ever see the actor that her three-year-old daughter Casey decided was her daddy but running into actor Alex Stone on the way to day care changed her life. Alex Stone knew he wasn’t Casey’s father, but he went along with it to help her gorgeous mother and find a family.
I liked how the Hollywood Kiwis series connect to each other but are very different and worth reading but I loved Casey!
Single parent Lana Maitland never thought that she would ever see the actor that her three-year-old daughter Casey decided was her daddy but running into actor Alex Stone on the way to day care changed her life. Alex Stone knew he wasn’t Casey’s father, but he went along with it to help her gorgeous mother and find a family.
I liked how the Hollywood Kiwis series connect to each other but are very different and worth reading but I loved Casey!
June 22, 2024
1.5 stars
It had so much potential but I didn't like the writing
It had so much potential but I didn't like the writing
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews