Reviewer: Connie Payne
Title: Love on the Ropes
Author: Pat White
Publisher: Dorchester Publishing
ISBN: 0-5055-2666-2
Release Date: October 2006
Genre/Sub-genre: Contemporary Romamce/Romantic Comedy
Year/Setting: Present day - Chicago area
Overall Rating: 4.25
Sexual Content Rating: Sexual (one scene)
Language (Profanity) Content Rating: Mild/Moderate
Violent Content Rating: Minimal/Moderate (fist fights-wrestling)
Pat's Website:
www.patwhitebooks.com
Going undercover for the DEA as Jack the Stripper, pro wrestler, isn’t Jason McBain’s idea of a plum assignment. For one, he knows next to nothing about wrestling. For another, the thought of stripping, in the ring, in front of an audience is just, well...too awful to contemplate.
But he does it anyway. He’s got to nail the steroid dealer who left a trail straight to BAM wrestling’s backdoor. And J’s afraid the trail leads directly to BAM’s physical therapist, Sandy Ryan. Afraid because he’s become attracted to her. Too attracted.
Sandy learned her lesson with Cody. She gave her heart to the former wrestler and he stomped on it and returned it in pieces. Never again would she get involved with another wrestler. Not on a personal basis anyway. Until the gorgeous "Stripper" fights his way into her life. Now she has to fight herself and the attraction to J. A fight she finds herself losing.
But other battle lines have been drawn. J thinks Sandy is the steroid dealer. Sandy thinks J is taking the steroids. Through a comedy of errors, and a bit of brawling between the men, Sandy and J work through their attraction and set their assumptions straight. Or did they?
I must say, the setting and plot for Love on the Ropes wouldn’t have been what I’d have picked off the shelves to read. Add to that Sandy talking and acting about as rough as the wrestlers. I thought I was going to be very disappointed.
But the surprise was on me as Ms. White soon peeled the rough exterior away to the underlying softness and compassion Sandy kept hidden. She also did the same with J. He’s the alpha male to the nth. Yet she peeled his layers away to enable us to see what was festering from his past that he needed to come to terms with.
What I was disappointed with was the one sex scene. Though there’s a reason behind it, the act and the language was in no way romantic. Perhaps if we were given a glimpse of a softer, more romantic scene to maybe segue into the relationship as it took a turn from the purely physical to the emotional. I don't know...
But that didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the story. The sparring both verbally and physically between the characters lent a light-hearted air to the story, as did the comedy of errors. The conflicts with and between J and Sandy and the seriousness of steroid usage in sports gave the story its depth and feeling.
Ms. White's writing packs a punch as she gives us a fast paced dramedy that’s both entertaining and thought provoking.
Connie
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