On the Surface

De: Kate Willoughby

Narrado por: Dee J. Adams

Book one of In the Zone. NHL player Tim Hollander lost his temper one time and threw a water bottle at an abusive fan. After "Bottlegate", he's traded to the San Diego Barracudas, where he'll need to keep the bad publicity to a minimum while proving he can still compete with the younger guys on the ice.

Erin Collier is a pediatric nurse who's never seen a hockey game but gets in line for Tim's autograph at a PR event in hopes of impressing the doctor she has a crush on. When an obnoxious fan gets pushy toward Erin, Tim rushes to defend the pretty stranger, throwing a punch in the process. Grateful for the rescue, Erin agrees to stand by Tim during the resulting press conference and host him at a hospital charity event. Their chemistry is palpable, and soon their lives are intertwined. But Erin doubts a hockey player is capable of anything resembling a real relationship. And if Tim can't get her to see beyond what's on the surface, they'll never last longer than a single season.

©2014 Kate Willoughby (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Couldn't get past the narrator

I knew in the first 10 minutes I wouldn't be able to listen to this story. When a book opens from the male point of view, we should hear a male voice, or at least hear a female narrator that can do a man's voice well. Not the case here. Bummer. I was really looking forward to this story based on the summary.

True Love on and off the Ice

This was my first book written by Kate Willoughby and I thought this was a really great love story between a NHL hockey player and a nurse. I loved the way the story pulled you into their lives and how they learned to adapt to their different life styles. Erin (the nurse) did not know anything about the game of hockey and it was really fun to see how much she got into the games when she started attending them and watching her man Tim play the sport. I would've liked to hear Erin's reaction to Tim's interaction to his Ex-wife Waverly when they happen to meet at the cemetery. Without giving away too much of the story I am dying to see if Erin and Tim ever have a family of their own. I hope the next book in the story fills us in on that. I can't wait to read the next book in The Zone Series, Across the Line next.

Feminist grade: F- Full of misogyny

The level of misogyny of this book is perfect for when you want to play the game of: which book has the most sexist stuff per minute or the most cliche stereotypes of men and women per minute.
If, however, you are like me, and just want to listen to a decent romance novel that treats men and women like equals.... well this is not the book for you. If you, like me, identify yourself as liberal, feminist, or progressive, again, this is a bad book. I usually can make it through a book that I would give a C+ on feminism ( or, in other words, a book that has quite a bit of problematic or sexist protagonists or allies of the hero/heroine), but I barely made it 2 hours into the book before I could not take it anymore.
First, you have a marriage-obsessed heroine who is literally stalking the guy she likes before she bumps into the hero of the story. Second, you have a hero whose "locker room talk" is despicable. Then you have a meet cute in which the heroine tries to get the autograph of the hockey player, gets in a verbal fight with another fan, the fan pushes her first, then she talks about having brothers and being a tough woman and thus pushes him back, and then the fan pushes her again and she, like every other Mary Sue, falls on her ass. Really smart. Then the hero intervenes and beats up the fan. Then she stands up for the hockey player at the press conference about the incident, and afterwards, the "hero" gets sick so she goes with him to his hotel to look after him (she is a nurse). Turns out , he has a stomach bug and she spends the night with him in the hotel.
Idk about you, but all of this seems too much for once. and I could do with less cave man descriptions of how great it was to be "saved" from that fan. Also, really? Would you go to famous person's/stranger's hotel room to look after them when they have a stomach bug? NO!! Seriously, I gave up on the book after the hotel thing.

love

this book is a great read. the relationship feels real. love is inspiring and story is good. hockey isn't a backdrop to host a romance book in this one. its front and center adding tocthe story. highly recommend

Loved the story....hated the narrator

The story was fun. It's not earth shattering but it was enjoyable. The narrator was horrible. She can not do a man's voice or an old woman's voice. Other than the main character, everyone else sounded awful! I think I'll read the rest of this series.

DNF

I couldn't get through this and I can muster through some pretty rough audibles. This narrator has completely missed the mark on these characters.

could not finish

i didnt finish this book. struggled to get through what i did. the story was cute but the narrator sucks.