Kimani, $6.50, ISBN 978-0-373-86364-8
Contemporary Romance, 2014
In Lisa Marie Perry’s Midnight Play, trouble is afoot in the Las Vegas Slayers. No, these are not vampire hunters or anything woo-woo, they are the usual football teams that populate the romance genre.
You see, the previous management had been tainted by accusations of corruption and what not, and now, the new owners are sending Danica Blue, their daughter, down to be the new general manager.
Now, I better don’t hear any of you throwing the N-word around here: nepotism doesn’t exist in romance novels, alright. It’s perfectly valid for strong, independent modern women in these stories to be handed everything they need to call themselves the best girl bosses ever, so there!
Anyway, Dex Harper, our hero, has been let go as part of the spring cleaning of the team. The former quarterback had been tanking badly in his performance in the last few seasons, and the new owners believe they have found a better replacement for him. Our hero, however, insists that he is actually at the peak of his physical performance; it is his teammates and former managers that deliberately sabotaged him for some reason.
Since he’s so hot, Danica feels compelled to give him the benefit of the doubt.
While I am reading this thing, I start to notice one thing: the two main characters don’t interact much with one another as I’d expect a couple in a romance novel would do. This story seems far more focused on each character doing their own thing, mostly talking with other people.
This creates an interesting situation: the characters are actually tailor-made for an interesting romance, but the author focuses on the external plot stuff that is far less interesting in comparison.
While Danica is in some ways won’t convert skeptics into believing that she made her way up there on her own abilities and not, say, her parents giving her a leg-up, she’s not too bad as a girl boss type. The only thing holding her back from being memorable is the usual baggage the author saddles her with: Danica wants to let her hair down but her parents would disapprove, et cetera.
Dex has a far more interesting issue to grapple with, but he’s somewhat more interesting than the standard playboy athlete hero in that he is completely self-aware and he’s not blaming anyone for the mess he’s dug himself in from thinking in the past that he was too big and too hot to be taken down a few pegs.
However, these two don’t have many scenes together to develop their relationship. When they do meet, often it’s to engage in the usual faux-antagonism thing or to discuss more mundane things that have nothing to do with their relationship.
This won’t be so bad if the whole drama revolving around the Las Vegas Slayers is interesting, but sadly, it’s pretty standard filler plot material. There is not much suspense to be had because the whole issue is laid out clearly to the reader from the start. It’s not like the story showcases procedural stuff or anything that could be interesting. No, the main characters talk so much here that it sure seems like they talk themselves to a resolution in the end!
Hence, Midnight Play comes off as something that isn’t aware of its own strengths. It could have presented a grand romance with its characters, but it instead focuses on other things in the least interesting ways possible.
The story itself isn’t a particularly painful read, and the narrative flows well, hence the three oogie rating. Still, what a missed opportunity!
