Off The Shelf: The Hooker and the Hermit

When you find a gem there's no choice but to share it, right? This series by LH Cosway and Penny Reid is a great find and that's the reason why it's today Off The Shelf pick! First of all, I love the fact that this novel is by a duo of novelists instead of one because I can hardly decide what I want to do on any given day let alone coordinate with another person. Secondly, a novel about rugby instead of the plethora about hockey or American Football (which I love wholeheartedly but don't mind a break from every now and then)? Score (see what I did there?)!

So this is the scene: a hermit publicist slash celebrity blogger Annie Catrel "meets" Irish rugby player Ronan Fitzpatrick and by meet I mean takes a picture of him in some unattractive gear and blabs about it all on her blog...much to the rugby player's consternation. It would be all well and good if Ronan had kept his anger to himself about the incident but he decides to email Annie and so begins a tense relationship between celeb and celebrity trasher in the form of Annie writing as the Socialmedialite! Things take a turn for the worse when Annie is paired up outside her virtual reality with Ronan to act as his publicist. The man doesn't know Twitter from Twatter and hates taking photos of himself like some people hate having their roots show in public! It would all work out fine if someone didn't find out Annie's secret and Ronan didn't have to deal with a meddling mom...and the media!

The story was fun, full of self-depricating humour in the form of statements made by Ronan and a fair share of angst as we tried to work out who knew what and what it would mean for a romance between Annie and Ronan. I thought the book was a breath of fresh air in the sports romance genre because the characters were different: Annie was well established in her career instead of having a flighty job and was painted as being ambitious if uninterested in fashion while Ronan was shown as a celebrity who preferred to focus on his sport as opposed to the fame! His character was similar to Aiden's in the book the Wall of Winnipeg which I reviewed recently here. I really enjoyed the fact that Ronan didn't like Annie's boss dressing her up all "fashionably" when she was comfortable in her greys and nudes and wanted her to be happy in herself even if meant she wasn't rocking the latest trends.

Annie was a real hermit, preferring to stay indoors and having no real friends to speak of. I have to say, I related to her tendency to stay indoors and live life on the web but I definitely am nowhere near where she was at in the novel. She learnt a valuable lesson in the end about going out and living real life which is something I think many of us struggle with in today's day and age. Ronan had his own challenges to overcome including some anger towards an ex and a teammate of his and I enjoyed the way the issue was explored in the novel.

I loved this novel so much I shared it with a friend and she's reading it now! I'm glad there are more novels coming in the series from this duo and I'll be tackling the next one as soon as possible!

Books in the Series:

#1 The Hooker and the Hermit

#2 The Player and the Pixie

You can visit the authors on their websites here and here.

TK MAJ