Dear Readers:

Book Reviews Café is taking on a life of its own! As you can see by the name of the authors of Overtime, we now have a male author contributing to the Book Reviews Cafe. I would like to welcome Brian Hill and Dee Power, and I think we will see more of them in the "romance" genre in the future. I understand they are presently working on their second fiction book at this moment.

As you know from other reviews, I am a basketball and football fan which is the reason Dee and Brian have requested I review Overtime. Overtime combines football, business and romance. I suggest you pass this review on to your favorite male football fans - especially "Green Bay Packer" fans. Brian and Dee have done an excellent job of combining these three areas of life into a combination of mystery and suspense.

I like their style of introducing their characters first and then starting the story. By using this style, they give us a peek into the psyche of each of the main players in the book. They keep us interested through their descriptions of how each of these characters react to the situations they are thrown into – whether it is the football field or the corporate arena.

The Story

The heart of the story involves Dan Wilson and his business associate, employee and friend, Charlotte Ann Travis (Charlie); friend and corporate attorney, Mike Thornton; and long time friend, Kelly McCluskey. Dan’s family company, Wilson Industries, headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, is the target of a "hostile takeover."  Corporate Takeovers are part of reality in the business world. Sometimes they can be stopped and other times they create hostility among the owner and buyer.

Simultaneously, Kelly is experiencing a failure in her own career and goals for her life. Kelly lives in Brookstone, Wisconsin where she, Dan, and Mike went to college. Kelly has spent her last 20 years building a memorial to her boyfriend and football star killed in a car accident before he got to play professional football for the Packers.

At the same time these events are unfolding, Dan received a letter that has "floated" around for 20 years. The letter impacts Dan in such a way that he begins to unfold the mission that his friend and author of the letter, requested of him, right before his death. Dan’s personality is one of determination, calmness, caring and compassion. His ability to inspire loyalty in his employees becomes a very important ingredient when it comes to the success of the new owners of Wilson Industries.

We get to visit the inside of a football locker room, understand how a coach thinks. We witness him losing sleep over what he feels is his inability to inspire and challenge his players to want to win a game more than anything else in the world at the moment they arrive on the field. Brian and Dee also mention some of football’s greatest – Bart Starr, Ray Nitschke, Johnny Blood, Iron Mike, Herb Adderley, George Halas, Curly Lambeau, (can you guess where Lambeau Field got it’s name?), Jim Brown and others.

A Book to Check Out!

I highly recommend Overtime because we get a glimpse of the pain that goes into being an owner of a corporation and having it taken away from you by "shysters." We get to feel the glory of winning or the pain of losing a game in a professional, high profile setting. Being the romantic that I am, the best part is "getting the girl" you love and who loves you back. That, my friends, is one of the reasons why I consider Overtime a good romance read.

Readers, as you know, along with each book review I include several questions which I ask the author (authors in this case) of the book I am reviewing for you. Below is a link to the interview/questions I asked Dee and Brian and their answers regarding Overtime. Some of their responses are combined and several are individual answers.

Interview with Brian Hill & Dee Power

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