Judith‘s review of Tip of the Iceberg by Ann Jacobs.
Nothing but a deathbed promise to his wife could have brought Casey Weldon back to his old college town. He has signed on as athletic director, but he soon learns that the recruiting violations that brought him there are symptoms for something far more sinister. Not everyone appreciates Casey’s efforts to clean things up, so he needs added security. But TJ Thomas is more than just a campus cop–she is temptation he can’t ignore. The sensual pull between them is too strong to deny.
Trapped alone together by a raging blizzard, the only thing TJ can’t protect Casey from is herself. One touch, one kiss fans the blaze between them and the fiery storm they unleash personally is every bit as fierce as the one outside. TJ brings every sexual fantasy Casey had to life, and the simmering sexual discovery that unfolds takes them both by surprise. Before they can have a future together they must trap a murderer, and Casey must let go of the past and his guilt over loving another woman besides his dead wife. He has to persuade TJ with loving domination that she’s the woman he wants, not for just one night but forever.
This Ann Jacobs novella has been around for awhile and is a stand alone story about a NFL pro quarterback. He has several years left of good health and playing, but he promises his dying wife Susan, that he will leave his playing days behind, return to his alma mater to be their athletic director in order to relieve her concerns about their children being raised in Los Angeles. Casey has dearly loved Susan and her illness and death has left a huge hole in his life. He’s not sure he knows how to be a single parent, but he follows through on his promise to her and brings their children back to the small college town where they met. What he encounters makes him wonder if he wouldn’t be safer in Los Angeles. With a campus murder and the discovery of point shaving on the varsity basketball team, the danger to himself and his kids spurs him to send them away to his sister’s for a visit. It is in this atmosphere of danger that Casey and TJ meet and begin to realize that they are strongly attracted to one another. Casey’s guilt over this attraction is profound, yet he knows that it has been months since he and Susan were intimate, and the “dry spell” has been difficult.
As Casey and TJ explore this new connection, they each discovery that there is a desire for a darker, rougher kind of sex between them. Casey’s relationship with Susan had been very bland by comparison, so much so that he realizes that he had been denying something essential in himself in order to fit in with her boundaries–with what she was willing to accept between them. Not only must they deal with the tension of ferreting out the staff and students who are involved in the crime spree on campus, but they must also make some choices and explore some possibilities that will have long-range consequences for their future together.
Ann Jacobs writes intensely erotic romance and this story is no exception. She also tends to bring some mild BDSM into her stories and again, that is an ingredient here. But that aspect of Casey and TJ’s romance doesn’t take over nor does it totally define their love affair. She has also written a number of stories about professional athletes, their relationships, the pressures of their careers and what happens after the glory fades. She is one good story teller and I found this to be one of her really good ones. I think, once again, that she tends to keep her stories too short for my taste–I would have loved to have had an expanded exposure to Casey and TJ and to the resolution to the campus crime spree. I felt those aspects of the story were passed over for my taste. That is my own preference, and says more about me than the story possibly. Also, once again, I think the cover art of this novella is deplorable. Its graphic says very little about the story content–not a football in sight–and like so many Ellora’s Cave publications, the covers are just not the quality I find from other publishers. That is a highly personal preferences, but in this day and age, even some faint background images would be appropriate here.
In any event, I really enjoyed this novella and felt that in spite of the brevity of the tale, Jacobs did a very good job of involving the reader in the story and bringing Casey, TJ, and the other characters alive significantly. All that being said, I found this to be a satisfying reading experience.
I give this novella a rating of 3.75 out of 5, not as a reflection of its quality, but because of its length.
You can read more from Judith at Dr. J’s Book Place.
This book is available from Ellora’s Cave. You can here in e-format.
