This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.

Book Evaluation:
Plot: 🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️
World Building:🌎🌎🌎🌎
Cover:📔📔📔📔
Hero: 🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻
Heroine:🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️
Intimacy Level: 🔥🔥🔥
Relationship Building: 💒💒💒💒
Heart & Feels:💞💞💞
Witty/Banter/Reaction of Laughter: 😂😂😂😂
Page Turner Level:📖📖📖📖
Ending:🧧🧧🧧🧧
Overall View: ✨✨✨✨

First Impressions
The Guy in the Middle is the third book in the "Underdogs" series by Kate Stewart. This was also my first Kate Stewart. I was looking for a football romance, and this one was at the top of the list and I was intrigued enough as this is an author that I have been to read for ages and I know that this series is very highly loved. I did find it interesting to see how this story developed. I had no expectations going into this book but this one is a long one for sure so keep that in mind when reading it. And it didn't need to be almost 500 pages lol it definitely could have been shortened to 350. But overall I really enjoyed this couple and seeing them work their way towards their HEA. Even though this is the third in the series, I do think you can read these books as standalones as I didn't really feel lost or anything but I am intrigued by the other couples and would love to get to their stories.

First Line
Sweat skates down every muscle, every crevice, every solid indentation on the wall of his massive chest.

The Main Protagonists
The Hero: Lance
-Rancher
-College Student
-Struggling with aspects of PTSD and Anger Management
-MMA fighter in training

The Heroine: Harper
-Dancer/Ballerina
-College Student
-Daughter of Football Coach
-Jewish Faith

Summary
Harper and Lance meet in the most unlikely place...at night in the gym where their mutual friend owns and runs it. They have one entanglement but chemistry is strong between them and thus start a short fling but when Harper's father finds out she is dating one of his players, and the news gets out, Harper is forced to end things with Lance without giving him the full truth on why she is abandoning what they have. Lance is willing to fight for her but Harper leaves him to go dance in NYC and travel Europe. When Lance and Harper are brought back together, Harper will need to come clean to Lance and to prove that she is willing to fight for their relationship. But earning her way back into Lance's heart won't be easy after trampling on it...

What I Loved
First off this is a HEROINE having to do the grovel and I soaked it up like a sponge. We get so many books where the hero wrongs the heroine so it was just so refreshing to have the heroine being in the wrong and have to work at it to earn back that trust she lost with Lance. But also this is the second book in two weeks where the heroine has family in the Jewish faith and I really loved that. From my observation she isn't really in the faith or she wouldn't be having sexual flings with athletes lol But it was very interesting to see how this was being developed. The romance between them is so full of back to forth angst. Through more than half of it through the hero is fighting for the heroine. There are many things he doesn't know on why she keeps rejecting what they have together. So my heart bled for him because he puts his heart and soul out there for her and to be honest she does stomp on it. So I loved that Troy gets involved and becomes her "grasshopper" and convinces her to fight for Lance like he has been doing for her. But she has a battle, because she has lost all trust with him and he is working through many issues other than their relationship and she will have to fight hard to get him back with her but how she fights for him and his family was beyond endearing. I wasn't really a fan of how long this book was and the drawn out angst wasn't my favorite element in the story. But I just ended up loving this romance and this couple so its definitely a solid 4 stars for me.

Overall View
The Guy in the Middle is a story of working through trauma, fighting for love no matter the risk and coming out on top after facing adversity and embracing your heart's desire.....TRULY A SHINING STAR OF NA ROMANCE!

Favorite Quote(s)
“What if this moment, right here, is the moment that changes your life?”

But I’m no longer just a dancer in love with a football player. I’m a woman in love with a man I can’t and refuse to live without.

I am his. I’ll always be his. Since the day I met him, he boxed his way into my heart, my champion, my fighter, my nemesis, my undoing, my everything.

Book Details (also in my shelves)
Sub Genre: Contemporary Romance, New Adult
Character Types: Groveling Heroine, Athlete, Dancer, Cowboy, Plain Jane
Themes: Football, Angst, Country/Ranch
Tropes: Forbidden Love

Book Perspective
Duo POV

Relationship Conflict vs Plot Conflict
A Mix of Both

Song This Book Inspires
Never Met a Girl Like You Before by The Insects

Recommendation For Reading Order
Can be read as a standalone

Steam/Spice Explanations

Warmin' by the fire- a medium level of sexual tension, a balance of sexual and emotional intimacy, lighter on the details in the sexual moments. ( )

"What if this moment, right here, is the moment that changes your life?"

The Guy in the Middle is the final book in the Underdogs series by Kate Stewart. This book is Lance and Harper's love story. They meet by chance in college and don't hit it off immediately. They fall for each other and are separated soon after. Both have to go through a lot of struggles and periods of personal growth before they face the final test of their relationship in the last section of the book. Even though we have had glimpses of these characters in the previous books in the series, there are details about events that have impacted the trajectory of their relationship that are not revealed until almost the very end of the book. Personally, I wish I had known some of this earlier because I would have understood more why they acted as they did and I wouldn't have been as frustrated with the choices the characters made. Both Lance and Harper were fierce about protecting the other. They were willing to sacrifice their love even if it meant they would go through the rest of their lives alone.

The epilogue of The Guy in the Middle is one of the best I have ever read in a romance book. It was a perfect way to end the series. I loved seeing all three couples brought together and getting closure to all of their stories without having to click on a link at the end of the book and sign up for the author's newsletter to get a bonus story. Instead we are given all of this as part of the book, no strings attached. Again, one of the most satisfying epilogues I have read.

I would recommend this book and this series to other romance readers. All of the books received 4.5 stars from me, but if I had to choose a favorite, it would be the first book - The Guy on the Right. ( )