Overnight Sensation was both fun and frustrating. Heidi Jo Pepper is the daughter of the NHL League Commissioner. She'd interned with the Brooklyn Bruisers the previous season with her father's help. However, she recently quit her senior year at Bryn Mawr in order to continue working with the team. She'd always felt lost in college and preferred to work. Her father is deeply unhappy with this decision and has been trying to bully her back into school.
Jason Castro is a young phenom on the team, with a reputation for his one-night stands. What we don't initially know is that his high school girlfriend was killed in a car accident when he was eighteen and out of town for a tournament. Since then he has stayed away from meaningful relationships with women.
Heidi and Jason have been circling each other for some time when they begin to get close one night at the bar. Unfortunately, Heidi drinks way too much and Jason ends up taking her home to sober up safely. (I have to say that even with Jason acting very much like a gentleman and not a rapist, this whole scene made me uncomfortable.) Anyway, an unfortunate photograph gets out and creates some upset. The team's publicist recommends that the two not be photographed together. Heidi's father is furious and orders Jason to stay away from her. In addition, he changes the terms of her internship, Heidi is now required to do a number of low-paid jobs about the team and stadium in order for her to learn "what the real world is like." This begins immediately with Heidi valet parking the cars at the party.
What Heidi wants more than anything is a permanent employment position with the Bruisers. It sounds like Becca wants to hire Heidi as the office manager, but she can't because Heidi's father increased the length of her internship[???]. This didn't make any sense. How could Heidi possibly be locked into an internship if she wants to get a job. If Becca was afraid that hiring Heidi would anger her father, this was never stated, and the Commissioner shouldn't have that kind of power over an NHL team. Although this scheme required Heidi to explore many different areas of the stadium and created some memorable scenes, it really didn't make sense. Also, I've read three Brooklyn Bruiser's books where the team walks easily into their home arena with their employee badges. Suddenly Heidi is working security, and all the players need their belongings searched and a pat down? Finally, I cringed a little bit when twenty-year-old Heidi boldly asks to manage the team office when she's still hungover and everyone is dealing with the fallout of her getting drunk with one of the players.
On the whole, Heidi and Jason are likable characters with good chemistry. There were a number of fun, memorable scenes and some real emotion. I would put it as not my favorite but better than Pipe Dreams.
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