One Good Book Deserves Another

Genre: Light/Comedic Romance
Series: N/A
Rating: 3 Stars
Length: 306 Pages
Formats: Mass Market Paperback


If Cade Nyland wins the SunCoast Run road rally, he'll be the first person to ever sweep every race in the season. It's a goal he's been working towards for years and now that it's in his grasp, he can almost taste victory. Unfortunately, it's a short taste, as he receives word that his mechanic has broken his leg and he won't be able to participate. Without a mechanic, Cade is out of the race.

Forced into taking time out of the search for a new mechanic to judge a tight butt competition...a humiliation that Cade couldn't care less about...he comes face to buns with the young woman who had just minutes before swung open her car door and put a big scrape in his classic car. The only thing good about her...beside her smoking hot body...is that just before she sauntered off on him, she'd given him the card of one TZ Blake, a mechanic with a stellar reputation who will hopefully be the key to Cade's racing salvation.

Tight Buns looks like a co-ed, but up on stage she shakes her goodies like a pro, and though Cade would never admit it, she gets his vote. She doesn't win, but when her name is called in the tie, Cade's day takes an even worse turn.

TZ Blake is a woman...with very Tight Buns.

She can't read a map and her car is a handful, but after her aunt's death and the dubious inheritance of a mechanic shop deep in debt, TZ needs the money Cade offers to spend four days racing with him down the state of Florida. He needs a mechanic, and in that regard, she's got him covered, but she knows nothing about rallying and the charts, racing lingo, and map reading are real concerns. The fact that she suspects something very peculiar is going on with her classic Mustang doesn't help matters, either.

A drop-dead gorgeous Cade Nyland intent on winning at all costs, a car that vibrates like a sex toy at full tilt and keeps rolling off on its own, and four days to wing being able to read a map. No doubt about it, she's going to drive him crazy.

I'm a fan of Kate Angell's Richmond Rogues series, and I was interested in reading some of her earlier stuff when I came across Drive Me Crazy. It definitely has some trademark Angell moments, with its wacky characters, light humor, and charm. Unfortunately, it also has two ancillary romantic plot lines that develop alongside TZ and Cade's, one of which I found completely distasteful, and together they limited the depth of the character definition and relationship evolution of the main pair, and hampered the plot of the book.

I don't have any complaints about TZ or Cade. They were likable. I think Angell tried to add a little conflict about the difference in their financial situations, but it wasn't fleshed out well and fell largely flat. More interesting were the...nuances of TZ's Mustang. I wish that had even more of a focus, actually...without TZ and Cade always referring to the car as the 'Stang. I got so sick of that by the end. How hard is it to say Mustang?

TZ's virgin friend and secondary character Kimmie was very hard to take. Not only do I have a big problem with a woman who glances at a guy and decides to marry him, but the manipulations and games she played to convince him she's his future wife were pretty disturbing for a modern woman. Brett was no more likable with his unwavering focus on getting Kimmie to sleep with him. Their pairing did nothing but annoy me.

I would have rather the focus stayed on the threads of suspense and the paranormal aspects. Even though I wasn't as turned off by the thread between Mike and Rissa, they didn't get as much page time, and their relationship evolved later in the book. It was too late by then to serve as a significant distraction to Kimmie and Brett. In fact, most of this book left me feeling like there was a lot of missed opportunity, as if what's there was okay, but could have been so much better with just a nip there or a tuck there.

Shifting focus just a little, widening the arc of the rally hijinks, explaining the main characters a little more, increasing the complexity of their story and fleshing them out more, all would have improved this book nicely. I didn't dislike it, but I can't actually say I liked it either.

It seems to me that Angell's skill and storytelling abilities have shown improvement over the years, judging from what I've read of the Rogues so far. Though I dislike baseball, Richmond Rogues snagged me from the start, and I'll always favor sports-centric stories over books that are car-centric. Richmond Rogues is just a better fit for my reading preferences, I think. I hope the next one is out soon.

Genre: Light/Comedic Romance
Series: N/A
Rating: 5 Stars
Length: 379 Pages
Formats: Paperback, Kindle


Footloose and free spirited Merry Olson didn't expect that the guardianship agreement she signed on a napkin a decade ago would ever result in her pulling up stakes in Minnesota and haring across the country to Oakburg, Virginia, but when the lawyer of her friend Charlie called and informed her of his sudden death, she had exactly one thought: to get to his daughter as soon as humanly possible and wrap her up in as much love as the eleven-year-old could stand. Not that the young, childless Merry had the first clue about raising children, but she'd been a girl of eleven once and she knew the pain of losing a parent at a young age, so she figured she could relate, and she was sure that all Charlene needed was understanding and love, sympathy for her tragic loss, and some girl bonding. And that's exactly what Merry was going to give her.

Unfortunately, it didn't take long for Merry to realize that she is completely out of her depth with the unnaturally reserved tomboy with the shaved head and over-sized clothes and who wants to be called Charlie, has no clue how to handle the soccer mom gig in an upper class suburbia so far outside of her ken as to resemble foreign soil, and is terrified by the legal mumbo jumbo related to the court appointed guardian ad litem who she's convinced will judge her unworthy to care for Charlene. Merry is way over her head and sinking fast. Thank goodness her neighbor Jack Mackinnon is such a hero. She doesn't know what she'd do without him.

The woman is a big fluffy female menace who gets lost trying to navigate her own driveway and is a danger to herself and everyone who knows her. It took Jack all of about five minutes to figure Merry out. Well, five minutes and the fully decorated pink Christmas tree...in the middle of January. Still, it's like his new neighbor is some mysterious vortex and he just keeps getting sucked in. Maybe it's because she's so darned pretty. Maybe it's because she's so obviously clueless but so determined to provide for his friend's daughter. Maybe it's just because Merry touches his heart in a way that he hadn't realized he'd needed his whole life. Whatever it is, he's captivated, and the longer she's in his life, the more he realizes he doesn't ever want her to get away.  Telling her that, though, may be a little harder than he'd ever dreamed.

Every once in a while I come across exactly the sort of book I most need at exactly the point I most needed it. Laid up with the flu for days, coughing up a lung (or two), feeling icky and ready to do just about anything to brighten my mood and take my mind off everything, I went looking for a light romantic comedy or a light contemporary romance. I was hoping for something on the empty-calorie side of brain candy. My sweets craving got more than satisfied by Blame it on Cupid.

I have to admit, as a longtime and proud tomboy myself, I related a little more with wounded Charlene (and I'd want to be called Charlie, too, regardless) than pink bunny slipper-wearing, petticure-loving, fluffy Merry, but there was something about the woman that drew me in. Flighty women like her usually annoy me pretty quick, but she was so big-hearted, so earnest in her care for Charlene, so dedicated to do as good a job as possible...and funny. Merry was funny. By the end I sort of adored her.

And then there was Jack. Sweet, clueless, hit-by-the-Merry-truck Jack. A bit of love 'em but don't love them sort at the start, a guy still feeling the sting of an ex-wife who cared more for her job than him so he doesn't get emotionally invested, he's also the guy that stomps across the yard in the snow, cursing Merry the whole way, only to shut the door she forgot to close, or the guy going over to the dark house to find out why the electricity isn't working despite having a date, or the one who is slipping into his jacket to go lend her a hand even as he's questioning his sons about why they think he'd do exactly that.

I loved him. I loved them together. And I flat-out adored how Greene developed their relationship among some other very valid and sometimes surprisingly deep plot points and threads. Issues such as the unique pain of losing a parent at a horrendously young age, gender identity, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, the heartache of first love, raising children in a modern age when sleepovers are coed, the often ravaging but sometimes subtle damage that divorce and parents' choices can have on impressionable children and teens, and several more very significant and relevant issues were all touched on to varying degrees. They added a surprising amount of depth and quite a bit of meat to a story that could have stuck with a more superficial but humorous romance and still been entertaining.

There was just so much I enjoyed about this book. Yeah, I had the flu, and I sure wasn't feeling at all good when I read it, but it kept me entertained through it all, and kept my mind off feeling cruddy. Call it chick lit, call it fluff, call it brain candy... I'll just call it a whole lotta fun when I needed fun the most.

Genre: Light/Comedic Romance
Series: N/A
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Length: 381 Pages
Formats: Paperback, Kindle


Sophie Dempsey is the black sheep of her family. In other words, she's generally honest and law-abiding; a straight arrow among a long line of con artists, swindlers, and crooks. She and her younger sister Amy, the former juvenile delinquent, have arrived in the small town of Temptation, Ohio to film a short movie audition tape for a former Temptation resident and Hollywood one-hit wonder, but it doesn't take long for her to sense that the supposedly simple assignment in the bucolic town isn't going to be quite as painless...or law-abiding as she'd hoped. When the gorgeous mayor Phin shows up to question them about the film's intentions, her fears are confirmed.

Phin Tucker comes from a long line of city mayors, and after his father's death while in office, he fell right into line, though his idea of a good day is just being left in peace to run his bookstore and play pool. But Tuckers don't loose, so when the city council starts to blow up about a possible porn film being made in Temptation, Phin and the town sheriff Wes drive out to the film site to take a look around. He wasn't expecting Sophie Dempsey. She's uptight, vicious-tongued, devil's candy. And man, does he want some of that candy.

Giving in to his sweet tooth, though, stirs up all sorts of insanity in town, and suddenly a calm, easy life is full of accusations, controversy, attempted murder, sex, and death. Life in Temptation has never been so complicated. Or so damn hot.

I really enjoyed this sexy little romance. I'm a Crusie fan, but I only stumbled upon her books within the last year or two, and some of her earlier books are a bit too dated for me. Despite being over a decade old, however, Welcome to Temptation wasn't likewise afflicted. Instead, it instantly rocketed to top position among my favorite Crusie books, with a fun blend of quirky small-town craziness, tons of weirdly wonderful characters, and a bunch of smoking sexuality.

The story is a total romp; a little wicked with a lot of humor, and both Sophie and Phin are completely likable. In fact, I liked Sophie even more than I liked Phin, and I very rarely feel that way about female protagonists. The way she stood up for herself, the way she took care of her siblings, and the way she didn't allow a shady past and a childhood trauma turn her bitter were all very appealing. That she was cautious and had some hangups, was believable. That she was willing to embrace...um...lets call them new experiences...was heartening, a little endearing, and funny. And I thought she acted with honor in situations that made being honorable a struggle.

There were also plenty of solid, three dimensional secondary and ancillary characters in Welcome to Temptation who I liked and loathed as intended. I adored Phin's precocious daughter Dillie; she stole every single one of her too-few scenes. The low-key Wes and the protective reprobate Davy were also favorites. They all filled out a plot that had a surprisingly robust depth with an impressive number of plot threads. Between the porn, the cheating spouses, the political maneuverings, the family tensions, the dead guy, the murder attempts, and of course, the romance, just about everything but the kitchen sink was tossed in and woven together in a surprisingly cohesive tale that was saucy and sexy.

I had some problems with a few aspects of the conclusion, not the least of which was the completely unsatisfying consequences for a character who deserved serious jail time...and a prescription for strong anti-psychotics. And though they were ancillary characters, the relationship between Rachel and Leo hit my ick meter and I never quite got over feeling Rachel's desperation was largely unattractive and her behavior off-putting. That was disappointing, because I liked her input in various parts of the book. Fortunately, the few issues I had were a relatively minor piece of the whole.

Welcome to Temptation was a great way to spend some time. There were so many strong points and good things in this light, entertaining story, and it has stood up well in the eleven or so years since it was written. Lots of fun times can be had in Temptation, OH, if you're looking for some sinfully delicious brain candy. And don't forget to stop and gawk at the water tower, either.

Genre: Light/Comedic Romance
Series: Chinooks Hockey Team, Book 5
Rating: 3 Stars
Length: 384 Pages, 4217 Locations
Formats: Mass Market Paperback, Kindle


When he woke up in the hospital after a car accident that almost cost him his life, Mark Bressler knew his hockey career was over. Months later, the slow and incredibly painful rehabilitation process is no more crippling that the dark morass of self pity into which he's slid. Morose and beaten, he's lost everything that ever meant anything to him, and when his team wins the coveted Stanley Cup without him, it almost kills him. All he wants to do is sit in his huge house and be left alone with his Vicodan. The last thing he wants is another team-hired home health worker shoved in his face, doing everything but wiping his butt.

Chelsea Ross isn't in health care. In fact, she's an actress...sort of. Her short, busty appearance has landed her a few rolls as screaming victims in B-grade horror movies, and she's had a few other walk-on rolls in soaps and commercials. After hockey player Mark Bressler had fired, scared off, or offended all six of the health care professionals the team sent to him to help him recover at his home, Chelsea's twin sister Bo got her a shot at going in another direction. For a meager salary but a much-needed ten thousand dollar bonus if she can put up with the surly, rude bastard for three months, Chelsea is determined to use a combination of her acting skills and experience as an assistant to LA's near-elite to put up with him. Even if he is a total Tool.

Broken and wounded, Mark's bitter self pity lashes out at Chelsea again and again. Chelsea grits her teeth and takes it. Neither like each other very much. Or...you know...at all. But the sparks can't help but fly when the unstoppable Chelsea clashes with the immovable Mark, and the longer the friction, the hotter the fire.

Despite the fact that every sports-themed romance series I've read has at least one book centered around the player that can no longer play and the spunky, irrepressible woman who pulls him out of his funk, I didn't mind the plot of Nothing But Trouble. While it lacked originality, it was cute and entertaining, and had a slick, quickly-paced narrative with plenty of sharp back-and-forth dialogue that appealed.

I wasn't always thrilled with Mark, whose self pity wore on me as it progressed long into the book. A portion of his personality is understandable. He lost his career, almost lost his life, and spent months in constant, chronic pain. I can sympathize with that...to a point. Because in the end, its still a light sports romance and should be entertaining. For my tastes, Mark's attitude needed adjustment sooner than it happened here. Chelsea, on the other hand, was at turns enchanting and adorable, with a nice blend of quirky individuality and steady control. I liked her, and frankly, I liked Mark the best when he was interacting with her, though I suppose that's rather the point.

There were plenty of good points through most of the book and I enjoyed most of it as the light, fun read it's intended to be. And then suddenly, things took a less pleasing turn in the final two chapters. The formula of the romance almost demands that moment of exploding conflict between the protagonists, in fact, my overall impression of romances often rests on that conflict and subsequent resolution. The problem for me here was the impetus of the conflict seemed contrived, the conflict itself didn't seem very conflict-worthy, and Mark's reactions seemed inflated.

The resolution compounded the problem. From a story perspective, I felt Mark didn't redeem himself quite enough and Chelsea grabbed for that HEA too quickly despite it. More troubling for me was a perplexing timeline conflict that jarred me right out of the story (details containing spoilers provided below).

I have a fondness for light, sports-themed romances, and most of this book gave me several hours of reading entertainment. A couple of changes here or there and the final two chapters could have easily matched the preceding ones. I'm disappointed they didn't.

Genre: Light/Comedic Romance
Series: Chicago Stars, Book 2
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Length: 384 Pages, 5553 Locations
Formats: Paperback, Kindle


Desperate for a major life change, former retirement home director and current Hollywood studio production assistant...though barely, Gracie Snow is struggling to gain a foothold in the industry, so when her boss tasks her with catching up with forcibly retired Chicago Stars wide receiver Bobby Tom Denton to drag his butt to Texas, she gamely takes on the task. She had no idea that the former football player would be so darn stubborn, not to mention a slew of other less pleasant adjectives. Sticking to him like glue as he meanders his way around the country turns out to be one of the hardest things she's ever done. When she does finally get him to Telarosa, Texas to start filming the action adventure movie he's contracted to star in, she's fired. Thanks to Bobby Tom, the production is seriously behind schedule and Gracie's job depended on her getting the man to Texas far earlier than she finally did.

Bobby Tom isn't entirely without scruples. He may not want to do this acting thing, despite signing the contract, but he sure wasn't going to let the mousy but determined Gracie suffer for his own stubbornness. That would be ungentlemanly. So he sets her up as his assistant, tricking her into believing she's still working for the production company but paying her salary out of his own pocket. After all, he was obscenely rich and had a lot of pity for the dowdy woman with the great undies and killer legs.

She's determined and independent, and intent on being the only person in Bobby Tom's life who takes nothing from him. He's oblivious to anything but his own wants and needs, nursing the pain of his lost career, until he realizes just how many of those wants and needs Gracie satisfies. If the ugly duckling who became a swan finds out just how much of her life has become dependent on Bobby Tom, however, her principles may crush her spirit...and the man may just break her heart.

This second book in the Chicago Stars series definitely had its moments. While Gracie's character took some warming up to (the frumpy thirty-year-old ingenue routine was tedious), and I struggled at various points throughout the book with Bobby Tom's selfish, superficial nature and entitlement issues, there were many points along their way that worked nicely for me. I wish we'd had more moments like the third-wheel date, because that was a riot, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching B.T. slowly start to fall for Gracie, even though he was utterly oblivious to it. Most of the middle of the book charmed me, and I think Susan Elizabeth Phillips did a great job with the relationship evolution. I was particularly pleased that Gracie never did take any guff from B.T. (until, unfortunately, the end), instead showing a witty sort of grit as she pays him back when he went too far over the line. Despite the annoyingly prim demeanor at the beginning, she did display quite a bit of backbone in places and grew on me because of that.

Unfortunately, I had some significant problems with the last 15% of the book. I had thought, as I was reading, that Gracie had grown in confidence and her self esteem was evolving after her makeover, given how well she dealt with her emotions and all of Bobby Tom's hijinks through most of the book. Then she finds out about the Big Betrayal and she's back to being a total frump, a shattered shell, with no backbone or self esteem. I was confused by her reaction and intensely disappointed by her lack of growth and the apparent ease in which she was stripped of any feelings of worth, all of which seemed grossly against character. Not to mention, Phillips missed several opportunities to make a more substantive statement about the value of a woman's self esteem over superficiality.

I was also horrified by the fact that Gracie mother had these sterling words for her daughter since the tender age of six: "You come from a long line of homely women, Gracie Snow. Accept the fact that you'll never be pretty and you'll be a lot happier." I'm sorry, but that's such an egregious case of emotional child abuse that even I felt a little heartbroken when I read it. I'm terribly disappointed that Phillips didn't give that mentality or the damage it inflicted the attention it deserved, like she did with Phoebe's father's lack of affection and emotional abuse in the first book in the series, It Had To Be You. Given the significant issues of body image and self esteem among women - even back when this book was originally published in 1995 - it would have been a far better book had those things been addressed.

The subplot of the relationship between Bobby Tom's mother Suzy and Way Sawyer needed much more development, because as it was written, I found parts of it to be creepy. The woman starts out feeling like a whore (and is treated like one, honestly), then feels like she betrayed her deceased husband, yet then, suddenly, she's in love with Way. I completely understood and sympathized with Way in those sections, and I've always loved the "bad boy turned business mogul" theme, but Suzy's actions and reactions were a total turn-off. Maybe if the evolution of their relationship had been featured a bit more, or readers had seen more of the actual development, I would have felt less conflicted and squicked out.

Of Bobby Tom, I have mixed feelings. I usually favor flawed characters, as flaws provide such delicious depth. B.T. was certainly flawed. I'm just not sure I could forgive how those flaws materialized so late in the book and never felt like he was fully redeemed as a character. Maybe had there been a scene where he was ostracized for what he did in public...or if he acknowledged what a total reprehensible thing it was to more than just Gracie, I'd feel more sympathetic. Also, I can't go from a heroine fearing physical harm from a hero to being all happy-happy-joy-joy minutes later. I don't downshift that fast. Phillips seemed to be making some connection between the repercussions of B.T's childhood discipline and his relationship with Gracie, but I may have been too obtuse to get it.

The football quiz conclusion was ridiculous and didn't match the tone of the previous events. I felt it was a misplaced and heavy-handed attempt to put the book back on lighter footing for the obligatory happy ending. Perhaps if there had been an epilogue, giving readers a bit of a time buffer before introducing it, it would have been more successful, but as it was, it fell flat for me. In fact, so much of the goings on in the last two chapters of this book bothered me that I was left feeling like Heaven, Texas missed a lot of opportunities to be a thoroughly entertaining romance, regardless of how much I enjoyed sections of it.

Genre: Light/Comedic Romance
Series: N/A
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Length: 352 Pages, 4801 Locations
Formats: Mass Market Paperback, Kindle


The challenge may be a marketing scheme intended to promote The Palm Club, a Miami fitness club that marketing executive Lucy Cunningham landed for her firm, but the benefits could be life changing. If she allows herself to be turned into the next local television reality star and willingly puts herself through a year of dieting and training while under public scrutiny, both she and the fitness club's best trainer will be awarded $1,000 for every pound she loses, and with a goal of 100 pounds of total weight loss, the dollar signs and the potential for starting her own marketing firm were too much for Lucy to pass up.

Though the thought of losing the Milk Duds definitely made her waffle a little.

Trainer Theo Redmond knew he had his work cut out for him when the pretty but overweight Lucy showed up at the club for their first meeting and promptly nearly asphyxiated on a piece of candy, but he needed the money to get back into medical school and finally fulfill his life-long dream. Between the fitness club hours, the bouncer side job he does on the weekends, coaching for the Special Olympics, and taking care of his brother Buddy, he doesn't have much in the way of a social life, and won't for the foreseeable future, but making time to train Lucy, help her get into shape, is just the sort of task that makes him feel good about what he does. And Theo is very good at what he does.

They start out as strangers. It starts out as a job, and a quest, and a challenge. But twelve months of grueling work, fastidious dieting, and daily workouts draws Lucy and Theo closer and closer. Despite first impressions, Theo's not the gorgeous but shallow womanizer Lucy thought, but a generous, dedicated, kind and intelligent man (and yeah...gorgeous). Regardless of her starting weight, Lucy is wickedly funny, open to every torture...er...task he sets her on, highly intelligent, and adorable.

She lusted him at first sight. He liked her from the beginning. And now, well... Who doesn't love Lucy?

I sure did. In fact, I loved just about everything about both Lucy and Theo, but Lucy was definitely my favorite of the two. Her acerbic wit, her humor - often self-effacing, and her insecurities were all thoroughly developed and displayed in a very realistic (yet still funny) way that made her intensely sympathetic as a character and more than a little lovable as a person. Theo was a doll, and a truly great guy, but he also had his emotional baggage and past traumas, insecurities, and fears, and that balanced him out nicely and kept him well away from the too-good-too-be-true ledge.

Their story, from beginning to end, was so entertaining, and I truly appreciate a romance that develops over a realistic amount of time and for the right reasons, as opposed to the many lust-driven relationships with a week or less from first sight to wedding bells that I've read in many romance novels lately. Don't get me wrong, there's tons of lust between Lucy and Theo, but their romance was driven just as much by their genuine caring and respect for each other, their compatibility and their emotions, as well as their hormones. I loved that.

And I was very impressed by the aspects of the plot that dealt with Lucy's weight loss, including those daily food journal entries. Donovan dealt with this exceptionally sensitive subject with tons of humor, grace, and keen insights into the minds of the dieting, while managing to promote the necessity of a healthy self image and the importance of the intrinsic combination of both physical and mental health. This isn't a book about a woman losing weight to get a guy. It's really about getting healthy because healthy is better, and while the initial motivation is the challenge and the money, and there's certainly a guy involved, I never got the sense that Lucy was losing weight so Theo would love her - and that's really what set this book apart from just a fun comedy romance.

It was really fun, though.

The main characters were great, the secondary and ancillary characters seemed genuine and were well rounded, adding a nice feeling of fullness to the lives of Lucy and Theo as they interacted with them. There were plenty of subplots that added depth and dimension to the arc of the book, and most of those subplots were fleshed out nicely, or touched upon just enough not to overwhelm the main plot while adding flavor and texture to it.

I could have done without the odd subplot about Lucy's boss, though. I didn't like that at all. It was, for me, the one weak spot of the book, because it was cursorily developed, didn't make a whole lot of sense, and was a little all over the map, and when Lola was tossed into the mix, and I thought something significant would finally develop, it fizzled and went nowhere. It was the only part of the book that didn't seem to fit and is really my only issue with the whole story.

Well that and I don't know of a single post-9/11 airport in this country that lets anyone beyond the security checkpoint without a boarding pass, and I doubt Miami is the exception, but that's just me being really nitpicky.

I loved everything else about this book, even the parts that I knew at some point would be coming given the nature of the plot. Funny, a heck of a lot of fun, sweet and loving, smart, sexy, and poignant, He Loves Lucy hit just about every single one of my happy spots. I enjoyed it immensely.

Now...where did I put my Milk Duds?

Genre: Light/Comedic Romance
Series: Chicago Stars, Book 1
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Length: 384 Pages, 5499 Locations
Formats: Mass Market Paperback, It Had to Be You


A surprise amendment to her father's will leaves Manhattan bombshell Phoebe Somerville ownership of the Chicago Stars football team. She thought she's long been disinherited and was thrilled by the will, seeing it as proof that her father did love her after all...until the vicious, controlling codicil gives her one season to win the AFC Championship and demands she stop being such an unrelieved screw up. If she fails, the team will be handed off to her slimy bastard of a cousin, a man who, as a boy, made Phoebe's life miserable. Refusing to give in to her father's manipulations, even in death, she blows off the whole idea and heads off on vacation, submerging herself in the artistic world to which she had fled when her father had betrayed her in the worst way years ago.

Finding the head coach of the Stars in her living room a few days after her return, however, wasn't something she had anticipated. Dan Calebow makes her nervous and strips her of her vaunted control. He's large, intimidating, and forbidding, and something about him does weird things to her stomach. His condescending derision, on the other hand, does something else entirely to her temper.

She's the biggest bimbo that he's ever met, but Phoebe Somerville sure was a looker. Pity that she was so useless as an owner and was technically his boss. He had players with unsigned contracts and a team to coach, he didn't have time to play her games. He needed her back in Chicago immediately. Once there, he could set her up as a brainless figurehead and get on doing the job he loved.

Problem was, Phoebe's anything but brainless, and the bimbo act is a shield she uses to protect herself. After years of insecurity with men, and a childhood of trauma and neglect, she has honed herself into being exactly what she needs to be to get what she wants. It isn't until she returns to Chicago and starts to take up the reins of the team that she realizes she wants to be the one thing her father never thought she could be. A smashing success. If that means she has to kick the patootie of one supercilious head coach, well...surely they make helmets or something for that.

Sparks fly and quips are traded with witty alacrity in this sports romance romp, the first of the Chicago Stars series. With a rather astounding level of character definition and tragic backstory that tugs at the heartstrings, this is a light romance with deep, dark undertones and was doubly satisfying for it. I loved Phoebe. More than that, I admired her. She's a survivor, and while her survival instincts may be dressed up in inappropriate gold lame at times, or wrapped up like a bow on her poodle's topknot, they're exceptionally adept at keeping her afloat. She has a truly tender and kind heart, and her intelligence is keen, especially when she truly starts using it.

Dan was a little harder to peg. He's drawn to Phoebe, but doesn't see much beyond her bodacious bod at first, and there was a sex scene towards the beginning of the book (not with Phoebe) that I found deeply disturbing until his partner was identified. Even after that scene I found his relationship with his ex to be a bit distasteful, and the manner in which he so clinically decides to marry a woman just because she's good with kids didn't enamor him to me, either. I did eventually warm up to him, and he does show a far wider range of emotion and intellect through the book, but it was a bit of a rough start for me with him.

The push-pull between him and Phoebe, though, was straight up, classic, awesome romance fun wrapped around a very complex consortium of character issues and insecurities. I have to give Susan Eliabeth Phillips credit, she created fully realized and very human characters on all levels, including secondary and ancillary characters, that filled up and filled out this book superbly, giving it much more depth and a far more meaty plot than I was anticipating.

There were a few spots that seemed a bit formulaic (it's an HEA romance, though, it wasn't like I wasn't expecting that) and the major relationship conflicts could be seen coming from across the stadium and were, in my opinion, the least elegant aspects of the storyline, but nothing was a major detractor. In fact, it was one of the most satisfying and comprehensive contemporary romances I've read lately.

I was particularly pleased with the subplot about the evolution of the relationship Phoebe has with her half sister, and the nifty ways Dan factored into that. I was also pleasantly surprised with how SEP addressed Phoebe's rape at the age of eighteen, and how realistically that assault was integrated into Phoebe's psyche and personality. The moment that Phoebe shared that trauma with Dan was a very good moment for me in the book, for a lot of reasons that are hard to explain, but touch on my appreciation for honest relationship conversation and trust. And I loved absolutely everything about Dan's actions and reactions to the whole of his knowledge of that rape from that point to the very end.

I did have a few issues with the book. I could have done without the crazy stalker subplot, I feel it did too little to expand or assist in adding insight into Dan's past and it seemed too hokey a plot device at the end to be a credible threat. Snippets throughout the book shined a glaring spotlight on its 1994 original publishing date (O.J. Simpson being mentioned as a sports correspondent, not a defendant was particularly telling). Dan's ex-wife served little purpose beyond being an excuse for a very emotional scene between Dan and Phoebe...and for the total gross out factor of that initial sex scene.

On the other hand, I was highly impressed with the taut play-by-play of the AFC Championship game. It was very well written - informative, tense, emotional, but not so detailed as to make your eyes cross. Admittedly, I'm a rabid football fan, and I have been since childhood. I know football. I even follow my team's off-season personnel and contract stories religiously. It was pretty much guaranteed that I wasn't going to be bored or disinterested with the level of the sports detail in this book. That being said, I'd like to think that I'm objective enough to assure those who aren't football fans that there wasn't a ton of it in the book, and certainly nothing I would consider a major detractor for those who don't like the sport.

It Had to Be You is, at its core, the story of two damaged and emotionally fragile people finding each other in the least likely of places, and realizing that despite appearances and regardless of propriety, they're perfect for each other. And in getting there, it was the Superbowl of delicious, deep, thrilling, emotional journeys, ripe with fully realized and sympathetic characters that resonate with a sense of genuine triumph.

Genre: Light/Comedic Romance
Series: Chicago Stars, Book 6
Rating: 4 Stars
Length: 416 Pages, 6126 Locations
Formats: Mass Market Paperback, Kindle


She may be the black sheep of her uber-successful family, but Annabelle Granger marches to the beat of her own drum. She's taken over her grandmother's matchmaking business, renamed it Perfect for You, and is determined to make it successful. As part of the quest to do so, she's gotten one of her best friends to set up a meeting with one of the most eligible bachelors in town, rich, gorgeous sports agent, Heath Champion. Annabelle may not have the first clue why Heath would need to go to a matchmaker to find a wife, but he's contracted with a rival agency and Annabelle is convinced she can get him to become a client of hers if she just meets him.

And things go exactly as planned...sorta. Well, okay, not really. Champion is an arrogant, overly entitled workaholic jerk and his demands are ridiculously unreasonable. Still, he's made a small concession and Annabelle sets her sights on making the most of the opportunity he's granted.

He's also sexy as hell...not that she's given that any thought.

Heath Champion has risen from poverty and survived an abusive father to become a self-made and highly educated man. He's an excellent agent and he dedicates his life to his clients. Now that he's approaching thirty-five he figures it's time he finds a suitable wife, but with his schedule he hardly has time. So he does the most practical thing he can think of; he hires a matchmaking firm to do it for him. Limiting his introductory meetings to twenty minutes, the ladies of Chicago are brought to him one by one between phone calls and business dealings, and it's going moderately well, he thinks. Until Annabelle walks into his office, late, looking bedraggled, and spouting off about her own matchmaking abilities. Two working to find him a wife has to be - at least marginally - better than one, no matter how little faith he has in Annabelle's dubious skills. Something about her, though, challenges him, and her absolute lack of suitable subservience to him is appealing in its own right.

And she's sexy as hell...not that he's given that any thought.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips has a fantastic romp in Match Me If You Can. Heath and Annabelle are great lead characters, and their dialogue is sassy, sarcastic, and so very much fun. The chemistry between them, first as friends, then as lovers, is some of the best in the genre, and Phillips is particularly good at the slow but realistic development of the relationship between them. Each character has personal issues and a few inner demons that add some depth and angst to the story and provides opportunity for personal development, and the arc of the story is fleshed out nicely with a strong supporting case of secondary and ancillary characters.

While it could be said that the concept of the story borders on the silly, and the actions of both Annabelle and Heath sometimes tread the line between fantastic and farce, for a light read that's pure humorous enjoyment, this book has made it to the big game and delivered more than just nifty commercials.

I wish I'd been as pleased with the minor plot thread of the relationship between Bodie and Portia, but I had a hard time with that one. It just didn't work for me. Maybe if it had been given a bit more room to grow and the characters afforded more development I would have been able to buy into it more than I did. Instead, I found Portia to be largely irredeemable until close to the very end and there wasn't enough provided for me to find her sympathetic through most of the book. I liked Bodie well enough, but again, would have preferred to have seen a bit more of him to get a better handle on him as a character. There were some deep issues motivating Portia, and some juicy details about Bodie's past. I think they could have supported their own story much better in a longer format.

I wasn't totally sold on the conclusion of Match Me If You Can, either. The story was moving right along and getting to the meat of the central conflict between Heath and Annabelle, and things just went a little wonky. The inevitable blow up occurred a little abruptly and was resolved a little quickly for my taste given the depth of the issues each character has at the time. I appreciated the epilogue quite a bit, though, and the nifty way the book was wrapped up.

From strictly a story perspective, I wouldn't say Match Me If You Can is perfect, but it was solidly good and a lot of pure, fun entertainment. I know it's the sixth book of the Chicago Stars series, but it worked well as a stand alone. I haven't read the first five books, so I can speak with authority (albeit a subjective one) on that. I can also say I enjoyed this one so much that I went back to the beginning and purchased It Had to Be You so I could start the Chicago Stars series from the beginning.

Phillips has a smooth, pleasant writing style and creates likable characters, putting them into sizzling situations (though sometimes that sizzle comes from the hotheadedness of her characters), much to a reader's supreme enjoyment. I'm looking forward to spending much more time in the Chicago Stars world. Similarities exist between this series and Kate Angell's Richmond Rogues series - though that one is centered around baseball. I'll be interested in seeing how those similarities - and differences, too - evidence themselves as I progress with this series. I've enjoyed the Rogues series so far, and things are looking just as good, if not better, in Phillips' Chicago Stars series.

Genre: Light/Comedic Romance
Series: N/A
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Length: 320 Pages, 6057 Locations
Formats: Paperback, Kindle


Jason Andrews has been voted The Sexiest Man Alive, and no woman under the age of 80 would argue against him being the hottest, most well known A-list actor out there. He is, of course, rather fond of being top of the heap. He runs through women as quickly and as casually as he changes his underwear, has entitlement issues larger than that big canyon in Arizona, and when he and his ego go somewhere, they need a stadium to fit comfortably. Like the one in Ann Arbor.

Needless to say, Jason's thrown a little off stride when he's completely blown off by gorgeous lawyer Taylor Donovan when he finally deigns to show up to the meeting that one of his people had arranged for the prior week. So what that he was supposed to show up Thursday, and again on Friday? The casinos in Vegas had been calling his name and he was entitled to have a little fun. How dare the sixth year Chicago associate, in LA to try a big case for her firm, not make time for him when he's ready for her to help him with his next role. And how dare she not only walk out on him after putting him rather neatly in his place, but repeatedly refuse to respond to his attempts to contact her after their less than pleasant initial meeting.

Does she have any idea who he is?

Taylor does, actually, know exactly who the superficial, self absorbed, womanizing prat is - and she has no time for the "Actor" with all his entitlement and ego issues. Unfortunately she's in LA, so when Andrews' publicist contacts her boss, there's absolutely nothing Taylor can do but work with the insufferable (though, admittedly gorgeous) man.

One is the unstoppable force, the other is the immovable object, and when Jason sets his sights on the titanium-skinned Taylor, something is either going to give, or break into the sort of pieces that even all the king's horses and men can't put back together again.

A slick, sassy narrative with a strong, intelligent female protagonist who takes no crap and who has a solid head on her shoulders really sets this Julie James romance apart from a full pack. I thoroughly enjoyed Taylor's grounded and sharp-witted personality and appreciated how she was so firmly entrenched in the real world even as she disabused Jason of his ideas on his. Wounded from a past relationship, I liked how James incorporated that ding to her pride into a genuine fear when things between Taylor and Jason turn serious. It added depth and a realistic dimension to the romance.

It took me quite a while to warm up to Jason as anything more than a punchline, and the portrayal of his inflated idiocy and adolescent behavior, combined with the sleazy machinations of up-and-comer actor Scott Casey, provided a harsh commentary on the brittle fantasy of popularity and did little to recommend actors or LA to the romantic-minded. I was, however, highly amused at the parallels between Casey's breakout role and that of Legolas for Orlando Bloom. There were lots of tongue-in-cheek moments to be had there.

Just the Sexiest Man Alive lacked a bit of the laugh out loud comedy of James' Practice Makes Perfect, but it had more sardonic humor with a bit more bite to it. I enjoyed both books and fully intend to keep going with the most recent of Julie James' work, Something About You. I have found myself genuinely and delightfully entertained by James' smooth, polished writing style and completely appreciate the witty, sassy dialogue and the solid, three dimensional, realistic characters (even when that "realism" is Hollywood fake). True, I would have liked to have seen a bit more depth given to Jason in this book, though maybe that would have started to tiptoe into the waters of cliche. But even at the end the actor still seemed in need of some humility and I would've liked to see a bit broader redemption for him.

I was completely entertained, though, regardless of a few minor issues or slight preference differences. I'm just a book away from putting James on my instant-buy list. If I like Something About You nearly as much as I have this one and Practice Makes Perfect, I just may have found another preferred author for light romantic comedy.

Genre: Light/Comedic Romance
Series: N/A
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Length: 304 Pages, 4823 Locations
Formats: Paperback, Kindle


For eight long years Payton Kendall and J.D. Jameson have been professional adversaries and fellow associates at a prestigious Chicago law firm. Payton thinks J.D. is a supercilious jerk, J.D. thinks Payton is an ultrafeminist liberal shrew. They dislike each other with equal fervor and have spent the past eight years sniping, snarking, and jawing at each other...in private, of course, as to do so publicly would hardly be professional. Consistently trying to one-up each other (seriously, what other reason would Payton set her alarm for the ungodly hour of 5:30 a.m. if it wasn't to beat J.D. into the office?) they've taken professional competition to an art form and were quite settled in that routine as they worked their obscene schedules, both on the cusp of being made partner.

When the firm that they have both poured their blood, sweat, and tears into, however, announced that only one of them would make partner and the other would be shown the door, the two long-time rivals are forced to take a second look at their spitfire relationship. With their firm as the new object of their horror and angst, suddenly the differences between them aren't nearly as annoying as they have always been...and that's about when the sparks not only start to fly between them, but pretty much erupt into a massive conflagration.

Julie James has created a highly entertaining romantic comedy that is rich and full bodied, with a lightning quick dialogue of quips, cracks, and competition, and a smooth narrative that rockets along at a breakneck pace. Without doubt, this is one of the most entertaining light contemporary romances that I've read all year. Admittedly, I have a special fondness for enemies-turned-lovers romantic comedies, so I was predisposed to enjoying this little gem, but above and beyond that, Practice Makes Perfect is the real deal.

The dialogue is genuinely funny, the situations that Payton and J.D. get themselves in are a riot, and the backbone of the story included some depth for the characters and provided a surprising amount of explanation for the driving forces behind these career-driven rivals. Both Payton and J.D. are tops in their games, both intelligent, and both charmingly flawed...but not grievously so. They make excellent protagonists, and never so much as when they're fighting with each other and...well...when they're not.

I wasn't totally convinced in the main conflict of the firm's decision to only take one partner, and not being in the legal profession, I don't know how realistic it is that one would have to leave the firm after eight years of dedicated and exceptional work (that sucks a lot, by the way). The conflict seemed a bit odd given that the story had already established that there were only Payton and J.D. left in the class eligible for partnership and that each year previously, the entire class had made partner. Even with the judgment that the firm decided to preemptively address, taking only one when in the past it had always been more than that seemed a little like manufactured conflict for the purpose of creating angst instead of organic development of the characters' lives.

And okay, there were two instances where the competition between Payton and J.D. tiptoed over that line between hijinks and flagrant, adolescent immaturity, but...I, um...still thought they were pretty darn funny. And I can't say enough for just how perfect the chemistry was between them. It sizzled and it smoldered, and even had moments of sweet tenderness. I was also pleased by the moments of insecurity that each character showed and how dealing with those insecurities added another level of cohesiveness to their relationship.

This was my first experience with a Julie James book and not only will it not be my last, but as soon as I finished this one, I quickly purchased her earlier work, Just the Sexiest Man Alive. I was thoroughly satisfied and completely entertained by Practice Makes Perfect. It was the perfect light, funny read and just what I needed for some pure enjoyment. Great stuff.

Genre: Light/Comedic Romance
Series: N/A
Rating: 3 Stars
Length: 1958 Locations
Formats: Kindle


As soon as she agreed, Rory James deeply regretted letting her best friend Susan talk her into guest appearing on her local talk show. As a single parent, the idea of debating child discipline with another guest, single and childless veterinarian, Dr. Seth Stone, made Rory yearn to flee the building before the cameras go live. Her afternoon doesn't improve when the superior Stone starts spewing ridiculous and uninformed opinions about the correct way to discipline and comparing raising children to training dogs. The infuriating man pushes all her buttons and her temper slips its leash.

That's really the only explanation for agreeing to allow the dog doc into her home with camera crew in tow to discipline her children. Well, that and the much needed $25,000 prize for having the theories that carry the challenge.

From the moment Seth showed up in Rory's home, the attraction between them terrifies the widow of four years and his attitude towards her children sets her teeth on edge. Only a true need for that prize money keeps her in the challenge, but it's another need altogether that tugs her inexorably closer to the handsome vet.

Despite the somewhat silly premise, this is a harmless fluffy romance with some cute characters - especially the kids. I have no issue with Bardsley's technical writing style, but I wasn't totally sold on the plot, which really strained my willing suspension of disbelief. While reality television is all the rage, the idea of allowing an unmarried, childless veterinarian into your home to discipline your three impressionable children seemed a stretch. Though it would have perhaps been more believable had their been any true disciplining occurring. And as a general rule, I prefer romantic relationships that take longer to develop than four days.

On the bright side, the kids really were dolls, especially Andie, and Bardsley added some realistic pathos with the the issue of Rory's deceased husband. For a light romance, though, Seth's past was far grimmer than I expected, wasn't fleshed out as naturally or developed as realistically as I would have hoped, and seemed a both a bit overly dramatic and yet too easily resolved for the purposes of the book. And after all the years Seth's carried his scars around he never had a relationship brush against his fears? It seemed something that Seth would have had to deal with a bit sooner than he did.

I've enjoyed my fair share of pleasant, harmless fluff romances in the past and I'll do so in the future, I'm sure, but this one had as many minuses as pluses and ended up being just okay for me.