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THIS HEART OF MINE

Warmhearted but formulaic love story, strictly for the fans.

A free-spirited heiress gets tackled by a handsome quarterback in this gush-a-minute romance by gush-a-minute specialist Phillips, here making her hardcover debut.

Mollie Somerville likes “rabbits and fairy tale forests, china teapots and linen nightgowns.” Fittingly, she’s a children’s book illustrator, creator of Daphne the Bunny, a winsome critter whose antics are the talk of every kindergarten. But all is not well in the flowery meadow: Daphne has a nemesis of sorts, one Benny the Badger, whose bungling earns him her undisguised contempt. Apparently, Daphne is not an entirely fictional character. Mollie’s plucky little bunny is actually her alter ego, and the big dumb badger is really Kevin Tucker, the supersexy, reckless quarterback for the Chicago Stars, an NFL team once owned by Mollie’s father. At her request, Kevin bedded Mollie one boozy night, then had to be persuaded, none too gently, by the coach to wed her when she got pregnant because the condom broke. When Mollie miscarried, their hasty marriage went to pieces. Turns out that Kevin fears commitment! His teenage mother gave him up for adoption before she became glamorous TV actress Lilly Sherman, and he never knew his father. Eventually, Lilly explains that Dad was a rodeo rider and stuntman who died young—hence Kevin’s risk-taking propensities. Then Mollie explains her own troubled past: her cruel, overbearing father used his millions to control people, including his assortment of showgirl wives, and she had to relinquish the fortune he left her so that she could be a real person, with an actual life. Kevin and Mollie seesaw between love and hate until she throws a dead tuna into his private lake and he throws her in shortly thereafter. Will these star-crossed lovers ever find happiness? Just ask Daphne, if you can catch her . . . .

Warmhearted but formulaic love story, strictly for the fans.

Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2001

ISBN: 0-380-97572-6

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2000

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LOVE AND OTHER WORDS

With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.

Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.

Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.

With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.

Pub Date: April 10, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1

Page Count: 416

Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018

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THE UNHONEYMOONERS

Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable...

An unlucky woman finally gets lucky in love on an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii.

From getting her hand stuck in a claw machine at age 6 to losing her job, Olive Torres has never felt that luck was on her side. But her fortune changes when she scores a free vacation after her identical twin sister and new brother-in-law get food poisoning at their wedding buffet and are too sick to go on their honeymoon. The only catch is that she’ll have to share the honeymoon suite with her least favorite person—Ethan Thomas, the brother of the groom. To make matters worse, Olive’s new boss and Ethan’s ex-girlfriend show up in Hawaii, forcing them both to pretend to be newlyweds so they don’t blow their cover, as their all-inclusive vacation package is nontransferable and in her sister’s name. Plus, Ethan really wants to save face in front of his ex. The story is told almost exclusively from Olive’s point of view, filtering all communication through her cynical lens until Ethan can win her over (and finally have his say in the epilogue). To get to the happily-ever-after, Ethan doesn’t have to prove to Olive that he can be a better man, only that he was never the jerk she thought he was—for instance, when she thought he was judging her for eating cheese curds, maybe he was actually thinking of asking her out. Blending witty banter with healthy adult communication, the fake newlyweds have real chemistry as they talk it out over snorkeling trips, couples massages, and a few too many tropical drinks to get to the truth—that they’re crazy about each other.

Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable as well as free.

Pub Date: May 14, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-5011-2803-5

Page Count: 416

Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: March 2, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019

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