Roemer (Naked in 30 Days, 2016, etc.) and Rose (His Human Slave, 2016, etc.) deliver an erotic romance that features a battle of the sexes between a fitness club owner and a football legend. A romance novel is only as good as its heroine, and recent divorcée Brandy Love doesn’t disappoint. She’s the smart, capable owner of Phenomenal Physiques, a health club whose demands led to the demise of her marriage. Between work, her kids, Sam and Claire, and her tense relationship with her ex-husband, Justin, she has no room for a love life. That is, until beloved high school football coach Rick Morehouse shows up at the gym to assist with some physical therapy for one of his star players and Brandy invites him to dress as Santa Claus for an upcoming charity event. The former Houston Texans quarterback, according to the narration, “had [Brandy’s] panties dampening just from being in sniffing distance,” but she’s determined not to be sucked in by his charm—until a late-night rendezvous in the men’s room leaves them both begging for more. There’s a catch, though: due to Rick’s single-parent upbringing, he has a strict rule against dating single mothers. Set in Houston, the novel has a definite Friday Night Lights vibe, depicting a world where football reigns; for example, Brandy and Justin are at odds about Sam’s desire to play on the high school football team, Rick is the subject of many a local sports column, and a playoff game serves as the book’s climax. The conservative setting also allows the characters to challenge traditional values. The sex scenes are as spicy as a bottle of Texas Pete hot sauce; Brandy’s agency is always respected, and she gives just as good as she gets. Outside of the bedroom (or weight room or whatever the case may be), Brandy muses on the meaning of being a woman, wife, and mother. Indeed, for a romance novel, it addresses nonromantic matters in some detail, as in a plotline involving Brandy’s friend Meg navigating a career change. On the whole, the book benefits from the dual authorship of first-time novelist Roemer and romance veteran Rose. It’s well-crafted and polished, speaking to Rose’s experience, while also offering Roemer’s fresh voice and point of view. A sexy tale for modern women that’s as steamy as a locker room shower.
Pub Date: Dec. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-62601-325-4
Page Count: 218
Publisher: Riverdale Avenue Books, LLC
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...
Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.
After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-345-45071-X
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002
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