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
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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