"Amusing, whimsical, and entertaining contemporary romance"

This is a amusing, whimsical, and entertaining story; I recommend this for anyone who likes sizzling and humorous contemporary romances. It had, perhaps, a few rough spots in the wonderfully descriptive writing style, but was much, much better than I normally expect from a debut novel. The characters are lively and likable with plenty of unique personality, the dialogue is hilarious, and the plot action (although it bordered on slapstick at a few points) kept me chuckling and unable to put the book down until I got to the HEA and delicious epilogue.

Cecy Scatterton's life is a mess. Her adored brother and only relative died six months ago. Caring for him in his final illness had taken up all her time and attention. His death left her depressed, alone, and disconnected from life. So with what seemed like a small fortune from his life insurance, she filled up her empty life and apartment with "things" -- expensive knick-knacks, designer clothes, gourmet foods. She occupied her time with shopping and with ordering from all those catalogues. Besides her cat, her most significant relationship was with the UPS delivery man. Then the final medical bills came in and the insurance money was gone and the bills for all that stuff she ordered kept arriving. Cecy had to drag herself back to reality -- she had no job, her checking account was empty, her car and furniture were repossessed, she was being evicted from her apartment, the kitchen was empty of food, and she was reduced to digging in the sofa cushions for loose change for lunch money.

The final straw comes when Cecy trips over a pile of catalogues while answering the door to the UPS man and ends up in the emergency room—where she can't pay the bill because she has no cash and all her credit cards are maxed out. Chas Buchanan, gorgeous but staid financial consultant, is in the ER with a broken finger. He doesn't know why he feels compelled to help out this woman he assumes to be a beautiful but ditzy airhead, but he covers her bill and she agrees to pay him back by filling in for his vacationing secretary. Chas soon realizes there's more inside Cecy's head than he assumed -- her master's degree in French literature isn't very practical for job hunting, but it took intelligence and determination to earn. She asks inciteful questions about his business, works hard, and tries to get her life back under control while hiding her disastrous circumstances from him. He has to admire her honesty and guts when he finds out she paid off a bounced check at her hairdresser by working as the shampoo girl there and when he sees her holding a garage sale of her knick-knacks and remaining possessions. He is remarkably accepting and helpful of the financial and practical mess Cecy has made of her life. But he does feel it's a little over the top when Cecy solves her homelessness problem by secretly living in his office -- especially since Chas discovers this when he comes back to the office late one night and she, thinking him a burglar, knocks him unconscious with his antique abacus.

Cecy and Chas fight their attraction to each other. He was badly burned by his manipulative and greedy ex-wife, and thinks Cecy is probably looking for a sugar daddy to take care of her. She sees the differences in their attitudes and lifestyles and feels they could never make a relationship work. However, that doesn't stop them from lusting after each other, especially once Chas solves her housing problem by offering her the temporary use of a spare bedroom in his house. They advance and retreat in an emotional dance as they discover more about each other's backgrounds and personalities and add liking and respect to their attraction. Cecy is determined to learn to take care of herself rather than depend on Chas, but Chas can't get past the feeling that she is using him for security and that she just won't fit in his well-planned life. Cecy also needs to figure out just what she wants to do with her life and how to get there.

There were a lot of fun aspects of this story: Cecy's cat plays a big role, there is the possible ghost of Chas's grandmother, Chas's fixation with owning the house of his late grandparents, Cecy's hairdresser friends, Chas's old college friend who has come out of the closet with a vengeance, the client who thinks Cecy is a prostitute masquerading as a nun (don't ask), the French college professor and his wife . . . All that helped keep things very interesting and active.

I loved the characters in this book. They were very real people. Cecy was the best part of the book. She was original and refreshing. Her responses were sometimes unique, but never incompetent or stupid. You only think she's "ditzy" at the very beginning -- then the reader begins to see the real Cecy, just as Chas does. I admired Cecy's honesty, quick wits and quicker mouth, and her commitment and determination to support herself and overcome her past.

Chas was a hunk and a great guy. I was initially afraid that he would be one of those super-alpha heros who knows what's best for the little lady and takes control of her and her life, fixing all the problems for the helpless wimp. But he wasn't like that at all. He helped Cecy, but she paid him back, and he never tried to control her decisions. The weakest part of the story was Chas's fixation with thinking Cecy wanted a sugar daddy. That obnoxious conviction just wasn't supported by Cecy's behavior or character. The author used it to create the conflict, but I wish she'd found some other plot device.

My only other complaint with the book was the sex scenes. Yes, they were plenty hot and the double entendres and salacious conversation were hysterical. But some of the analogies (in shades of passionate purple) were a little odd: "her legs spread like a fever"; "hungry jelly with nubbins of need" (never heard nipples described that way before); "carousel horses, sliding up and down their poles"; "cake icing squeezed out of a fat tube"(what's that one supposed to mean??). And I realize the author was being deliberately lusty and earthy, contrasting Chas's calm and controlled business life with his overwhelming desire for Cecy, but the transitions both into and out of the intimate action were far too abrupt -- a little more development would have been nice and made the characters' motivation clearer.

Reviewed by Raelene Gorlinsky
Posted February 2, 2002