"An amusing contemporary romance that has a serious undertone"

Livid Hollywood superstar Jackson Stone interrupts a romantic tryst between his thirteen-year-old daughter Cherie and her wannabe lover music star Jimmy Toledo. The tabloids already have the story so Jackson decides it is time to make a hasty retreat until the scandal is replaced by some other more notorious event. Taking Cherie with him, Jackson vanishes to nowhere Arizona, hiding at the Lazy M ranch.

Jackson offers the dude ranch owner widow Rachel Marsh a large sum of cash if she allows him to hide undercover as a cowboy. Though the ranch has shown some success lately, Rachel can use the money to help her raise her eleven-year- old son Sam. With Jackson playing the part of an inept cowboy, he lands the role of a lifetime as he and Rachel fall in love. However, a morose Cherie remains an unhappy camper who follows the tenet that misery loves miserable people so she goes out of her way to make everyone miserable.

Emily Carmichael provides her fans with an amusing contemporary romance that has a serious undertone to the tale. The story line is at its slapstick funniest when Jackson tries his best to be Stony the cowboy. His relationship with Rachel feels fairy tale like, as if royalty prince and a pretty commoner found love. Cherie adds teenage angst as she struggles between being daddy's little girl and her raging adult-like hormones. Readers will enjoy the delightful THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE SEXY.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted May 17, 2002

Summary

The spotlight doesn't get any hotter than this... Rachel Marsh doesn't have time to think about the pampered lives of Hollywood stars. She's too busy running her family's Lazy M Ranch in Arizona. But even Rachel has heard of Jackson Stone, the green-eyed movie megahunk known for his sexual prowess both on- and offscreen. Jackson is the last person Rachel would expect to show up looking for work as a cowboy. But that's exactly what happens . . . and now Rachel has her hands full keeping her mind on the Lazy M-- and off Jackson! After a nasty tabloid scandal, Jackson has decided it would be best to spend a little time out of the public eye. When he stumbles across the Lazy M Ranch, he hatches a brilliant plan: to convince its pretty owner to let him go undercover as a cowboy until things blow over. Jackson sees nothing wrong with spending a little time incognito--especially with a woman like Rachel, who looks as good roping cattle as she does by the light of an intimate campfire. Now, far from inquiring eyes, these two slightly cynical lovers are going to discover just how good they are at being bad . . . and the outcome may be more than downright sexy. It may be true love.