"Another rip-roaring good time"

A Baby Maybe Cara Romano needs to make an escape... and fast.

Cara's mother was arranging surprise visits with all the eligible men she can find, in hopes of winning a bet with a friend, and Cara has had enough! On her spring break from the school she teaches at, she makes a break for Houston, TX, to visit her good friends, Kate and Tony Donetti. Now begins ten days of sheer bliss, away from her mother and her scheming, away from anyone who could possibly track her down. She is going to indulge herself on vacation, doing many of the things she had dreamed about. Her very first day in Texas, she bumps into, quite literally, the man of her dreams... Or should she say fantasies?

Rex Noble is a businessman. He just has a different kind of business... a sperm bank for cattle, started with the purchase of his prized bull. A favor to a friend has him getting a new ad campaign going, to keep ahead of competitors, and it has some shocking results. He is livid over the disaster, and this could wreak havoc on his business, but he never expected it would also be a turning point for his personal life as well. Until the day he bumps into a vision of perfect beauty; and no one will tell him who she is.

Upon seeing a certain billboard for Noble Sperm Bank, it suddenly hits Cara... she longs for a child more then anything, but can do without the husband to get one. What better solution then to go to the sperm bank for artificial insemination? The more she thinks about it, the more she loves the idea, especially when her imaginings about the donor take on the visage of a rather sexy Texan. She is more then a little surprised to find the doctor at the sperm bank is none other then her fantasy man, but is even more surprised to realize this is not the type of sperm bank she was looking for! Afraid to admit her mistake, she plays along, hoping to indulge in a little fling with her sexy doctor, and maybe get some sperm the old fashioned way! Rex is happy to oblige, at first, until he begins to suspect her reasons for seeking out his business in the first place.

What can a person say? This book was hilarious! The bet between Cara's mother, and her friend (whose daughter is featured in the second story of this Duets volume) is a good premise for the stories and adds an extra margin of humor. Plenty of borderline slapstick comedy occurs throughout the book as well, in the by-play between Rex and Cara. Cara is the stereotypical elementary school teacher, until she decides to let loose and have a ball on her vacation. Her inner musings about who she was and who she wants to be are a nice look at why she is the way she is. When she decides what she really wants is a baby, she sets out to reach that goal right away, hoping to surprise everyone when she goes home. No one would ever expect reserved Cara to go and do something crazy like get artificially inseminated!

Rex is a perfect hero, tall dark and handsome, crazy enough about Cara to imitate a Romeo and Juliet type scene when he doesn't even know her name. When she shows up at his clinic and spins him a story about wanting to buy a farm, excuse me, ranch!, and some cattle, he is surprised but pleased. He was intrigued by her before he knew her and was even more so after hearing her "plan," and jumps on the chance to assist her.

When these two get together, their mutual fascination flares out of control, igniting a passion neither was expecting. What Cara had intended for a fling, turns into something more, that she hopes he wants as well. It also adds plenty of opportunity for the addition of even more humor to the story, making the reader laugh out loud at what could be rather inopportune moments, depending on where the book is being read. Though this reviewer is sorry to see the Harlequin Duets series end, they could not have picked a better book to use as the grand finale. Also, this is one reviewer who looks forward to seeing more from Ms. Tucker hopefully in the new Flipside line.

How to Hunt a Husband

Who would have ever thought pulling a con on one's mother, to get out of unwanted marriage pressures, could be so much fun?

Anyone who read the Harlequin Duet The Great Bridal Escape/How to Catch a Groom by Bonnie Tucker and Holly Jacobs will remember Mary Kathryn's sister Shannon O'Malley. Well, she finally has her own story.

Ever since her sister, Kate, ran off with the best man from her aborted wedding, the pressure has been on for Shannon to find herself a nice young man and get married. Her mother, Brigit, missed her opportunity to have the huge wedding for Kate, so now the pressure was all on Shannon, a high school art teacher, to make her mother's dreams a reality... Especially since Brigit had made a bet with her best friend that Shannon would be married before her friend's daughter. No matter that she has absolutely no desire to get married. She prefers her nice peaceful single life filled with chick flicks and unshaved legs.

Nathan "Nate" Calder has dilemmas of his own. His mother is longing for grandchildren and keeps asking him when he will give them to her. He is a straight-laced pharmacist who had never done anything crazy in his life until recently, when he went out and bought a brand spanking new Harley. Too bad he doesn't know how to ride it without stalling it out on every corner. He is content in his life, not in any hurry to settle down and marry, let alone sire any offspring to fill his mother's arms.

When Nate and Shannon bump into each other at a local bar, they start commiserating about their mothers' plans. After a few jokes and drinks shared, they decide to work together to solve their problems. Shannon will pretend to be a stripper -- no... make that exotic dancer -- named Roxy and pretend to be Nate's girlfriend for his mother. Nate agrees to dress up as a bad biker dude named Bull and pose as Shannon's boyfriend for her mother. They figure this is the perfect plan to get their mothers to leave them alone and let them live as they want.

But the more time the two of them spend together, they begin to realize the joke's on them... Neither one counted on actually falling in love. So now what? Do they keep up the act for their mothers' benefits and never see each other again after the charade is done? Or do they give in to their feelings... and their mothers' designs... to be together? What results is a story like no one but Ms. Jacobs can write!

This story is a laugh riot! It is full of witty banter, charming characters, and plans gone awry. Everything comes together to form the perfect tale with just the right amount of everything one desires in a romantic comedy. Nate and Shannon are a delightful pair, meant for each other, though it takes them a while to figure it out. Their mother's add a bit of comic relief as well, especially when Nate's mother decides she wants to reform gentlemen's clubs. Read the book to find out exactly how and why...

There are plenty of opportunities for full belly laughs as well, but then, the reader expects that and looks forward to it, when picking up a book by Ms. Jacobs. She has developed a fun plot in this book that tells the reader one very important thing... One can scheme and plan to the little heart's content, considering every option to get out of a meddling mother's way, but one can never account for love. It pops up whenever least expected, and in the unlikeliest of places. But the journey is always fun!!

© Kelley A. Hartsell, October 2003. All rights reserved.

Reviewed by Kelley Hartsell
Courtesy Love Romances
Posted October 12, 2003

Summary

A Baby...Maybe? by Bonnie Tucker
Cara Romano doesn't want a husband — despite her mother's pushing. In fact, her mother's been pushing so hard, Cara decides to escape. Several states and a time zone away, she figures out that even without the husband, she wants a baby. But just when she's decided on her life path, sexy Rex Noble comes along and makes her rethink that whole husband issue!

How To Hunt a Husband by Holly Jacobs
Shannon O'Malley and Nate Calder know a good thing when they see it — namely, each other. They agree to don dual identities — sexy stripper for her, badass biker for him — to fake out their meddling moms. When Roxy and Bull, aka Shannon and Nate, start spending a whole lot more time together than they have to, well...something's going on! Could it be l-o-v-e?