"Fun contemporary romance"

In Ann Arbor, Nate "Shadow" Donneli manages the family owned Donneli Motors, an antique car dealership. He also raises his daughter Caitlin by himself since his spouse divorced both their child and him. He is worried about the family business because someone, probably one of his siblings, is cleverly embezzling money from the firm.

With her father, Jeanne "Peanut" Cassiday runs Oz Enterprises, which hosts events for organizations. She, her best friend, and a nerd are in charge of the fifteenth anniversary St. Sebastian High School reunion. Though preferring to avoid her reunion assignment, Jeanne visits Shadow, who was her high sweetheart, to ostensibly see if he will come as the person who was most likely to succeed. Instead she asks him why he deserted her. Unable to ignore their attraction, they start seeing each other. The promise of their teen love blossoms into adult forever feelings. However his daughter and her father depend on Nate and Jeanne respectively, making their vows of responsibility turn permanency between them as evanescent as it was back in high school.

This is a fun contemporary romance with a wide cast that supplements the prime romance including a charming secondary love story. The where are they now feel to the plot makes for a fine time that will have readers asking the same questions about their high school peers. Though the embezzlement seems unnecessary, fans will appreciate this warm second chance at love.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted November 12, 2003

Summary

Where do the men who dump you go? What is it with the men who are all over you one day and leaving you the next? No one has more reason to wonder than Jeanne Claire Cassiday. After all, Nate Donneli left her with nothing more than a note! Now, years later, it's class reunion time -- and Jeanne is determined to get to the bottom of things. Of course, she's moved on -- she wears a suit to work, she's had dates galore...but a woman's got the right to know! So she tracks Nate down, and is shocked to discover that those kisses of his still leave her weak with desire. But one thing is different: the old Jeanne allowed Nate to call the shots. Now it's time for Jeanne to take control of her love life, because no man -- not even one as irresistible as Nate -- is going to walk out on her again.