"Fine entertaining contemporary romantic intrigue"

Raising her two preadolescent children by herself, Charlotte Tasker has been a widow for nineteen months. She loved her late spouse Kurt, but has never forgotten her tryst near National Airport with a stranger in which she lost her virginity and had the best sex of her life.

Following the murder of his partner and his partner's family, DEA Agent Joe Bellacera is told to lay low until the Guzman Mexico drug cartel is stopped. Joe pretends to be wannabe mystery author Joseph Mills as he relocates to Minton, Ohio. Next door is Charlotte, the woman with whom he shared the best sex on his life near National. He also chipped his tooth in the heat of their passion. He looked for her for years, but now that he found her, he must keep away from this soccer mom for fear of Guzman killing her and her two children though he cannot deny the growing love he feels for the three Taskers.

Romantic suspense fans who take a chance on Susan Donovan will conclude that the exhilarating novels of this author knock readers off their feet. Though the probability of the lovers meeting under these circumstances seems outrageous, the audience will not care one iota, as the tale is terse and the cast fantastic, especially the hero and his beloved Taskers. PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTIONS is a fine entertaining contemporary romantic intrigue even though the suspense comes late as the audience watches Joseph battle between his heart and his fears for his beloved threesome.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted May 3, 2004

Summary

Charlotte Tasker has always been a good girl, so she married the most decent, reliable man she could find even though their love life was a bit on the predictable side. Thirteen years later, she's a widowed mom who runs her company, prepares three vegetarian meals a day for her children, and volunteers for just about every good deed in town. But no one knows that Charlotte has a secret weakness for squirt cheese, erotic poetry-and the mystery man she lost her virginity to in a reckless roadside tryst, moments before she got engaged. They never exchanged names, and even now, Charlotte can't stop fantasizing about that spectacular stranger... DEA agent Joe Bellacera isn't crazy about having to hide out in Minton, Ohio before testifying at the trial of a notorious drug lord. But he's handling it just fine...until he lays eyes on a fiery redhead and a hot little body he'd recognize anywhere. Joe's never had another woman like Charlotte since that day thirteen years ago. Now she's his neighbor-and strictly off-limits... Amid the balmy, honeysuckle-scented breezes of a Midwestern summer, sense and sensibility are about to be subverted by an ice cream-loving dog, conspiring kids, and nosy neighbors. And when the Widow Tasker's fantasies meet the rock-hard reality of Agent Bellacera, let the fireworks begin...