"Graham is amazing!"

Generally, I enjoy most books even books that are flawed have something that redeems them in my eyes. Not too many lands in the trashcan. However, every once in a while, there comes along a book that is so contrived, with the characters so unwilling to be honest with each other that they twist themselves into ridiculous "pretzels" to hide from dealing with their feelings, that it causes me to grit my teeth. I have a level of capacity for standing this mental torture, remembering I PAID for this. When my jaw aches, it hits the trashcan. Eye Candy hit that level by the first chapter and maintained the near teeth-gnashing level through the whole book -- BUT WAIT!!! Instead of hitting the trashcan, I stayed glued to the book to the very end. WHY? Because of some first-class terrific writing from a very talented writer -- Dorie Graham.

Harlequin's Blaze series has some really hot, really talented writers in their ranks, Julie Elizabeth Leto and Tori Carrington being up there at the top. Graham has two other books, which I am off to order, #30 The Last Virgin and #58 Tempting Adam. Graham keeps up this style of writing and she will be listed in the top Blaze ranks, too.

Off the bat, #130 Eye Candy gives you a shaky premise. Crystal Peterson has eyes for Ron, a freelance photographer. She doesn't claim to want a real romance with him, just to get to know him, but she is "hell bent for leather" to attract his attention. And will do anything to gain it -- including using her best friend Sam. That really did not make me warm to Crystal too well. Sam Schaffer has loved Crystal since they were fifteen when he told her he loved her and she laughed in his face. He loves her just as she is. As I said, Crystal does not capture my heart! Since then, Sam has hidden his heart and played best friend. Better best friend than no Crystal at all.

Sam runs a magazine similar to a high-class playboy but wants to bring the magazine into the real singles world by adding a woman's point of view column. He keeps begging Crystal to write it, knowing she would be so good. She turns him down, coward - she'd rather write homemaker articles for Redbook than take the chance she could do something better.

Cami and Crystal play football with the boy on the weekend; they dress in jeans, cutoffs and T-shirts. Cami's boyfriend gives her a gift certificate to be made over in to a "sex bomb". Cami is thrilled. It sets Crystal to thinking maybe why Rob ignores her is he thinks she's "one of the boys". She goes shopping for Victoria Secrets underwear, but cannot figure out how to put on a bustier. So she runs to Sam for help. She says, since he deals with all these "bunny" type girls, he can help her be sexy for Ron. Sam, poor dear, is not happy with the idea, but finally hits on this as a way to get her to write for his magazine. Yeppers, even when he is being used, he is thinking of her! He will play a cross between Henry Higgins and Hugh Heffner, and transform beautifully wholesome Crystal into "Bunny Crystal" -- if she will do the articles for his magazine.

Poor Sam finds himself in sexual quicksand, so desperate for Crystal, he lets her push it into sexual tutoring. Not enough she has to look sexy for Ron, she has to act sexy, too. GROAN. I really liked Sam's character, you feel for him, being in love with Crystal who is so blind (blonde) she cannot see it. Worse, you feel sorry for him being used in this manner. You really want to reach through the pages and grab Crystal and shake her until her teeth rattle. She goes on to have sex with Sam for over a week, yet still uses him to attract the date-from-Hell Ron? ARGH!

It's at that point I stopped gritting teeth and had to look at MY response. WHY was so I furious with Crystal? Because the writer is that bloody GOOD. She made me CARE despite the flaws of the characters. If Sam and Crystal just dealt honestly with each other, had bothered to connect mentally as they did physically, instead of going through emotional contortions that would put CIRQUE DU SOLEIL to shame; despite Cami, her friend going power-happy with her new make over and kissing a man she has no interest in just because she is suddenly "sexy"; despite the reader seriously wanting to kick Crystal in the caboose -- Graham is such a strong writer, with such a powerful voice that you're glued to the story unable to put it down.

Don't think too many authors could have taken this premise, and pulled such a tour de force. Her dialog is snappy. She is able to tap into the sexual fantasies of her characters, even though they cannot tap into logic at times. Her writing sizzles and dazzles. Graham is an author to keep an eye on.

Reviewed by DeborahAnne MacGillivray
Posted October 11, 2004