"Touching Romance"

Linda Frances Lee, best known for her emotion-filled historicals, ventures into the contemporary arena with this latest novel. Looking out of his brownstone apartment late one winter night in Manhattan, Jack Berenger spies a weeping woman sitting alone on a bench. Somehow, he feels drawn to this woman dressed in a wedding gown, who, for all appearances, seems to have abandoned her wedding. As Jack ventures outside, he and the woman recognize a vulnerability in one another, and Jack leads her to his apartment, where a passionate night ensues.

Grace Colebrook, the crying bride, hardly recognizes herself anymore. She abandoned her fiancé at the altar, after having discovered him in flagrante delecto outside the church. And she is certainly not a one-night stand type of girl and never even gave Jack her name when she left abruptly after their sizzling encounter. Unbeknownst to Jack, she knows all about him, as she lives in the apartment above him, and was informed by a neighbor that he is an E.R. doctor at St. Luke's Hospital. To top it off, her job at a toy manufacturing company comes to an abrupt end, and her socialite mother and sister continue to disparage her character and encourage her to reconsider marrying Walter, her errant fiancé.

As Jack continues to fight his attraction to Grace and painstakingly maintain control of his life, Grace embarks on a new business, even as she gains temporary custody of her orphaned seven-year-old cousin, Ruth. Ms. Lee deftly addresses the emotions surrounding Jack and Grace as they learn to trust one another and redefine their relationship. With Grace, readers find a likeable heroine, who is able to face adversity with both tenacity and charm. Linda Frances Lee has successfully made the transition from historical to contemporary romance with the finesse of a truly gifted writer.

Reviewed by Sheri Melnick
Posted September 16, 2002

Summary

If there's one thing Grace Colebrook cannot tolerate, it's hysterics. So when her fiancé betrays her on their wedding day, she refuses to make a scene. She simply walks away-- straight in the arms of a powerful stranger. The morning after, regrets fly. But life gets truly complicated when it turns out that the man lives in the apartment below hers.

Legendary ER doctor Jack Berenger is a man used to getting what he wants. And he doesn't want Grace Colebrook—or so he tells himself when he can't get her out of his mind. She's prim, passionate and unpredictable, a far cry from the ice queens who usually catch his eye. But most of all, she breaks through the hard shell he has built around himself . . . filling him with a burning hunger to possess her.

At once deeply moving and wildly romantic, two unforgettable people find each other in a world turned upside-down. Now Jack has one final chance to open his heart and prove he can be the sort of man a woman like Grace could love....