Hannah Rowan - Patricia Roy
Rowan, Hannah - MAN WANTED (Precious Gems - 1/00) (4)
Small-town journalist, Eden Sinclair, yearns to investigate an
ad in the local newspaper for the Steppin' Out Escorts. Even though her boss wants her to cover an event at the elementary school, she decides to check out the ad anyway. Connor McCrae, the alleged gigolo she sees in the Steppin' Out Escorts office, is all thick black hair, dark insolent eyes, narrow hips, and tattered black jeans. Eden knows she shouldn't ask him to be
her escort to the Media Awards dinner; but she does...and the
adventure is on!
In actuality, Connor is an undercover cop who is at the escort business to clean up the remaining few connections to an organized crime case, which involves the Slaughter family and the sleazy prostitution ring they're trying to set up. He finds himself so distracted by Eden and her soft, flowery scent that he almost blows his cover. Eden is just as interested in investigating the Slaughters' provocative new business, but she is so rattled by the handsome gigolo that she can't come up with her own cover story. She does need a date for the awards dinner, however; and Connor can't resist going along with the act, even though he's pretty sure she isn't the kind of woman to hire an escort. In fact, she's more like the kind of woman he's been dreaming of—one he'd like to marry and watch holding their baby.
Continuing to play their roles while trying to get something on the Slaughters, Eden and Connor are almost at the awards ceremony when Eden realizes she would wreck her cover if she attended. She veers off in another direction, pretending to know the bride and groom at a wedding in the same hall. By now, Connor has figured out what's going on and he's enjoying watching the beautiful journalist try to keep up her act. After Eden decides that Connor couldn't possibly be a gigolo, although he sure does have the kissing skills, they form a partnership. But they can't keep romance out of it and they're soon caught in compromising situation. The couple has a lot to work out—besides just getting the evidence on the Slaughters—before a happy ending can be reached. Are their careers contradictory, or do they really belong together?
It was fun reading about Eden's and Connor's adventures and all the twists and turns their relationship took in this story of mistaken identity. If the characters in MAN WANTED sometimes seemed a bit one-dimensional, that was minor in the face of an excellent plot, lots of humor, and some rather intense love scenes. Hannah Rowan has a flair for writing snappy contemporary romance. Enjoy! ~Joan Vinall-Cox for Bookbug on the Web
Roy, Patricia - LUCKY STARS (Warner - 1998) (4+)
I couldn't put this book down, a sure sign for me that a book is terrific. Set in post-Civil War Colorado, both the hero and heroine have been "done wrong" by someone. Leon wants no part of marriage/settlin' down; and Marjorie wants to homestead, but needs a husband to do it "legal-like." She tries to talk Leon into marrying her, but has to resort to trickery to get him to the altar. Marjorie keeps telling Leon she doesn't want him to stay—she wants the land more than she does him. He stays on, not to spite her, but because his inherent need for family and roots is slowly coming into flower.
Leon and Marjorie are charming characters—real people in a real world, struggling to settle in the very young West; and all the secondary characters are interesting. The book has some of the cutest and funniest one-liners. One in particular had me rolling on the floor in a belly-laugh! The fact that the hero and heroine had each been hurt in the past is relevant to the plot, but the author doesn't make the deadly mistake of having either of them carry around a lot of bitterness or anger. LUCKY STARS is a charming Americana story and a wonderful debut novel. I'm looking forward to this author's next book. ~Gail B. (bookbabe@javanet.com)
Roy, Patricia - LUCKY STARS (Warner - 1998) (4)
After growing up watching a woman she dearly loved suffer through bad relationships, the last thing Marjorie wants is a man in her life. But it's a man she needs when she goes to stake a claim on some land. The sleazy office clerk won't give it to her unless she has a wedding ring on her finger. Desperate and not wanting to get stuck with a husband, she tricks a drifter into marriage. It's not long before the drifter decides he might just want to stick around for awhile. Marjorie is about the prettiest thing he's ever seen—she makes him laugh, makes him want, and gives him an unsettling urge to set down some roots.
LUCKY STARS a charming and fun marriage-of-convenience story with likeable characters, who are open and honest about their confused feelings toward each other throughout the majority of the book. The only thing keeping this book from having a higher rating is the fact that the author used lack of communication as a plot device to keep the hero and heroine apart (near the end of the story), and then wrapped things up with a neat epilogue written in first person by the heroine. I guess I wanted to see them hash things out before getting to the epilogue. But despite this little nit-pick, I enjoyed LUCKY STARS very much. The pages sizzle and the dialogue is sparkling, and I can easily recommend it. ~Laurie S. (shallah@empire.net)
Roy, Patricia - WEDDING KNOT, THE (Warner - 1999) (4)
In 1875, an inexperienced Meg Reilly finds herself entertaining her first customer at Bouncing Bess's brothel. While she works up the courage to seduce the nervous, young Canadian Mountie, her creative dance routine seems to have his attention...until one too many costume changes and complimentary glasses of liquor lull him to sleep. She makes a timely escape moments later when Black Jack McCain, the riverboat cardsharp she supposedly conned, beats an angry path to her door. Poor Meg has had more jobs than she can count and bad luck seems to follow her everywhere. Her only recourse now is to get a job as a dancer—and the jilted Mountie, Robert Hamilton, appears to be her ticket west. He just doesn't know it yet!
Robert is quite surprised when he finds the redheaded beauty stowed away in his canoe, carefully hidden under his gear. His first thought is to finish what they started the night before, of course, but she has something to say about that! Meg's main objective is to get as far away from Black Jack as she can, with or without the Mountie's help. Dressed in men's clothes, she sets out on her own, only to meet up with Robert later. After many adventures together in the Great North, they discover that the greatest adventure of all is falling in love. But Robert is a wealthy gentleman and she's just a poor Irish gal getting by the best way she knows how. What kind of future would they have together?
Patricia Roy's skillful use of humor makes THE WEDDING KNOT a joy to read. Add one honorable, straitlaced gentleman in a uniform (who happens to be a virgin) and one spirited, redheaded Irish lass, then throw in some colorful secondary characers, plenty of romance and adventure, and what you get is a bundle of fun. ~June Folk for Bookbug on the Web
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