Rating: 
Summary: Very FUN!
Review: A very fun book! This story was witty, engaging, fast-paced, and a whole lot of fun. I enjoy how this author makes her sub-plots and characters as wonderful as the main characters; it's like getting two stories in one. Recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: Very enjoyable.
Review: But still a lot of fun. Claire and Ramsey are both in keeping with Bevarly's strong characterization and their dialogue kept me chuckling. And the subplot with Olive and Davis though much more serious was really good. As always I closed the book with a smile. Definitely recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Not my favorite by Bevarly
Review: But still a lot of fun. Claire and Ramsey are both in keeping with Bevarly's strong characterization and their dialogue kept me chuckling. And the subplot with Olive and Davis though much more serious was really good. As always I closed the book with a smile. Definitely recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: I Couldn't Finish It
Review: I got to page 106 and had to quit reading. I got so tired of reading the same thing over and over again. In one paragraph she mentions three times about him living in Central America. That got very old, fast!I'm giving it two stars and not one because I hope to pick it back up someday and not find it so monotonous because I did like the main male character and the storyline.
Rating:
Summary: A Parody
Review: I love Elizabeth Bevarly's books and have given them great reviews in the past, but this one seems to be a parody of her style. The story is lots of fun. The hero is wonderful. The problem is that she uses her style of interrupting introspection with cute little asides--well, you know what I mean. She does this far too often. Should have used a FIND and cut out at least half of them. All her novels are beginning to sound the same and that gets old after a while--and in this one, just too much. One other problem is that three of her characters have a great deal of unpleasant baggage which Ms. Bevarly handles very well. Unfortunatley, she has to give the secondary male baggage, too. His problem is dropped into the end of the story and completely unneccessary. It would have been nice to have one normal person here. If you haven't read Elizabeth Bevarly before, you'll enjoy this novel. It's just when you've read her most recent ones that you notice she's not fresh anymore.
Rating:
Summary: Not Bevarly's Best, In My Opinion
Review: I'm a fan of Elizabeth Bevarly but this book was just not my cup of tea. I felt like the reviewer who couldn't finish it, except that once I've invested time, I hate to put a book aside. On the positive side, the hero (Ramsey Sage) I liked very much. (He's the typical, long-haired bad-boy). I was never invested at ALL in Claire (his love interest). She seemed kind of blah and milque-toast-y. The parallel love story between Claire's best friend, Olive and Davis Webster (a male social worker) also did NOT work for me at all, mostly because of the description of Webster. He dresses like a circus clown (in Hawaiian shirts and red high-top sneakers)--not my idea of a hottie, no matter how much his face is sculpted. Plus, the WHOLE ENTIRE BOOK is made up of one secret after another. Everyone is keeping a secret (some of which are too serious for light reading, like being in the witness protection program). I'm always concerned when I pick up a book and the reviews say something like, "Praise about (insert author's name", which this book did on the front cover. That's sort of the kiss of death--like she's a good writer, but this one is not good enough to say anything GOOD about. Anyway ... I still like her writing and will, no doubt, read her future offerings but this one really fell short for me.
Rating:
Summary: Not Bevarly's Best, In My Opinion
Review: I'm a fan of Elizabeth Bevarly but this book was just not my cup of tea. I felt like the reviewer who couldn't finish it, except that once I've invested time, I hate to put a book aside. On the positive side, the hero (Ramsey Sage) I liked very much. (He's the typical, long-haired bad-boy). I was never invested at ALL in Claire (his love interest). She seemed kind of blah and milque-toast-y. The parallel love story between Claire's best friend, Olive and Davis Webster (a male social worker) also did NOT work for me at all, mostly because of the description of Webster. He dresses like a circus clown (in Hawaiian shirts and red high-top sneakers)--not my idea of a hottie, no matter how much his face is sculpted. Plus, the WHOLE ENTIRE BOOK is made up of one secret after another. Everyone is keeping a secret (some of which are too serious for light reading, like being in the witness protection program). I'm always concerned when I pick up a book and the reviews say something like, "Praise about (insert author's name", which this book did on the front cover. That's sort of the kiss of death--like she's a good writer, but this one is not good enough to say anything GOOD about. Anyway ... I still like her writing and will, no doubt, read her future offerings but this one really fell short for me.
Rating:
Summary: A Parody
Review: In Nashville Claire Willoughby hosts the extremely successful TV lifestyles and cooking show Simple Pleasures though she does not live like the persona she portrays. In actuality her silent partner, "assistant" Olive Tully is the creative force behind the show. Olive cannot deal with groups or having her name in the public light as she is extremely shy. Claire's attorney informs her that her number one fan died in an accident and that the woman named her as legal guardian of her infant Anabel. He also mentions that the only living relative is an Uncle Ramsey who has vanished. Hearing that Anabel could be under state care, Claire objects as she knows first hand the horror of the system. A hired sleuth finds Ramsey beaten up in a Nicaraguan bar. Not long afterward Ramsey arrives at Claire's home with a split lip, other bruises, torn clothing and a motorbike. Social worker Davis Webster arrives with Anabel. He takes one look at Ramsey and decides the infant stays with Claire. Ramsey threatens a court case, but instead cleans up so he can visit his niece. As he and Claire fall in love, she thinks he betrayed her trust by exposing her real homey lifestyle to her TV followers. Fans of contemporary romance will enjoy the growing relationships of the lead couple, a secondary pair, and the foursome with the infant. However, the emphasis on love makes the story line feel light as serious undertones involving adoptions, state managed care, and an extremely reticent individual appear almost important. Making Ramsey heroically "acceptable" subtracts from a delightful gender bender relationship. Still readers will appreciate this warm contemporary tale with love everywhere. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: delightful gender bender relationship
Review: In Nashville Claire Willoughby hosts the extremely successful TV lifestyles and cooking show Simple Pleasures though she does not live like the persona she portrays. In actuality her silent partner, "assistant" Olive Tully is the creative force behind the show. Olive cannot deal with groups or having her name in the public light as she is extremely shy. Claire's attorney informs her that her number one fan died in an accident and that the woman named her as legal guardian of her infant Anabel. He also mentions that the only living relative is an Uncle Ramsey who has vanished. Hearing that Anabel could be under state care, Claire objects as she knows first hand the horror of the system. A hired sleuth finds Ramsey beaten up in a Nicaraguan bar. Not long afterward Ramsey arrives at Claire's home with a split lip, other bruises, torn clothing and a motorbike. Social worker Davis Webster arrives with Anabel. He takes one look at Ramsey and decides the infant stays with Claire. Ramsey threatens a court case, but instead cleans up so he can visit his niece. As he and Claire fall in love, she thinks he betrayed her trust by exposing her real homey lifestyle to her TV followers. Fans of contemporary romance will enjoy the growing relationships of the lead couple, a secondary pair, and the foursome with the infant. However, the emphasis on love makes the story line feel light as serious undertones involving adoptions, state managed care, and an extremely reticent individual appear almost important. Making Ramsey heroically "acceptable" subtracts from a delightful gender bender relationship. Still readers will appreciate this warm contemporary tale with love everywhere. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Where's an editor when you need one?.....
Review: Reviews of this book promised a light, humorous romance in the genre of Susan Elizabeth Phillips or Susan Anderson. Instead it is overwritten, with far too much exposition. I found myself desperate for a few lines of dialog, even when it was badly written and failed to advance the story. On the plus side, Bevarly is fairly adept with character creation; I liked Ramsey Sage. Claire, on the other hand, had little going for her, in my opinion. Basically, she's a phony. Front woman for a Martha Stewart-like TV show and magazine--the concept of her friend, Olive-- Claire seems to have no real skills and not much personality. I liked Olive a bit better but her situation was overblown; it was a little hard to believe anyone would seriously still be searching for this woman after 25 years. Her romance with the social worker had promise, I thought--as did he, whose story is touched on but never really developed--but it went nowhere. We are just told, at the end, what happened to them. Also, the baby who brought the couples together in the first place is largely overlooked except for being described as destructive beyond belief. I had to wonder how much experience the author actually has with children, since she insisted that a 13-month-old child could do all the damage the author assigns to her. Bevarly has some skill as a writer but her over developed narrative and exposition bogs the story WAAAYYYYY down. About 100 pages in, I lost patience and skipped my way to the end. Romance authors who manage to build a fanbase sell millions of books; why is it they suffer so from bad or absent editing? Publishers apparently believe the romance-novel audience either doesn't recognize bad writing or doesn't care about it. Wrong. We recognize it and we care about it. With a good editor, this book by Bevarly could have been much better--in this reader/writer's opinion.
| 
