Where Is He Now?

Rating:
Summary: Well written with perceptive details
Review: A fifteen-year class reunion is coming up, and it's time for the prom queen, the most-likely-to-succeed jock, the brainy nerd and the outrageous girl rock singer to come to terms with their pasts and their dreams.

Jeanne Claire and Nate, the golden, popular couple who everyone assumed would marry, broke up shortly after graduation. But they've always loved each other, and now they have to explore the reasons for their break-up, realize the mistakes they made and correct them. They have to reclaim their own lives, their own dreams, before they can be what the other needs.

Arnold, the former brainy nerd, is now a millionaire, but still carrying a torch for funky Tamara, who ignored him in school. Now, however, Tamara, who recorded a couple of hit songs but then sank into a life of drugs, has all new priorities--and an all new appreciation for Arnold. But can Arnold overcome his insecurities to accept that Tamara might really love him?

Now, I am a big fan of Jennifer Greene's category romances at Silhouette. She's a legend. But this big book didn't thrill me. The class reunion theme has been so overdone. And it felt more like two category romances cobbled together than the deeper, more complex story I was hoping for. Still, it was smoothly written, the love scenes were satisfyingly steamy, and there were some nice moments and humorous scenes that brought a smile to my face. Ms. Greene's observations about dreams and disappointments were perceptive, I thought.

Rating:
Summary: warm second chance at love
Review: In Ann Arbor, Nate "Shadow" Donneli manages the family owned Donneli Motors, an antique car dealership. He also raises his daughter Caitlin by himself since his spouse divorced both their child and him. He is worried about the family business because someone, probably one of his siblings, is cleverly embezzling money from the firm.

With her father, Jeanne "Peanut" Cassiday runs Oz Enterprises, which hosts events for organizations. She, her best friend, and a nerd are in charge of the fifteenth anniversary St. Sebastian High School reunion. Though preferring to avoid her reunion assignment, Jeanne visits Shadow, who was her high sweetheart, to ostensibly see if he will come as the person who was most likely to succeed. Instead she asks him why he deserted her. Unable to ignore their attraction, they start seeing each other. The promise of their teen love blossoms into adult forever feelings. However his daughter and her father depend on Nate and Jeanne respectively, making their vows of responsibility turn permanency between them as evanescent as it was back in high school.

This is a fun contemporary romance with a wide cast that supplements the prime romance including a charming secondary love story. The where are they now feel to the plot makes for a fine time that will have readers asking the same questions about their high school peers. Though the embezzlement seems unnecessary, fans will appreciate this warm second chance at love.

Harriet Klausner