Too Close To Call (Harlequin Temptation, No. 940)

Rating:
Summary: Think of this one as the Hollywood Exec and the Bush Pilot
Review: "Too Close To Call" by Barbara Dunlop is the second in a set of twin romances out from Harlequin Temptations this August about a pair of brothers separated at birth by circumstances that make for some interesting fun in the grand tradition of Mark Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper." In "Too Close For Comfort," written by Colleen Collins, Hollywood businessman Jeffrey Bradshaw came up to the Alaskan frontier to scout a location for a new television series. But his business plans and his heart were derailed by Cyd Thompson, a bush pilot for works for Jordan Adamson, who, as things turn out, is Jeffrey's twin brother. This matters because Jeffrey has a big meeting back in Los Angeles where his promotion is at stake and he cannot make it, fate having conspired against him with not only Cyd but a giant storm, and Jordan finds himself flying to Hollywood to pretend to be his brother. After all, Jordan knows all about the beauty of Alaska (however, the idea that Hollywood executives could be fooled by a complete neophyte in their midst does have a certain amount of inherent appeal to me).

However, this becomes secondary when Jordan (pretending to be Jeffrey) meets Ashley Baines, known around the office as "the iron maiden" (and who is up for the same promotion). Instead of being scared of her, Jordan sees a challenge in this drop dead beautify but frosty big city woman. Of course, in short order neither one of them is thinking about the promotion, although Ashley cannot get over the big changes in "Jeffrey." From Jordan's perspective he is caught between a rock and a hard place: if he tells Ashley the truth, he can lose her and Jeffrey will lose his promotion. But if he says nothing, what happens when Jeffrey returns and wonders while Ashley is crawling all over him. Fortunately, along with all the romantic complications and plot contrivances, Dunlop keeps her focus on the humor of what is going on.

I am not sure that I buy Jordan's assessment that Ashley could survive in the wilds of Alaska, but the mind games between the two, in which she does not really know who she is playing against, has its moments. Ironically, while Ashley thinks she is seeing a brand new Jeffrey when she is clashing with Jordan, there actually is a brand new Jeffrey stuck up in Alaska and I cannot help but wonder what poor Ashley would do if she had to choose between the two brothers. Obviously that is a moot point given what happened in "Too Close For Comfort," but it is still rather interesting to think about (after all, you can never make a romance too complicated, right?).

I have a slight preference for the first book in terms of the romance but this one has the advantage in terms of the humor. Just be sure you read the other one before you pick up this one.

Rating:
Summary: Think of this one as the Hollywood Exec and the Bush Pilot
Review: "Too Close To Call" by Barbara Dunlop is the second in a set of twin romances out from Harlequin Temptations this August about a pair of brothers separated at birth by circumstances that make for some interesting fun in the grand tradition of Mark Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper." In "Too Close For Comfort," written by Colleen Collins, Hollywood businessman Jeffrey Bradshaw came up to the Alaskan frontier to scout a location for a new television series. But his business plans and his heart were derailed by Cyd Thompson, a bush pilot for works for Jordan Adamson, who, as things turn out, is Jeffrey's twin brother. This matters because Jeffrey has a big meeting back in Los Angeles where his promotion is at stake and he cannot make it, fate having conspired against him with not only Cyd but a giant storm, and Jordan finds himself flying to Hollywood to pretend to be his brother. After all, Jordan knows all about the beauty of Alaska (however, the idea that Hollywood executives could be fooled by a complete neophyte in their midst does have a certain amount of inherent appeal to me).

However, this becomes secondary when Jordan (pretending to be Jeffrey) meets Ashley Baines, known around the office as "the iron maiden" (and who is up for the same promotion). Instead of being scared of her, Jordan sees a challenge in this drop dead beautify but frosty big city woman. Of course, in short order neither one of them is thinking about the promotion, although Ashley cannot get over the big changes in "Jeffrey." From Jordan's perspective he is caught between a rock and a hard place: if he tells Ashley the truth, he can lose her and Jeffrey will lose his promotion. But if he says nothing, what happens when Jeffrey returns and wonders while Ashley is crawling all over him. Fortunately, along with all the romantic complications and plot contrivances, Dunlop keeps her focus on the humor of what is going on.

I am not sure that I buy Jordan's assessment that Ashley could survive in the wilds of Alaska, but the mind games between the two, in which she does not really know who she is playing against, has its moments. Ironically, while Ashley thinks she is seeing a brand new Jeffrey when she is clashing with Jordan, there actually is a brand new Jeffrey stuck up in Alaska and I cannot help but wonder what poor Ashley would do if she had to choose between the two brothers. Obviously that is a moot point given what happened in "Too Close For Comfort," but it is still rather interesting to think about (after all, you can never make a romance too complicated, right?).

I have a slight preference for the first book in terms of the romance but this one has the advantage in terms of the humor. Just be sure you read the other one before you pick up this one.

Rating:
Summary: amusing contemporary romance
Review: Small Alaskan airline owner Jordan Adamson never knew he had a twin brother until his sibling Jeffrey Bradshaw arrived from the lower Forty-eight on a business trip. Both are shocked, as they are mirror images of one another.

Jordan believes in the motto that the customer is always right (for the most part that is except for safety). Yet he still cannot figure out how living by that creed has sent him to Los Angels pretending to be Jeffrey even if a storm stranded his sibling in the wilderness. Even worse he is making a pitch that his sibling should be making. Making matters feel Murphyesque to Jordan is his new found brother's promotion competitor Ashley Baines is he wants in his igloo forever, but fears the repercussions they would cause to his sibling.

Twins seemingly are multiplying at an incredible rate in the fiction realm with Temptation joining in the duality with a pair serving as the lead in two of the August sweepstakes. Barbara Dunlop provides the audience with an amusing contemporary romance in which misconduct and duplicity serve as anchors to TOO CLOSE TO CALL. The story line focuses on Jordan's efforts to fool Jeffrey's colleagues with one disturbing exception in which he knows honesty is the key to permanency since he has fallen in love with the rival to his brother's potential promotion. Barbara Dunlop provides a lighthearted romp that shows you can take the stud out of Alaska, but you can't take baked Alaska out of the California bedroom.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: amusing contemporary romance
Review: Small Alaskan airline owner Jordan Adamson never knew he had a twin brother until his sibling Jeffrey Bradshaw arrived from the lower Forty-eight on a business trip. Both are shocked, as they are mirror images of one another.

Jordan believes in the motto that the customer is always right (for the most part that is except for safety). Yet he still cannot figure out how living by that creed has sent him to Los Angels pretending to be Jeffrey even if a storm stranded his sibling in the wilderness. Even worse he is making a pitch that his sibling should be making. Making matters feel Murphyesque to Jordan is his new found brother's promotion competitor Ashley Baines is he wants in his igloo forever, but fears the repercussions they would cause to his sibling.

Twins seemingly are multiplying at an incredible rate in the fiction realm with Temptation joining in the duality with a pair serving as the lead in two of the August sweepstakes. Barbara Dunlop provides the audience with an amusing contemporary romance in which misconduct and duplicity serve as anchors to TOO CLOSE TO CALL. The story line focuses on Jordan's efforts to fool Jeffrey's colleagues with one disturbing exception in which he knows honesty is the key to permanency since he has fallen in love with the rival to his brother's potential promotion. Barbara Dunlop provides a lighthearted romp that shows you can take the stud out of Alaska, but you can't take baked Alaska out of the California bedroom.

Harriet Klausner