Ms. Taken (The Personal Touch!) (Harlequin Temptation, No 809)

Rating:
Summary: MS TAKEN showcases the fertile imagination of Jo Leigh!
Review: Ms. Leigh continues the miniseries "The Personal Touch" with this sassy story of Jane Dobson and her attractive employer, Charles Warren. These protagonists are very vulnerable and it takes a conk on the head by a plaster cupid to bring them together.

Jane Dobson is the youngest of the four Dobson girls, and the only one that isn't famous. Her oldest sister Pru is a world-renowned concert violinist; second sister Felicity is a best selling author; and the next sister, Darra, is one of the world's top models. Darra and three other supermodels also own a chain of very upscale restaurants. Jane, however, is just Jane, a very sensitive, sweet, free spirit and somewhat of a loner. Jane works in the secretarial pool of a firm owned by Charles Warren and spends her time daydreaming about Charley and how much he loves her.

Charles Warren is nearly thirty-two years of age and has decided that he needs to marry and start a family. For the last few years he has given up his life to make a go of the company his father left him. The only woman in his life has been his mother, and she is a hand full. Holly Baskin was the last woman that Charles had a relationship with, but he has lost track of her. Charles decides that running an ad in the trendy Attitudes Magazine for Holly to contact him would be his best way of finding her.

Jane can't believe that her Charley would have to advertise for a woman. Who is this "Holly Baskin, late of Vassar"? Jane dutifully types up the ad and takes it to the magazine office on her lunch hour. On her way back to the office Jane is hit on the head by a falling plaster head of Cupid and ends up in the emergency room. When she regains consciousness, she believes that she is Holly Baskin and against medical advice leaves the hospital to rush to her Charley. Jane/Holly bursts into Charles'/Charley's office in her torn clothes and shredded hose, plants a big kiss on him, and stuns not only the love of her life, but the men gathered there to discuss a multi-million dollar deal. She finally leaves, but not before she grabs Charles'/Charley's credit card and the keys to his apartment.

David Levinson is Charles' best friend and a psychiatrist. Charles frantically gets in touch with David and explains that to the best of his knowledge one of his secretaries has gone crazy and asks the good doctor to go to his apartment and try to find out what is going on. David knows Jane pretty well since he always chats with her when he comes to Charles' office. When he gets the true story of her accident David convinces Charles that it is best to play along with the Holly persona until the amnesia Jane is suffering passes. Charles is appalled at this idea, but considering that the artifice that caused Jane's accident fell off his building thus technically making it his responsibility, he has no choice. David feels that Jane is the free spirit that his friend needs in his life.

The author has a lot of fun with her characters. Charles does need Jane in his life, but it takes a lot to make him aware of this fact. It takes all of his strength and willpower just to keep his hands off this woman who has moved into his apartment and into his heart. MS. TAKEN is a fun read and showcases the fertile imagination and talents of Jo Leigh.

Rating:
Summary: Very highly recommended
Review: Tidy, precise, inhibited Jane Dobson lived very deliberately, from her seven cashew lunch to her skirts that rode up her thigh so much and no more. While she held the position of ad secretary for Charles Warren, Jane is actually a dreamer, who lives most of her life lost in fantasy. She carefully disguises her inner sensuality until one day a two pound plaster Cupid falls on her head.

In the emergency room, Jane struggles to remember her identity. Rather that her own, she latches onto the first name that comes to mind; that is, Jane Dobson claims to be Holly Baskin. The name comes from a personal ad her boss asked her to place in a magazine. Charles believes it's time to marry and assure an heir to the family business. He doesn't quite recall why he and Holly broke up, but he does recall liking her no nonsense approach to life. So when Jane waltzes into his board room, calling herself Holly and blithely announcing their engagement to everyone present, amidst some very heated kissing, Charles is stunned. But no more stunned than by his best friend's advice to go along with this new "Holly" for a while. The question remains as to whether these two lost souls can heal -- together.

When one woman's fantasy romance becomes an unlikely reality, Jo Leigh's MS. TAKEN provides one of the most improbably, highly delightful romances I have ever read. Leigh combines the outrageous with the humorous to create a wonderfully light heart romance filled with possibilities. Indeed, MS. TAKEN has brilliant characters that come to life in this splendid, sexy romance. I found myself completely swept away, sneaking by book in my pocket during breaks at work because I had to know what happens next. Imagine my very sober office mates as I burst out in uninhibited laughter! Very highly recommended.