Warner, 2006, $6.50
Heck, real women don't wear size 10 as our heroine, Clarise Robinson, does in this steamy contemporary romance.
I read somewhere that the average size for women in the United States is 14. (Guess that makes me above average!)
Clarise is the top salesperson at Eubanks Elegant Apparel -- and her clothes reflect a classic and respectable lifestyle.
Clarise is hiding the fact that she's in love with her boss, Ethan. The two of them have become close friends, and he often confides in her about his many relationships, which don't seem to last very long.
When an opportunity comes for her to attend the Gasparilla Pirate Festival in Tampa, along with others from the store, Clarise decides it is time to let loose of her inhibition.
(I get the feeling that this festival is something akin to Mardi Gras and "Girls Gone Wild.")
Ethan discovers that Clarise has a list of wild things she wants to do. He says he is trying to make sure she doesn't get hurt, but the reality is that he wants to be the one she does these things with.
Readers might want to put on asbestos gloves before picking this one up. Some of the language is a little much, but the story is one romance readers will enjoy.
Ex, Why, and Me
By Susanna Carr
Kensington, 2006, $14
Michelle Nelson is finding it's not easy to go home again. She agrees to go back to Carbon Hill to help her friend with the Horseradish Festival.
If she'd known she was going to have to deal with Ryan Slater, an old flame, Michelle might have refused.
Somehow these two are teamed up for the annual scavenger hunt (wonder what matchmaker decided to do that), and that 24/7 proximity gives them the opportunity to talk -- and to realize that things that happened one night years ago were not what they seemed.
Carr's romances are always a delight.
Captive Heart
By Sarah McKerrigan
Warner, 2006, $6.50
This is the second book in McKerrigan's "Warrior Maids of Rivenloch" series. The first was "Lady Danger."
Helena is about as tough a broad as you can find. Knowing she is well able to handle all sorts of weapons, it's no surprise for her sister, Deirdre, to discover that Helena has kidnapped Colin, her new brother-in-law's righthand man.
Helena is determined to keep Colin as her prisoner until she can get what she thinks is the marriage of her younger sister, Miriel, and Pagan Cameliard. What she doesn't realize (since she was incarcerated in the dungeon at the time) is that Pagan has wed Deirdre.
It's a little difficult for these men to believe that all three of the Rivenbach women are trained as warriors. It's a stretch for me to believe, too, but it's still a good read.
Faye M. Dasen may be reached at fdasen@thepilot.com.
