Just for You

Cute cover!

DOREEN RAINEY

Stats for my copy: Paperback, Arabesque Books, 2002.

How acquired: Bought.

First line: Alexis Shaw waved to the dealer as she drove off the lot into the late afternoon sun.

(For the Goodreads synopsis, scroll to the bottom of this post.)

My thoughts: As I started this book I expected fairly standard category romance fare. Alexis has been voted Businesswoman of the Year by a prestigious magazine, and is out celebrating with a friend. Malcolm and his friend happen to be at the same restaurant, and a chance meeting occurs when Malcolm's friend makes a fool of himself over Alexis and her friend rejecting a bottle of champagne he has sent to their table, and then rejecting him to his face when he approaches their table. (“What are you ladies...gay?”) Thank god Rick isn't the hero of the story! Neither Alexis nor Malcolm expect to see each other again, but as fate would have it, Malcolm is the journalist interviewing Alexis for the magazine. Insults fly and they are promptly at each others throats. I'll tell ya, I love a good enemies to lovers story!

I really liked Alexis, despite her almost maniacal hatred of weddings and marriage. She runs a very successful event planning business, but refuses to plan weddings. Other than that small flaw, she's a wonderful spitfire character, and of course Malcolm is drawn to her. And I loved Malcolm. He's reached a point in his life where he wants to settle down, put down roots, have a family. He accepts his feelings for her much quicker than she does, and I loved how he met her prickliness with kindness and compassion, not to mention humorous admiration.

There are several supporting characters, such as Alexis' sister Melanie, who shows up unexpectedly to hide out while reevaluating her life. Their lives were shaped by their mother, who used her money and influence to buy success for her daughters. Alexis broke away while in college and never speaks to her mother, while Melanie always gave in and did what was expected of her. But now she's realized that she's very unhappy with her life, and I loved watching her grow and rediscover what's important to her. Malcolm, like Alexis, has never gone in for long term relationships, and his brother and cousin tease him mercilessly once they realize a woman is behind his sudden inability to concentrate on their weekly basketball games. He also has a nosy secretary who is eager to figure out who the mystery woman is, and an ex who seems to be stalking him – and Alexis.

This is a romance, but there's a bit of suspense thrown in, and a surprise twist towards the end, and when it was all said and done I got emotional and cried as I read. When you pluck a random book off the shelves, by an author you know nothing about, you never know what you'll get. In this case I got a wonderful love story and a new favorite author whose backlist I need to hunt down now.

Goodreads synopsis: Event planner Alexis Shaw's booming company, Just For You, plans everything – except weddings. As far as Alexis is concerned, marriage is a waste of time, heart, and money. The policy hasn't hurt her any – she's even named Businesswoman of the Year by Image Magazine. To celebrate, Alexis goes out to dinner with her best friend. All's well, until an admirer sends over a bottle of champagne – and won't take no for an answer, even when his handsome colleague, Malcolm Singleton, tries to convince him to back off. Fortunately, Alexis can take care of herself.

Magazine writer Malcolm Singleton knows his chances of seeing the spunky, sexy woman from the restaurant again are nearly impossible – until he learns that his next subject is the Businesswoman of the Year herself. Soon, he and Alexis discover they have a few things in common, including a mutual attraction. But as Malcolm resolves to warm Alexis's cynical heart, he discovers a devastating secret about her award nomination that could destroy their blossoming love. Will telling Alexis the truth mean the end of their relationship – or the beginning of the love of a lifetime?  

Sweet Tea and Sympathy (Southern Eclectic, Book One)

MOLLY HARPER

Synopsis from Goodreads: Beloved author Molly Harper launches a brand-new contemporary romance series, Southern Eclectic, with this story of a big-city party planner who finds true love in a small Georgia town.

Nestled on the shore of Lake Sackett, Georgia is the McCready Family Funeral Home and Bait Shop. (What, you have a problem with one-stop shopping?) Two McCready brothers started two separate businesses in the same building back in 1928, and now it’s become one big family affair. And true to form in small Southern towns, family business becomes everybody’s business.

Margot Cary has spent her life immersed in everything Lake Sackett is not. As an elite event planner, Margot’s rubbed elbows with the cream of Chicago society, and made elegance and glamour her business. She’s riding high until one event goes tragically, spectacularly wrong. Now she’s blackballed by the gala set and in dire need of a fresh start—and apparently the McCreadys are in need of an event planner with a tarnished reputation.

As Margot finds her footing in a town where everybody knows not only your name, but what you had for dinner last Saturday night and what you’ll wear to church on Sunday morning, she grudgingly has to admit that there are some things Lake Sackett does better than Chicago—including the dating prospects. Elementary school principal Kyle Archer is a fellow fish-out-of-water who volunteers to show Margot the picture-postcard side of Southern living. The two of them hit it off, but not everybody is happy to see an outsider snapping up one of the town's most eligible gentleman. Will Margot reel in her handsome fish, or will she have to release her latest catch?

Stats for my copy: ebook, Gallery Books, releasing November 21, 2017.

How acquired: NetGalley.

My thoughts: I previously read SAVE A TRUCK, RIDE A REDNECK, Book 0.5 in this series. I’m not a big fan of novellas, just because I like to get more story, more characterization, than the shorter form allows. But I enjoyed it, so I was eager to try one of Ms. Harper’s full length novels and see how much deeper she can go. And she did not disappoint. 

Our heroine this time is Margot, a big city event planner who finds herself out of a job and shunned by the event planning community after a disastrous flamingo incident. We met Marianne, and her brother, Duffy, in SAVE A TRUCK. Margot is their cousin, though she’s never met any of the family. Her mother left her father when she was three years old, and her father has been completely out of her life since then. But Tootie McCready,, her father’s aunt and the matriarch of the McCready clan, contacts Margot out of the blue and offers her a job in the family business, McCready Family Funeral Home and Bait Shop. With no other prospects on the horizon, and about to not have anywhere to live, Margot reluctantly accepts.

I very much liked Margot. She’d pretty much had the rug pulled out from under her, and her whole world turned upside down. Settling down to life in Lake Sackett, Georgia, was quite a culture shock for her. Not to mention meeting her biological father, for whom she, understandably, harbors a lot of resentment. She didn’t plan to stay permanently, just until she found a job that would take her back to Chicago or some other civilized city. Watching her navigate her new life was at times eye-wincingly funny.

I loved Kyle, a widower with two young daughters. After a scorching make out session in his truck, he thereafter runs hot and cold with Margot. He doesn’t date much, and he never brings his dates around his daughters. Which is fine with Margot, for while she lusts for him she has no intention of becoming emotionally involved with him. She doesn’t know how to talk to children, and of course she plans on leaving town at the first opportunity.

The first time Margot saw Kyle, she was drawn to his sad eyes and haunted countenance. It was a great way for Ms. Harper to introduce him, because he ticked my boxes also. Of course Margot ends up spending more time with Kyle and his daughters than planned, and some of her interactions with young June were hilarious. I also enjoyed her interactions with Marianne and another cousin, Frankie, who also worked at the funeral home. I really hope Frankie will be the heroine of a future book.

As with the novella, I sometimes had a little trouble keeping all the family members straight at times, but that didn’t really impede my enjoyment of the story. There’s plenty of humor, which I love in a romance, but there was also some angst and ultimately some soul searching for Margot when she finally has an opportunity to leave Lake Sackett.

Very enjoyable, and I’ll be keeping an eye out for other books by Ms. Harper.