Blame it on Cupid by Jennifer Greene

Merry Olson understood what it was like to grow up without a mother, so when her friend Charlie Ross died leaving his eleven year old daughter alone, Merry immediately left Minnesota and headed for Virginia. What Merry didn’t expect was that Charlene is having serious trouble adapting to life after her dad’s death. Fortunately Merry was able to turn to her next door neighbor, Jack Mackinnon a divorced hunk with two sons for parenting advice. While Jack finds Merry’s form pleasing to the eye, he finds the way she does most things to be a bit strange. Still, he can’t help but feel sorry for both girls, so with his son’s encouragement, he finds himself becoming more involved in their lives, despite his desire to remain single after his bitter divorce. Now can Merry find a way to balance her need for Jack with her new role as single parent or will she lose them both forever?

This was a cute book with great characters that will bring a smile to your face. I like the collection of problems Jennifer left for Merry to overcome, and new ones seemed to pop up when least expected. The combination of details and confused emotions were very enjoyable and you felt as if everything was up in the air until nearly the last page. This is a much better book then Blame it on Chocolate and I recommend it if you love books involving single parents and children.

Score: Very good

Details: HQN, December 2006

Blame it on Chocolate by Jennifer Greene

Lucy Fitzhenry developed a new type of chocolate that tastes better than any other chocolate in the world. After sampling some of the first batch with the president of the company, Nick Bernard, they celebrate a bit too hard leaving Lucy with a big problem – she’s pregnant. Nick’s brother made a similar mistake years ago and their grandfather forced him out of the family business. Even though Lucy has had a crush on Nick for years, she assumes full responsibility for the baby to prevent Nick’s grandfather from firing him, while trying to keep Nick as arms length when he tries to be part of Lucy’s life.

I was truly amazed at the level of research that went into this book. Jennifer painted an incredible backdrop for this story along with colorful characters with strong traits and lots of potential conflict. But the story fails to capitalize on these assets, leaving the book reading like it was an oversize Desire. If you love reading Desire you’ll love this book, but I think a single title novel deserves a more complex story.

Details: HQN, January 2006

Bottom line: A pretty good book