Fit To Be Tied by Karen Kendall

Jen’s wedding day started out badly and only got worse. The final straw was learning that her husband-to-be had to get drunk in order to go through the ceremony and now she’s wondering why she agreed to marry Tom in the first place. While Tom sobered up on the plane ride to their honeymoon, Jen decided that maybe the best thing was to ask for a divorce before things could get any worse. After all that’s happened, surely Tom couldn’t say no. Or could he?

Take every nightmare that you could imagine happening at a wedding and this book has it. Well it doesn't have the pregnant girlfriend running down the aisle during “Does anyone know why this couple shouldn’t be wed?”. but it does have everything else However instead of being playful, the story carried a rather serious tone and that just didn’t work for me. The characters were good, the sex was hot and the ending made reading the story worthwhile. But I can’t help but wonder if a little more humor injected in the right places would have made the book great.

Details: Signet Eclipse, March 2007

Excellence Rating: Pretty Good

Steaminess Factor: Yummy

Midnight Touch by Karen Kendall

Alejandro Torres has a big secret – he gives women pedicures at the After Hours spa and salon. This is as unmanly as a man with Peruvian ancestors can get. When he’s not working, he's busy studying for his degree in business management, alongside Kate Spinney. Kate is also working on her master’s degree while hiding in Miami from her overly rich and controlling family. When a group project brings them together, Alejandro is afraid Kate will find him less than a man because of how he makes his living, so he goes to extreme lengths to conceal his real job – including telling complex lies to conceal his true nature. But Kate falls in love with Alejandro because he's so unlike anyone in her family. Now, can Kate find it in her heart to forgive Alejandro for lying to her or will Kate walk out of his life forever?

I found this to be a very interesting Blaze in the way that it treated Alejandro. It was very interesting seeing someone write about a guy that acts so outwardly masculine yet who is so insecure on the inside.

This book concludes the After Hours series and features the characters from the previous books in the series. All the loose odds and ends are wrapped up neatly too. You’ll definitely have to read this book if you liked the other two.

Details: Blaze #258, June 2006

Bottom line: A very good book

Midnight Madness by Karen Kendall

From the moment Jack Hammersmith saw her picture, he decided that Marly Fine was The One. However, Marly isn’t so sure. Jack is the Governor of Florida, with all of the trappings of the office. Marly is a hairstylist who’s barely keeping ahead of the bills. But the real conflict comes from the fact that Jack comes from a family of Republican politicians, while Marly is a life long Democrat. Can Marly and Jack resolve their political differences? Well they do say that politics makes strange bedfellows :) .

Part of After Hours series, Midnight Madness is an interesting mix of romance and politics with a touch of humor tossed in for good measure. The resulting story is just plain fun. I highly recommend this book to both Democrats and Republicans.

Details: Blaze #252, May 2006

Bottom line: A very good book

Midnight Oil by Karen Kendall

Peggy Underwood was finally getting her life back on track. After dumping her grade-B hockey player boyfriend and moving to Florida, Peggy, along with her two business partners, opened After Hours - a spa that serves customers until late in the night. As part of this life-changing event, Peggy vowed to spend the next year learning to live without men. Unfortunately, Troy Barrington entered her life.

Troy Barrington, ex-football star, recently inherited the mall where After Hours is located and wants to find a way to break the lease so he can use that space to build his sporting goods store. After being advised that the lease is ironclad, his only option is to find a building code violation that would allow him to break their lease. However, Peggy fascinates him - the way she looks and the way she kisses and the way she acts in bed. Can Troy follow through with his plan or will Peggy decide to punt him out of her life?

The first book in the After Hours series is more of a traditional Blaze, filled with hot sex and interesting characters. There is also some humor in the book that helps to balance things out. But somehow the story didn’t work for me as much as some of the more recent Blazes I’ve read. Still, I did enjoy reading it and I’ll definitely be reading the next two books in the After Hours series.

Details: Blaze #246, April 2006

Bottom line: A pretty good book