Pretty Bad by Shirley Jump

After hitting Kate Moss with a cake, Madison Worth’s modeling career landed in the cow pasture. Literally. The only job she could get was modeling for Cheese Please, Jack Pleeseman’s family dairy business. While Jack needed someone to represent his cheese as part of an upcoming ad campaign in order to save his farm, he never expected someone who graced the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. Life on a dairy farm is hard for a city girl like Madison, but soon she finds herself falling for the handsome dairyman. But Jack wonders when she’ll run off to the big city to return to her glamorous life as a model. Now it’s up to Madison to convince Jack that she’s really changed before Jack loses the farm.

Shirley started with a cute premise and crafted a great set of characters. While the story is a bit on the slow side and could use a bit more humor, it definitely is worth reading especially if you enjoy conflicts between a rich and glamorous heroine with a not-quite-common hero

Details: Zebra, February 2007

Excellence Rating: Very Good

Steaminess Factor: Yummy

Murphy’s Law by Lori Foster

Ashley Miles is a girl who knows what she wants and romance just doesn’t make the list. Between working two jobs and attending school, Ashley is flat out of time. Not if she wants to pay her bills and get good grades. The last thing she needs is a rich, handsome man chasing after her. When Quinton Murphy sees the spunky girl, he’s fascinated beyond all reason, but not sure why. It isn’t her scrawny body nor her brash personality, that’s for sure. But things go downhill for Ashley, when someone starts stalking her and making death threats. Now after years of avoiding men, Ashley has two men in her life – one who wants to kill her and the other that wants to make love to her. Isn’t that just like Murphy’s Law?

Ashley is one of the most unique characters I’ve ever seen in a romance novel and Lori managed to paint an incredible picture of this girl in my mind. I can see her kicking and screaming each time she’s forced to do something she doesn’t want to do and I actually felt sorry for Quinton when it happened. This book is full of humor, mixed in with a touch of suspense. This is a sequel to Jude’s Law, which you may want to read first as many of the characters from that book make a guest appearance in this one. If you like unlikely matchups, then you’ll love this book.

Zebra, September 2006

Bottom line: A great book

The Fly Guy by Laura Bradford

Sarah Dundee ekes out a living by writing products reviews for a nature magazine. Her reviews attracted the attention of a major publisher who wants her to fly all over the country reviewing products in some of the most remote locations available. There’s just one problem, Sarah is deathly afraid of airplanes. Well, she actually has two problems. The other is she’s trying to stop the nearby airport from expanding into a nature preserve, which immediately pits her against the airport’s owner, Logan Donnelly. Logan on the other hand needs to expand his airport or face financial ruin. Unfortunately, from the instant they met, both Sarah and Logan feel a strong attraction for each other. But without room to compromise, the couple is headed for one big crash landing.

Okay, I’ll admit it. I like airplanes. And finding a book for $2.49 with over 430 pages is a real bargain, so this book had a lot going for it from the start. However, for some reason it took me a long time to get into the story and I never felt much for either the heroine or the hero. However, the ending of this book almost makes up for its flaws. I won’t spoil it by giving away the ending, but I just couldn’t put the book down for the last 50 pages or so. Unfortunately Laura forgot to tie up a few loose ends in the story, so unless you really like stories about airplanes or a good bargain, you might want to think twice about this book.

Details: Zebra, June 2006

Bottom line: A pretty good book