Contemporary Romances

Catch of the Day
by Marcia Evanick

Gwen Fletcher is an excellent chef with dream of owning her own restaurant, but a limited bank account. But luck is with her when she discovers a restaurant for sale in a small Maine town that's in her price range. She buys it, moves to the small town and discovers that Misty Harbor is a town filled with bachelors, and she's the only single woman in town. But she's not interested in finding a husband, mostly she just wants to figure out why her carpenter is avoiding her.

Daniel Creighton is an excellent carpenter and good looking to boot, but he's been jilted once and now he's wary of women, especially spitfire Gwen, whom he finds himself falling for. Town gossip links them together, but things aren't going their way. Can the two deal with opening a restaurant, old flames, nosey relatives and inferiority complexes and finally get together?

The windswept beauty of Maine is the backdrop for this fast-paced, fun contemporary romance. Add a lot of food, witty banter and a town filled with eccentric bachelors and you have a good, light read. The strong, independant central female character is very appealing.

Man Trouble
by Melanie Craft

Mousy college  professor Molly Shaw has a secret. When she's not teaching history at the conservative Belden College, she's Sandra St. Clair, author of the bestselling historical romance, 'Pirate Gold'. She's desperate to keep that little fact under wraps, so when her journalist friend Carter McKee proposes a little friendly blackmail, she has to go along with his plan. The plan? To assume the identity of her alter ego, Sandra St. Clair and seduce reclusive hotel mogul and billionaire playboy Jake Berenger and help Carter land the scoop of the year.

Meanwhile, Jake has problems of his own. His resorts are losing money partly due to his bad boy reputation and his board of directors are howling for him to do something or he's out on his ear. So now he's searching for a prim and proper little wife to help fix his image. Could that be Molly? Things quickly get out of hand, especially with an ambitious reporter, a professional match-maker and a stern mother in tow. Will they be able to work through their problems and perhaps make a love match?

 The Caribbean setting is a delightful frame for the story. The push and pull relationship of the two main characters is frustratingly fun, and the pace is relatively fast, with lots of dialog. There is definitely humor in the story, it doesn't take itself too seriously, which makes it a nice, light read. The characters are well-drawn and eccentric, and there's a bit of a twist at the end that really makes the story worth reading.

This Can't Be Love
by Kasey Michaels

Molly Applegate is an heiress. Her parents died unexpectedly and left her their entire fortune, but there's a catch: she only inherits the money if she works ten months out of the year or gets married. She quite happily takes a score of menial jobs across the country, flitting around with no plans and feeling no particular responsibilty to anyone or anything. She's working as a low-level reporter when she decides on an impulse to trade careers with her cousin Janie, who runs a children's day care center.
Two of the children who attend the day care center are the niece and nephew of famous Broadway producer Dominic Longstreet, who has pledged to watch over them while his brother and business partner takes a vacation with his wife. But Dominic expected the children to spend their summer in the day care center, so he is understandably upset when he discovers Molly closing up the center for a two week vacation. At his wits end, he asks Molly to watch over the children while he works on his latest Broadway play, although he finds himself rather distracted by the pretty, exuberant and mysterious Molly.

As things heat up between them, Molly is forced to face childhood traumas and insecurities, putting their relationship in danger. Will things work out between the mismatched pair? Michaels has created memorable and interesting characters, realistically flawed. The pace of her novel is leisurely, allowing the reader to relate to the characters and their problems. A nice, easy read by a very popular author.