Dear Cupid (Texas Heat Wave Series) [Kindle Edition]

Julie Ortolon (Author)

Book Description

Once upon a time, there was a redhead named Kate Bradshaw who naively believed Happily Ever After lay a heartbeat away. One kid, one divorce and a stack of bills later, Kate’s sour attitude isn’t winning any points with the love-struck readers of her Dear Cupid advice column. If she’s going to keep her job, she needs a man to remind her that romance can be fun. Someone attractive. Someone easygoing. Someone with whom she can polish her rusty flirting skills—and absolutely nothing more. Enter Michael Cameron…

One might think a drop-dead-handsome movie animator would have no problem finding a wife. As Kate soon discovers, one would be sorely mistaken. A little too attached to his shabby bachelor pad couch and rumpled Hawaiian shirts, Michael is counting on Dear Cupid to turn him into husband material. Little does Kate know Michael’s secret plan: Convince Kate to give love a second chance.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kate Bradshaw's popular "Dear Cupid" Web advice column helps the hapless and hopeless find true love. But in the aftermath of her painful divorce, Kate's advice turns too bitter for her boss's taste. To retain her job and regain her zest for romance, Kate leaves her native Texas hill country for a business trip to L.A., where she practices her flirting technique on the first attractive man she sees, movie special-effects man Mike Cameron. Kate confidently expects that Mike will disappear from her life after their brief meeting. Instead, he falls in love with her. Sensing Kate's wariness of relationships, but desperate to be part of her life, Mike hires her to turn him, his clothes and his home into marriage material. His decision to withhold the identity of the wife he has in mind keeps the two at comic cross-purposes. Even after they give in to their attraction, Mike must win acceptance from Kate's son, Dylan, and convince her that forever is not a dirty word. Just like a valentine, this frothy read is both fun and insubstantial. But Ortolon's (Drive Me Wild) lively style and brisk pacing are perfectly suited to her playful theme, and her characterizations of Mike and of Kate's maritally muddled neighbors have a genuinely appealing warmth.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

If your romantic problems were enough to drive you to write your favorite advice columnist and the answer you received was a man-bashing, cynical diatribe, would you ever read that column again? Probably not, and that's a problem for Kate Bradshaw, whose column is quickly losing its appeal as her bitter postdivorce emotions find their way onto her Web page. As a last-ditch effort to lose her cynicism, and to save her job, she picks a man at random and flirts with him. It works all too well. All Mike Cameron wants to do is fly home to Texas after his twentieth high-school reunion. Although driven and successful, he realizes he has needs that work just won't fill. All of a sudden, a beautiful stranger is flirting wildly with him, and he can't help but respond. So begins this fun, lighthearted romp through the wilderness of conflicting emotions confronting Kate and Mike. An enjoyable journey with a satisfying ending, their story is sure to please. Maria Hatton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 583 KB
• Print Length: 320 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Julie Ortolon; 3 edition (June 22, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0057OBRO2
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,168 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #12 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Divorce
  • #16 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Mothers & Children
  • #22 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Single Women

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Read!! July 27, 2001

By Christine Shaw

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Since her divorce, Kate Bradshaw's online column "Dear Cupid" hasn't been scoring any points with her readers and the owner of the online magazine that runs her column threatened to cancel her if she didn't put the fun back into her romance advice. Kate needed to take control and regain her carefree spirit she'd lost in recent years. What better way than to find a man to make romance fun again. She didn't want a serious relationship, just someone to flirt with. Looking around, she spied Mike......

Mike Cameron believed in love at first sight, but he never found the "right girl" for himself. His job as a movie animator didn't help since he worked about sixteen hours a day. Relaxing, eyes closed, waiting for his flight at L.A. airport, Mike began thinking of marriage. His thoughts were interrupted when a woman spilled her purse at his feet. Upon opening his eyes, Mike found himself face to face with the most enchanting woman he had ever seen. He knew at that moment that she was the "right girl" and he intended to convince her that she would be very happy as Mrs. Mike Cameron.

Once again, Ms. Ortolon has delivered a well-written and delightful novel. Her characters are well-developed and there is much interaction among all these characters. The leading lady, Kate Bradshaw, has much on her plate. She is trying to put her life back on track after divorce from workaholic who had no time for his family. Her seven-year old son, Dylan, suffers with asthma and her confidence level is at an all-time low. Mike Cameron is the perfect hero for this story. Not brash or crude, he is caring, considerate and very patient with Kate, allowing her the time she needs to heal, but he is very determined to win her heart.... You will just love the way he wins approval from Kate's little boy. Mike is so easy going you can't help but love him!

If you want to read a very good story try this one. And then try Julie's previous novel "Drive Me Wild". This author is now on my auto-buy list. Thank you Julie for many hours of reading pleasure. Read more ›

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Laugh out loud, cute, sweet, sexy contemporary romance! July 22, 2001

By Melinda Freeland

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Julie Ortolon does it again! Just like her first book, Drive Me Wild, her new book has an orginal plot and has a flirty, sexy, sweet,humorous tone all rolled into one! Again the author appeals to me by writing sexy scenes without being "graphic." It was also nice to read about familiar places in my home state of Texas. Her heroine Kate is an e-zine columnist who has become down on men since her divorce. Kate's boss Gwen hints that if Kate doesn't quit writing columns and advice e-mails that are so negative on love, that Kate will be out of job. Kate decides to be a little crazy and flirt with movie animator Michael Cameron in an airport. He winds up pursuing her under the phony notion that he wants Kate to help him find a wife (through her friend's business called Wife For Hire), when of course he wants Kate to become his wife. The author does a superb job of showing sexual tension between the two that keeps you turning the pages. Julie Ortolon also makes the reader really FEEL what the characters feel, such as when the author reveals Kate's feelings on divorce and about Kate's son Dylan, who has asthma. Great contemporary romance - I'm going to tell all my friends to read this book!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Cute in Places, but Disappointing Overall January 21, 2005

By Nicholas' Mom

Format:Mass Market Paperback

The premise is interesting: Kate writes a Dear Cupid column, but her editor warns her that her divorce has left her so bitter that her advice is getting a bit too pessimistic. Kate decides she has to return to her flirty ways-- at least temporarily-- if she wants to keep her job. On a plane trip, she flirts outrageously with a passenger named Mike. He immediately falls for her and decides she's the woman he wants to marry. But Kate is embarassed by what she's done. When Mike tracks her down by hiring her to help him find a wife, she doesn't seem to catch on that he's interested in her. She resists him for a long time, but eventually, they find true love.

Oroton is a good writer and Mike is very likeable. But Mike falls for Kate way too fast. I can see instant attraction or intrigue, but he's decided she's going to be the mother of his children based on a 5 minute sexy exchange about a lipstick color. Plus, it's very hard to buy that Kate doesn't realize Mike is interested in her, and her fear of getting involved seems more trite than understandable, even considering her recent divorce. Yes, all romances are cliched and full of some unbelievable plot twists, but this one seemed too predictable and too ridiculous for me.

There was a lot of potential here, but Susan Donovan, Rachael Gibson, and Jennifer Crusie set a high bar for contemporary romances, a bar that Oroton doesn't reach in this book.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Good, well-written contemporary romance July 13, 2001

By Tanya V.

Format:Mass Market Paperback

"Dear Cupid" is a charming contemporary romance featuring good writing, well-developed characters, and a decently-developed romance.

The heroine, Kate, is a feisty but vulnerable single mother dealing with the after-effect of a tough divorce. While it can be easy for an author to deal in a shallow way with the impact a divorce can have on self-esteem, Ortolon does a really good job of developing Kate and having her deal with her reactions and fears in a realistic and legitimate way.

The hero, Michael, is everything you want in a contemporary romance hero. He is caring, patient, and deals well with Kate's charming-but-sometimes-difficult son, Dylan. And he's so very appealing and sweet.

Ortolon puts a lot of effort into displaying Kate's fears and in showing Michael's attempts to overcome those fears. Unfortunately, I almost felt as if the issues melted away in a really opportune sort of way. One common weakness in romance novels is that the issues between a couple suddenly disappear, and voila! Everything's golden. The same issue applies to a secondary romance between two of Kate's friends.

That said, this is a wonderful, amusing but deep read for any romance reader. In the end, we read romances because we want to celebrate all the joy that can come with a successful romance, and this book gives us all of that.

More About the Author

I'm late bloomer when it comes to reading -- and writing. I didn't discover either joy until I discovered romance novels in my early twenties. Now, I'm totally addicted. My biggest joy is bringing all my interests together in my books, to have the chance to celebrate the things that excite me through my characters.

Since I love to travel, all my books are set in places I've actually been. Sometimes those real places morph into fictional places -- like Pearl Island -- but I try to capture the magic of the setting and people in all my books, to make writing them like a trip to a wonderful world where good always triumphs and love always ends in Happily Ever After -- against all odds. That's what makes life worth living, and books worth reading: when someone grabs the brass ring.

Subscribe to updates from me about new books and other news at http://julieortolon.com/

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Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#50 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance > Contemporary

#55 in Books > Romance > Contemporary

#82 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance

#90 in Books > Romance

#50 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance > Contemporary

#55 in Books > Romance > Contemporary

#82 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance

#90 in Books > Romance