Customer Reviews

Not The Marrying Kind

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Nerdy and heavy Harriet Rogers had a dream date at the prom with football captain Jake Porter that ended in passion. The next morning, Jake disappeared and she soon discovered she was pregnant. Turning to her best friend (and fellow social outcast), Donnie, the two married and moved to the Big Apple, where Donnie became a musician and Harriet a renowned artist. But Donnie's untimely death meant that she had to accompany their son to Doolittle when his gran is sick, and when Harriet runs into grown up music producer Jake, who's in town to meet his father's fiance, he doesn't realize that she's the Harriet from his past, as he sets about wooing her. What happens when he runs into the son he never knew he had?

North's breezy romantic comedy has a bit of a recycled plot, but the lead characters keep it from being just another hefty girl gone thin and getting the boy story mixed with the love child angle. Despite the familiarity of the material and the lack of secondary character development, she tells a funny and bittersweet story featuring two characters that have sworn off marriage until they find each other.

Harriet Rogers gets pregnant on her prom night and the next day Drop Dead Gorgeous Jake Porter, the boy responsible, disappears from the face of the Earth never to be seen again. Harriet quickly marries Donnie, her childhood friend and they move to New York where Donnie becomes a musician and Harriet a famous artist. Ten years later Donnie dies in an accident and Harriet and her son Zack remain in New York.

Six years later, at Christmas time, Harriet and Zach travel to Harriet's home town in Doolittle, Arkansas to visit Zach's ailing grandmother. Harriet makes reservations in Doolittle at a renovated school house turned B & B.

Jake Porter makes Christmas reservations at the same B & B to meet his single dad's fiancé that he met on the internet.

The fun starts when Jake meets Harriet in a Doolittle bar and Jake is smitten by the woman in the red cashmere coat. Little does he know that he is meeting this woman for the second time in his life and she has his son he knows nothing about.

The story captured my interest and I couldn't put the book down until I finished. The main characters are interesting and realistic and the sexual tension between them mounts until neither can control themselves. Even the secondary characters are interesting. Ms. North is so vivid and evocative in her writing that I feel like I saw a movie when I think back about the story.

I really enjoyed the pleasant surprise in chapter 10 which I won't reveal here because I don't want to spoil the story but it made my skin tingle when it happened. Also, the very last page has a fine conflict resolution but just one sentence made it top notch and gave me goose bumps when I read it. Reading the last page won't help. It matters only if you've read the entire story. The story is great and I highly recommend it.

Heartbreak, a child the father doesn't know about, chance meeting many years later. Attraction still there, complications ensue. All in all a pleasant read with a happy ending.

Since I give all my books away - this one was perfect to leave around for all the relatives to see (unlike some...). In this book Harriet and Jake went to high school together. She was a artist chubby outcast and Jake was Mr. Pefect. Now years later they both find themselves in the same small town at Christmas time. I really like Jake he handle all situations with honor...

This is a wonderful book! It's heartwarming and funny, with likeable, well-drawn characters you'll root for. It's written with a depth and insightfulness seldom found in mass market fiction. A terrific, satisfying, hard-to-put-down read!

New York artist Harriet and her son Zach are going to Doolittle, Arkansas to visit his maternal grandmother for the Christmas vacation. In Doolittle Ted "Colonel" Porter plans to propose to the retired schoolteacher he met over the Internet. Finally Ted's son Los Angeles music producer Jake Porter is coming to town at the bequest of his dad to meet his fiancée.

At the local B & B Jake does not recognize Harriet as the nerd he met at Doolittle High School sixteen years ago and took to the prom. All he knows is that he is attracted to this sophisticated woman. However, she knows him as the boy she loved in high school, who vanished the morning after the dance. As Jake tries to make Harriet his, she remains aloof although deep in her gut she realizes she still loves the cad who broke her teenage heart.

The Doolittle B & B is host to a couple of second chance at love romances that fans will enjoy especially that of the younger set. Insisting he is "NOT THE MARRYING KIND", Jake cannot convince cynical Harriet that he needs her as she remembers the first rejection as if it was yesterday. Although relationships especially between Jake and Harriet feel a bit forced as she has no reason to trust him with her heart, readers will enjoy spending Christmas in Doolittle.

Harriet Klausner

Jarvis Donahue is just doing his job as a Paladin when he is ambushed, severely hurt and left to die. Little does Jarvis know that when he wakes up after healing that he will be confronted with what could be more problems. Right now the Paladin's are being stretched almost farther then they can handle in his area. Jarvis has become the informal leader of his group, which means he needs to figure out how not to overextend them and still keep their border strong. Now he can add the woman who found him and her brother to his list of responsibilities.

Her dogs alerted Gwen Mosely that something was not right on her property. After following them, she discovers a badly injured man. Gwen is shocked as she watches him begin to heal before her eyes. The only person she has ever seen do that is her half brother. Neither Gwen or her brother knows anything about his father's background and now, just maybe, they can discover something about his genetic background. First Gwen needs to get the unconscious man safely to her house and nurse him back to health.

Jarvis and Gwen are attracted to each other but Jarvis believes that Paladins and long-term relationships do not go together and tries to limit how far it goes. Gwen isn't sure why Jarvis is giving her mixed signals, but she does know that he is the answer to her prayers for her brother. Knowledge about his job and past is taken out of his hands when the barrier goes down unexpectedly. Gwen and Jarvis are going to be tested in an extreme way. Can Jarvis and Gwen find a way to balance their need for each other with the reality of Jarvis' world?

When you are a member of an unknown group of warriors, how do you have a successful relationship? In Darkness Unknown Jarvis will need to discover the answer. Jarvis is the informal leader of his group of Paladins and that alone should make it impossible to have a love life. Gwen has raised her half brother since the death of their mother. It has left her little time or energy to have an outside life beyond that and running their farm. Gwen and Jarvis come together from extremely different lives but they found an unexpected thing in common. Jarvis was fighting the relationship so hard that I was wondering if he and Gwen would have a chance. Sometimes it takes an expected action to cut through all of the doubts, this is what I discovered happened for Jarvis and Gwen. I had to love when Jarvis and Gwen finally were able to put everything except their love and passion to the side and find a way to be together forever. I was on pins and needles hoping for them while afraid it would not happen. Darkness Unknown has action, sweetness, passion and danger that perfectly mingles from start to finish.

Jo
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed