Customer Reviews

The Rocky Road to Romance

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you're looking for a book that will take you away from the daily grind and will help reduce some of your stress this is the book for you. But also take note that the reader reviews have been for the *older version* before Ms Evonivich took a red pencil to it. For my money this has to be an improvement because when I read one of her books I'm not looking for the sex scenes, I'm looking for a good laugh. This books delivers that.

The hero, Steve, realizes early on that he wants Daisy in his life, it just takes her a while to figure that out. The cast of characters that come along for the ride just adds spice to the tale and a few dozen more laugh-out-loud moments. Pick up a copy, forget about the over-described sex scenes we've all come to expect from romances, and treat yourself to a good laugh. You won't be disappointed.

Daisy Adams offers to take on the temporary job of traffic reporter, but her boss can only think of more than enough reason why she should not. In the end, she wins out. But, several false starts seem to prove she is doomed to failure. Plus, she is being threatened. So, Steve insists she hires someone for protection. Little did he know it would be an elderly woman who is just breaking into the business! They have several hair raising events such as the time when Elsie's car is stolen and then they are rammed by another car. Daisy and Steve become very close and his dog helps bring them even closer. Evanovich has added humor to this wonderfully light and "feel good" romance. You can see a lot of the mixture from her number series in this book. Happy reading!

Daisy Adams is a very busy lady, but she thinks it may be her lousy time management. When she gets up in the morning she delivers papers, then is a crossing guard to protect children on their way to school. She has a temporary job at WZZZ Radio Station doing traffic reports, after which she waitresses at Rogers Steakhouse part-time, and then she moonlights as a taxi cab driver! In her spare time, she wrote a doggie cookbook called Bones for Bowser and has been asked to write another. On top of all her other commitments, she is working on her doctorate in geriatric psychology, and has an internship at a nursing home. Her little brother Kevin is also staying with her while their parents are out of town.

Steve Crow is the owner of WZZZ, and although he hired Daisy to do Bowser spots on Mondays, he had really not noticed her until he hired her to do the traffic reports. Now that he has he wants her bad, but she has no time for anything or anyone. Daisy does need a dog to do taste tests on her doggie meals, so Steve does the only thing he can think of to be near her - he gets a dog named Bob. When Daisy unintentionally hits a drug dealer with her car while doing the traffic report, she is targeted for retribution. Steve has fallen for Daisy, and takes it upon himself to protect her.

This was a fun read. Steve and Daisy have chemistry, are good together, and Bob is just loveable. Who wouldn't be absolutely smitten with a dog that requires pop tarts as motivation to go running in the morning?

In DC twenty-six years old Daisy Adams brings youthful exuberance to her five minute spot as the "Dog Lady of Snooze" on WZZZ twenty-four hour radio station. To pay her bills including her school loan and to feed her teenage brother, Daisy holds a host of other jobs such as delivering papers, crossing guard, waitress, cab driver and a graduate school counseling internship. When the station's traffic reporter Frank Mencken is injured in an accident, Daisy asks manager Steve Crow for the position. He agrees because he sees this as an opportunity to score with this enthusiastic flake that has cornered his heart and libido not in that order.

As he spends time "training" her and feeding her sibling, Daisy accidentally stops a notorious drug dealer from escaping the law. To keep her safe, Steve hires a bodyguard, but she chooses elderly Elsie Hawkins. As the two women butcher the traffic reports to the joy of listeners, Daisy and Steve fall in love, but how to fit him into her busy schedule?

Contemporary romance readers will feel they read a plum of a tale with this delightful story starring a likable young woman who holds so many low paying jobs she skews the government statistics on employment. The story line is at its best when it amusingly winks at readers through Steve employing Herculean levels to obtain a few minutes with his beloved while Daisy will tire out most of the audience with her daily routine. The drug dealer subplot adds unneeded suspense, but her brother, Elsie, and a matchmaking canine provide more humor to a fine tale of love if the female protagonist can fit it in her schedule.

Harriet Klausner

When the bad weather of Hurricane Ivan tore through western North Carolina, leaving us without power for three days in a row, I picked up a copy of "The Rocky Road to Romance" in between shopping for eatable things that would last longer than five minutes in a fridge-turned-sauna. I didn't think I would like anything outside of Stephanie Plum by Janet Evanovich. Boy was I wrong!

Daisy Adams has a five-minute slot on WZZZ every Monday morning where she tells dog stories and gives directions on how to make homemade dog biscuits and other canine treats. When she's not doing that, she's giving colorful traffic reports and bouncing drug dealers off the fender of the WZZZ traffic car.

Wickedly handsome Steve Crow had reservations about hiring Daisy as the temporary traffic reporter. She bakes dog biscuits for a living, for goodness sake! But until the original guy recuperates from a broken leg, he's stuck with her because no one else will take the job. It's not long until he finds himself sleeping outside her house at two in the morning, getting a dog, and buying a big house complete with a backyard bar-b-que. Now all he has to do is keep her safe from nutty drug dealers long enough to convince her to marry him.

"The Rocky Road to Romance" is filled with all the quirky characters you've come to expect from Ms. Evanovich, including a gun-toting granny, a slobbering dog, and a teenage boy with a bottomless pit for a stomach. Daisy Adams is an adorable, feisty heroine that I truly liked and rooted for. Steve Crow is the perfect hero...macho protective, realistic, and comfortable to be with. This reader fell in love with him.

Ms. Evanovich was right when she said, "Romance novels are birthday cake and life is often peanut butter and jelly. I think everyone should have lots of delicious romance novels lying around for those times when the peanut butter of life gets stuck to the roof of your mouth."

So the next time your life resembles a giant peanut butter and jelly sandwich, pick up a copy of The Rocky Road to Romance and see if it doesn't make you laugh out loud and feel tons better.

This was a lot of fun for a long-time Evanovich fan to read. One of her earlier novels re-released, it bears some of her hallmarks with just enough restraint to show she wouldn't be a mere romance novelist for long. This book was like a trial ground for Grandma Mazur and Bob the dog, as well as a couple rough hews into Morelli, from the Stephanie Plum novels. It begins when Daisy, our overworked heroine, talks her gorgeous boss, Steve Crow, into letting her do the traffic reports at his radio station. As soon as the two of them are confined in a car together, attraction flares. One day, en route to a story, Daisy accidentally aids the police in apprehending a suspect, and suddenly her life is in danger. Steve decides she needs his protection as much as possible and tells her he has a dog. This causes him to have to stop at an animal shelter to get a dog, then to buy a big SUV, and then a house with a yard. He also hires her a guard, an old lady named Elsie who packs a big gun in her purse. Daisy soon gives in to her attraction to Steve, who wants to marry her. She's scared to make that leap and asks for space, but she comes back to him, ready to make some changes in her life. It is easy to see that Janet Evanovich was always a talented author, and this effort, though not as quick and quirky as her later novels, lacks the old-fashioned stiltedness that many of the early works of other best-selling authors have. It will be fun to read her next re-issue, not only to see her talent progress, but because it was firmly in place in the beginning. We'll now have a new Evanovich fix every few months, between Plum, Metro Girl, and her reissues. Life is good.

I STARTED OUT BY READING THE STEPHANIE PLUM SERIES AND I LOVE THIS JUST AS MUCH. IT'S GOT DIFFERENT CHARACTERS BUT THE SAME ZANY TYPES OF CHARACTERS AND SITUATIONS. DON'T READ THIS ONE OUT IN PUBLIC BECAUSE PEOPLE LOOK AT YOU LIKE YOUR CRAZY WHEN YOU LAUGH OUT LOUD OVER IT.

I'm surprised by the large number of positive reviews for this book, as I consider it one of Janet Evanovich's most disappointing works thus far. The characters had no chemistry, the plot was ridiculous, and I actually felt disgusted reading about their "romance", as the leading man was a compulsive liar and creepy stalker in a completely uncharming way! Stick with Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series!

Rocky Road to Romance is a romantic tale whose central figure is a young woman, Daisy Adams, with an overextended schedule trying to make ends meet and finish her graduate school while holding down a multitude of jobs and obligations. One of her jobs is as the "Dog Lady" on the local radio station where she tells dog tales and recipes for your pooch ina 5 minute morning slot. When the radio station's traffic reporter is injured, Daisy is viewed as a great choice to fill in his place until he recovers.
The owner of the radio station falls hard for Daisy and what ensues is an Evanovich romance replete with car wrecks, drug dealers, gun toting grannies, firebombs and a dog named Bob!!
This is a delight to read, both sweet and hilarious and will leave you looking forward to Janet Evanovich's other LOVESWEPT stories.

I've noticed when an author reaches a certain level of success, their earlier works start getting published or republished. Sometimes this is a good thing, and sometimes it's not.

In this case, it was a great thing.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Plenty of laugh out loud moments made it worth the time. I suspect that if you enjoy her other work you'll enjoy this tale of Daisy, Steve and the first Bob-the-dog.