Turn Left At Sanity [Mass Market Paperback]

Nancy Warren (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2005

Corporate shark Joe Iskerson wastes no time in getting exactly what he wants. And what he wants is to spend one brief night in Saunders, Idaho, buy up most of the land for a fertilizer plant, and get out. No one warned him that Saunders is home to a kooky collection of outrageous eccentrics who don't seem to grasp the concept of money, or that his B&B, the Shady Lady, is a former brothel, which now houses retired ladies of the evening. Then there's the proprietor of the B&B, Emylou Gainor. Pretty, warm, and apparently not deranged, she's a baking, homemaking, small-town girl - the sort of woman Joe would never be attracted to under normal circumstances. But nothing in Saunders is normal. That must be why Joe's going wildly, passionately out of his mind for Emylou. The only way to stay sane is to get out of town, before he gives in to total erotic madness...Emylou has always been level-headed. But then, she's never met anybody like Joe. When he's around, Emylou feels like going deliciously, wickedly insane. Or maybe that old brothel magic is finally starting to work on her. As acting mayor, Emylou is determined to keep Joe in Saunders long enough to save her hometown...even if she has to take leave of her senses and drive him completely crazy to do it. ..Now, in a place that's Mayberry-meets-Bedlam, two people engaged in a battle of wills are about to discover that love isn't always sensible, and desire this strong can take them to a place beyond all reason...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Can Emmylou Sargent, heiress and young proprietress of the Shady Lady B&B, save small-town Beaverton, Idaho, from the evil clutches of out-of-town corporate honcho, Joe Montcrief, who wants to build-of all things-a cat litter factory? Warren (Bad Boys Down Under) sets her formula romance amidst an array of secondary characters whose exaggerated quirks and eccentricities-a kleptomaniac who returns all she steals, a deluded fireman who waters plants in response to shouts of "Fire!", a self-styled Napoleon on horseback-quickly lose their humorous fizz. Despite the predictable execution, however, Warren's premise is admirable: that the slow pace of life in a backwater town, where everyone puts up with each other's idiosyncrasies, has its benefits; that there is value to a place where human contact is an integral part of life and where work is not the end all and be all of existence. A fascinating side plot about a sexual pioneer who came to the town in the early 1900s to build a sanitarium, and whose theories about healthy sexual release echo the orgasm theories of Wilhelm Reich, unfortunately gets short shrift. Warren's heavy-handed jokes about the Shady Lady's past as the town brothel and its use by so-called "intimate healers" when the sanitarium was functioning don't add much nuance to the plot. The author is at her best writing steamy sex scenes-and the novel has plenty of these-but, outside the bedroom, Joe and Emmylou, with their stereotypical interests (him: cell phones, laptops and 24/7 work; her: cooking, flowers and "oh, so cute" town folk) come off as a flat, uninspired couple.
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Review

"Nancy Warren's wonderfully realistic characters, positively charged, compelling romance, and too-hot-to-handle loving, dished up with spicy humor, will leave readers breathless."

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Kensington (February 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758205848
• ISBN-13: 978-0758205841
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,731,462 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Whimsical romance in a small town with character, February 1, 2005

By 

Dr. Edward Dow (Pewaukee, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Turn Left At Sanity (Mass Market Paperback)

This was a fun romance that made me smile, with plenty of charm to keep me riveted until the end.

Emmylou and Joe are complete opposites on the surface, but kindred spirits in their need to let go of their internal barriers to loving someone completely. The small town setting is comical, with lots of eccentric characters. Joe finds himself "trapped" at Emmylou's Bed & Breakfast in the midst of a business deal which the town wants no part of (his investors want to build a kitty litter plant there, which they condescendingly think will save the town from their bleak financial outlook.)

The solution appears to be right in front of them from the start, but it's the journey to this solution that is steamy, heart-warming and satisfying. I highly recommend this book for an escape.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What's in the water??, January 3, 2006

By 

Tracy Vest (Northern California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Turn Left At Sanity (Mass Market Paperback)

Corporate shark Joe Montcrief has not met a deal he could not barter. Until he arrived in Beaverton, Idaho to broker a deal to obtain the deserted sanitarium for his clients that want to turn it into a kitty litter factory.

The only lodging in town is the B&B "Shady Lady," the former house of ill repute; in fact some of the former ladies are still in residence. When the townspeople discover his reason for coming to town, they scheme to keep him there and show him what a great place it is, though he is convinced that all the residents are complete loons! The town will stop at nothing, even so far as to encourage B&B proprietress Emmylou to seduce him to keep him there.

As Joe and Emmylou battle their hormones, and he finds himself without a link to the modern world (no computer, cell phone or palm pilot), the two people destined to never fall in love might just be free-falling without a net. It is hysterical to watch no-nonsense Joe deal with all the odd characters around him including a man with a penchant for Napolean, two oversexed former "intimate healers," and an kleptomaniac octegenerian who returns her ill-gotten gains.

As always, Nancy Warren seasons her story with lots of engaging dialog, hysterical and quirky secondary characters, and just the right amount of sexual tension to keep the reader glued to the page.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Originally Posted on Romance Junkies in 2005, May 13, 2007

By 

Jennifer Wardrip (Bloomington, Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Turn Left At Sanity (Mass Market Paperback)

There's a reason Nancy Warren is a USA-Today bestselling author, and once you pick up a copy of TURN LEFT AT SANITY, you'll know why. Just in case you're not able to get to your favorite bookstore today, though, I'll go ahead and give you a clue, or maybe even three-a hot, sexy, corporate-minded hero; a twenty-something, bed and breakfast owning heroine; supporting characters who, although in their seventies, still believe they've got what it takes to be mistresses in a brothel; a small town with more eccentricities than an insane asylum; dialogue that will have you laughing so hard you'll need to wipe the tears from your eyes. And those are only a few of the surprises in store for you once you start reading TURN LEFT AT SANITY.

For Emmylou Sargent, being levelheaded, business-minded, and absolutely normal is the way things have to be. After all, she does own a bed and breakfast in Beaverton , Idaho , that just so happened to once be a brothel. And yes, some of the former "ladies of the evening" still reside with her, and many more seem to drop in all too often for tea. Someone has to have a good head on their shoulders, and it seems that Emmylou has been nominated for the position. Regardless of the seventy-somethings who still proclaim their prowess in the bedroom, or the lady who insists they should burn this modern-day Tara to the ground before the Yankees can get their hands on it, Emmylou is determined to lead as normal a life as possible. The only problem with that scenario is that in a town like Beaverton , normal adds up to a whole lot of boring. Boring, that is, until one Joe Montcrief shows up at her B&B, looking for a room.

Tall, dark, and undeniably handsome, Joe's making his way through Beaverton for only one reason-buy some land, make some deals, and get the heck out of dodge. What he never expects is to be almost instantly attracted to the demure innkeeper where he's bedding down-or to be asked what his sexual problems are by women old enough to be his grandmothers. Undeniably intrigued, however, Joe finds himself in no sudden rush to leave this small town; in fact, he's finding more and more reasons to spend time with Emmylou and her "family" of sexual fanatics. The only problem is, the more the former ladies of the night harp on his love life, the more Joe fantasizes about making some new memories with the very prim and proper Emmylou.

TURN LEFT AT SANITY is a hilarious romp through small town life, with characters just crazy enough to keep you entertained throughout the entire story. For Joe and Emmylou, the attraction might be strong and immediate, but these two characters are looking for different things out of life-and a short, one-night stand isn't it. Ms. Warren has done an excellent job, as always, combining a highly charged sexual attraction with real-to-life characters and witty dialogue, resulting in a story that's as heartfelt and genuine as it is amusing.

Get to the bookstore today. You won't be disappointed.