Customer Reviews

It's a Wonderfully Sexy Life (Blaze Romance)

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

 

 

In Baltimore, thirty years old cop Mandy Delinski walks a beat though she aspires to become a detective. She dreams of a loving husband and children though she is single with no prospects and still lives with her parents.

Her latest assignment is to work security at a Christmas Eve gala at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Working the holiday is okay as she has no one to share it with anyway, but pulling security is not much fun. However, when Mandy and bartender Josh Thornton meet at the bash, sparks fly. This perfect night turns to a nightmare by morning when she finds Josh dead in the morgue as he is actually a computer guru hiding from the mob. Perhaps because it is the season for miracles, she is sent back one week with a chance to save the man she loves from the hit man.

This is a second chance at love with an angelic time traveling twist that makes for a superb thriller regardless of the season. The story line is driven by a frantic Mandy as she falls in love only to find him dead in under twenty-four hours leading to the miracle if she changes "history". Fans will re-read the delightful IT'S A WONDERFULLY SEXY LIFE that pay homage to the classic Capra film and celebrates the Yuletide season of miracles.

Harriet Klausner

Mandy Delinski is a curvaceous redhead. She's also a cop. On call at a Christmas party, she meets Josh, a bartender. They arrange to meet after the party for a coffee date. Mandy is head over heels. Then Josh meets with a violent death. It turns out that Josh was about to testify against a member of the mob. As this story's title would imply, a second chance to put matters right is in the offing. Mandy's Christmas wish comes true and time reverses to the day that Josh is killed. Now all she has to do is keep him alive until his day in court.

This is Hope Tarr's first contemporary romance, and very good it is too. The story moves along at a good pace and is frequently punctuated by some very raunchy sex scenes. Very nice! The two main characters are well defined although Josh seemed to me to be a little too good to be true. Mandy's self deprecating humor was very endearing although the diary entries that head each chapter became a little grating as the story progressed.

If spicy romances are your thing, then this should fit the bill nicely. Hope Tarr certainly knows how to keep a story moving and this is a story that's hard to put down. It's only 235 pages long and I greedily devoured it in a couple of sittings. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Book Description: Baltimore street cop Mandy Delinski isn't expecting any miracles this Christmas. She's thirty, a little too round, still very single and she lives with her parents. So who could have guessed that her whole life would change before New Year's Eve? That a simple job policing a Christmas party would find her in the arms of sexy-as-sin bartender Josh Thornton? That they would be on the brink of making love before the night ended? That Mandy would find her perfect man in the morgue the next day? Or that she'd be given a magical chance to go back a week, save Josh...and have the best sex of her life. Does Christmas get any better than this?

Absolutely wonderful read, not just around the holidays, great reading anytime; this book has it all love, lust, heat, suspense, a dab of paranormal, family issues, ex-lover issues, personal image and self-esteem issues... Mandy has many of the concerns the average woman has, advancing age and single, living at home with the parents, went through the no-good boyfriend, over-weight, poor self image, but manages to remain strong while being kind, considerate, and always ready to help others. She finally meets her dream man, Josh Thornton, when they both work the same Christmas event. Mandy doesn't feel she has the looks, body, etc to attract him, but is willing to risk life, limb, and heart to save him. In the end, it may just be Josh who saves her from herself.

Wow! It takes a lot for me not to put a book down but this one was one of the few that I had to finish without stopping. A combination of lust, love, mystery, and science fiction all rolled into one, this one has it all! The way Ms. Tarr takes her characters and describes them so perfectly, so perfectly you believe they are real and the way you can identify with the setting (yes, I have been to Baltimore and to the places she names). The way she paints a picture with words so flawlessly, this indeed is a rare talent. I can't wait for her next book, I am a true fan
:o)

It was an amazing book! it has definitly one of the best blaze books i ever read. Don't want to give anything away but it is definitly worth the buy. Let me say this.... my copy of this book has a paper stapled to the back. Every person or coworker that reads this has to write a review on back!!! Not one bad review and i had a lot of "Oh my God" and "WOW!!" Buy it you won't be disappointed.

Harlequin Blaze has a gem with Hope Tarr's first book for this line. Mandy is a cop from a big family who still lives at home with her parents. She feels she is overweight, not getting anywhere in her career and her love life is hopeless.
On Christmas Eve she meets bartender Josh and the sparks between them flies. Instead of going home for him for a night of hot sex, she goes home to her bed and then finds out Josh was killed.
The twist in this story is that Mandy ends back in time to Christmas Eve and changes Josh's history. Think of the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" but with a too good to be hero and the ultimate sex fantasy any woman would want.
Mandy is a great heroine who lets her inhibitions go, along with her body image that Josh finds so sexy. He is even a fan of Marilyn Monroe's body! Why wouldn't you not love a guy like this?
A nice sexy holiday story.

Katiebabs

The Haunting (Harlequin Blaze)