How to Trap a Tycoon (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "The fourth time it happened, it really got Dorsey's attention..." (more)
Key Phrases: menthe thing, damned book, other bartender, Lauren Grable-Monroe, Adam Darien, Lucas Conaway (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For most people, one job is enough. Dorsey MacGuinness has three in this peppy romantic comedy by the author of Her Man Friday. By day, Dorsey is a teaching assistant in the sociology department of the local college; by night, she's Mack, bartender at Drake's, a swank men's club; and in between she's Lauren Grable-Monroe, pseudonymous author of a runaway bestseller titled How to Trap a Tycoon (? la How to Marry a Millionaire). Adam Darien, publishing tycoon of Man's Life magazine, hangs out at Drake's and will do anything to find out who Grable-Monroe really is. Dorsey (as Mack) defends Grable-Monroe's book by arguing that if Adam's magazine celebrates all the nice things that men have, why shouldn't women have the same things by finding a wealthy tycoon willing to provide them? And so the gender war begins. Though the interior monologues have an annoying way of chopping up the dialogue and Dorsey and Adam's more contentious arguments are often repetitive, Bevarly's vibrant characters and playful language make her book an exceptionally engaging read. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Elizabeth Bevarly writes with irresistible style and wit." -- Teresa Medeiros

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Avon (June 6, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380810484
• ISBN-13: 978-0380810482
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #539,016 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Little bit of comedy, little bit of drama, June 10, 2000

By	"paula_k_98" (Muskogee, OK USA) - See all my reviews

Elizabeth Bevarly packs a lot into her book, How to Trap a Tycoon. It starts out as a comedy but also has an element of melodrama in it.

By day, Doresy MacGuiness is a soicology teaching assistant at a local college. She is also the author of a best selling guide on how to trap a tycoon that is the rave among women. Dorsey wrote the book under an assume name based on her mother's past experiences and to provide her mother with some retirement. After all, trapping millionaires doesn't come with social security benefits. By night she works as a bartender at an exclusive men's club compiling research on the difference between sexes. While tending bar, she meets Adam Darien, the publisher of an elitist men's magazine. Sparks fly between them. Adam has taken it personally that any woman would dare write a book on how to trap men into marriage. He feels he owes it to his readers to expose the author as the fraud he feels she must be. This starts a madcap adventure as the plot of this story takes off.

One of the reasons I gave this book a four is the second story line, which involves one of Adam's writers for his magazine. Lucas decides to take matters into his own hands and conduct an experiment. In order to be successful, he needs the help of one of the bartenders who works with Dorsey. With the second story line, the book switches from comedy to melodrama which doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the book and frankly drags it down.

This is a fun book, maybe predictably in many ways, yet still fun. I've read all three books by the author and will be waiting for number four. Ms. Bevarly delivers a story with style.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Loved Dorsey & Adam!!, October 22, 2000

By	Julianne "bicoastalite" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Who'd thought beauty and brains would mesh so well? Of course, it has gotten Dorsey "Mack" MacGuiness aka Lauren Grable-Monroe in quite a tight spot. By day, she's a Ph.D. student, teaching at a local university. By night, she's a smart-mouthed sexy bartender at Drakes, a men-only prestigeous club in Chicago. Well, the Lauren side of her wrote the book "How to Trap a Tycoon" which has been the talk of the town. And soon it has become the talk of the country. Of course, the Dorsey side of her can't seem to handle the fame and the notoriety that comes with it. And the Mack side of her is falling hopelessly in love with Adam Darien, a tycoon himself.

This story of multiple identities is funny and absolutely entertaining. Adam Darien is totally contemporary and sexy. And Dorsey is not only smart and funny, she also has the guts to pull off playing hot Lauren Grable-Monroe. Of course, that act doesn't last very long... but it's wonderful how both of the main characters evolve into their "real" self in the course of the novel. And who'd thought reading men's thoughts would be SO hilarious? (Well, me, for one...) The secondary romance of Lucas Conaway (an employee of Adam) and Edie Mulholland (a fellow bartender at Drake's) is so sweet and satisfying! Both of their relationships carried an element of seriousness and a bit of the dark side but it is well balanced with wittiness and humor. And of course, being that it *is* a romance novel, the happy ending is just sweet enough.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty, charming, fun, and sexy book., June 11, 2000

By	"avonlea" (United States) - See all my reviews

This was a delightful surprise. I've never read a book by this author, so I didn't know what to expect. Well, this is a wonderful contemporary romance and I'm glad I read it. I will be hunting down this author's older titles like nobody's business!

Dorsey and Adam are a fun, sexy, and endearing couple. Adam is a very wealthy and very sexy publisher of an elitist, sexist men's magazine (hey, I'm a feminist). Dorsey, on the other hand, has many professions. She's a bartender at the exclusive men's club Adam attends (doing 'research' for her sociology dissertation), a teaching assistant at Severn College, and the reluctant author of HOW TO TRAP A TYCOON. Adam doesn't know that Dorsey is the author of the book that is "wreaking indigestion on most men". The secondary characters are all wonderful too. I especially enjoyed Adam's young, cynical staff writer and Dorsey's mother. (Separately, not together)

The book summary does a much better job of explaining the plot than I do. You really have to read the book to appreciate it. It's great fun! If you read this book, I doubt you'll be disappointed. I laughed out loud several times. I rarely put down the book and when I did it was with great reluctance. Very highly recommended.

P.S. There's also a fabulous secondary romance. What more could you ask for?