Naughty or Nerdy? by Elise Title
His inner Don Juan is itching to get out...
Judd Turner hated college. He'd been a geek, and had been
in love with the gorgeous -- and taken -- Lucy Walker. Things have changed,
though. His 10-year reunion is fast approaching, and Judd's now a hot and sexy
P.I. But when he has to go from naughty to nerdy to bust Lucy's fiancé for
embezzlement, he's not thrilled. It's hard enough keeping his mind on work in
this getup without fantasizing about the girl of his dreams. His only hope?
Lucy sees past the disguise and falls for the new and improved him!
This was a fun story. Judd is really looking forward to
his ten-year reunion and a chance to reconnect with the girl he loved back
then. He's ready to show her that he's no longer the shy, awkward geek she
knew, but had matured into a fit and sexy PI. So he's not at all happy when his
boss informs him that he's attending his reunion undercover, and back in geek
mode. One of his classmates is an embezzler, and it is up to Judd to get the
goods on him. The fly in the ointment? The man is Lucy's fiancé. She'll be even
less inclined to give him the time of day if Judd busts the man she loves.
I felt so bad for Judd getting stuck in a fat suit, fake
braces, and nerd glasses after working so hard to leave that persona behind.
The scene with his boss, Roz, as she explained, was a riot as Judd tried
desperately to rescue his plans. It was especially painful for him as his mark,
Kyle, was still the "golden god" that he'd been in college. Kyle got
on my nerves from the beginning with his condescending treatment of Judd. I was
immediately ready to see him go down.
Lucy was not all that happy about going to the reunion.
She's an investigative reporter leaving on an assignment and not very
interested in reliving the past. But Kyle guilts her into going, so she makes
the best of it. The one plus is getting to see her old friend, Judd again.
She's a little surprised at his appearance, but he's still the same terrific
guy she knew in school.
I enjoyed the development of Judd and Lucy's
relationship. Poor Judd. He feels terribly guilty about deceiving Lucy about
his appearance and about who he is. As circumstances throw them together,
keeping his secret gets more difficult. Lucy is happy to see Judd again and
remembers how good a friend he was, especially during her frequent breakups
with Kyle. It's easy to see the sparks between Lucy and Judd, but there are
obstacles that stand between them. There is Judd's deception and his
investigation of Kyle. There is also the slight chance that Lucy is as involved
as Kyle in the embezzlement, though Judd doesn't want to believe that's true.
Lucy is engaged to Kyle and comfortable with their relationship most of the
time. Lucy is also somewhat suspicious about Judd, and her imagination goes a
little wild as she tries to put the pieces together. As the investigation takes
off, misunderstandings abound. Judd may be a hottie now, but when it comes to
Lucy, he still carries some residual insecurity, making it hard for him to
believe that she wants him. Lucy's world comes crashing down when everything is
revealed, and she has to face up to her mistakes. I ached for Judd, who stepped
back to give Lucy the time she needed, and for Lucy, who had conflicting
feelings. The end was sweet and fun as they finally put the past behind them.
The suspense part of the story was hilarious. There was
Kyle, the embezzler, who was convinced of his own superiority. He had no morals
whatsoever, both in his professional and personal lives. Danielle, Kyle's
ex-girlfriend, was more than just the class vamp. Rico, the local mob boss, had
his fingers in a lot of pies. Judd had to sort out all of their roles while
maintaining his cover. And Lucy, whose reporter senses told her there was
something fishy going on, was on the right track but had some of the essential
parts mixed up. I laughed out loud so many times as Judd tried to get the
information he needed without revealing the truth. Once Lucy's suspicions were
aroused, there was no holding her back. The scene in Judd's room, as Lucy hid
under the bed, was hilarious. Things did get a bit intense when Rico's thugs
got involved, and Judd was in extreme danger. Even that part had its fun
moments with Lucy trying to explain the unexplainable to the cops. I liked the
final resolution, though it did seem a bit anti-climactic.
The Husband Hotel by Darlene Gardner
The fix is in!
Jay Overman, inventor of the Impeccabra, has a job to do:
keep eligible fellas away from hotel manager Tara Patterson. No way was she to
get distracted from climbing the corporate ladder. Sounds easy enough, but not
for Jay! It turns out that undercover work is not his thing, 'cause the only
thing this would-be maintenance man can maintain is a healthy male interest in
his sweet 'n sexy boss. And little does Jay know that he'll become Tara's
biggest distraction...ever!
Fun book. Tara recently graduated with a degree in hotel management
and scored her first job running a hotel near Washington DC. She likes making
the visitors feel at home, even flirting a little bit with the men while still
remaining professional. The only fly in her ointment is her father, who pushes
her to stay focused on her career and leave romance until she is at least thirty.
She's so fed up with his nagging that she informed him that she uses the hotel
to shop for a husband.
Jay is a civil engineer who used his engineering skills
to design a better bra. He's helping his sister with the family lingerie
business when he gets a call from their father's old friend. Cliff wants Jay to
go undercover at his daughter's hotel and keep her from latching onto any eligible
men. Jay will be onsite as the maintenance man, ready to discourage any man who
gets too close.
This was clearly a disaster waiting to happen. Jay may be
a civil engineer, but as a maintenance man, he is awful. It doesn't help that,
from the first moment he met her, Tara is one huge distraction. Though he has
no plans to marry anytime soon himself, he quickly finds that he's all too willing
to scare off any man showing interest in Tara. There are some pretty funny
scenes of those attempts because Jay isn't the kind of guy who likes to
intimidate people. It isn't long before his attraction to Tara has him feeling
guilty about the deception. At the same time, Tara feels drawn to Jay, which
puts her in a quandary. She is attracted to him, but he is an employee, which
means that a relationship is out of the question. Things get even more
complicated when Tara becomes suspicious of Jay and discovers the truth. Her
reaction and subsequent actions add another layer of hilarity on top of what
was already there. I did like Jay's efforts to make everything right again.
One of my favorite characters was Tara's assistant Sadie
Mae. She was delightfully klutzy, with a huge heart. I liked the way that she
stepped in to help Jay with his repair duties, without betraying him to Tara. I
also enjoyed her attempts to stop Tara's revenge scheme, even though she also
helped set it up. She had more common sense than was apparent at the beginning.
No comments:
Post a Comment