I was excited all long weekend. We are short staffed by quite a few people today, I knew we would be, that I would be doing the work of three and I was thinking ‘Great! The day will fly by’. But we were overstaffed on the weekend and not only did they do all of the other two coworkers jobs, but they did MINE too. And what was to be a zoom by day, has turned into one of boredom and trying to stretch jobs to fill out the day. But –my day of boredom is your day of winning as I have another review I can do.I love Jane Graves’ books. I love her writing as Jane Graves and I really enjoyed her Harlequin Temptation series written as Jane Sullivan. Why oh why did they get rid of that line anyway.I’ve already read I Got You Babe so this one was a comfort reread. Renee Esterhaus is in a whole wide world of trouble. She came from a troubled childhood and was quite the juvenile delinquent. But she has worked hard to change her life around but now she has been charged with a crime she didn’t commit. She jumped bail and had been captured by a big, bad, uugg-ggly bounty hunter. She manages to escape him and run almost literally into the arms of John Demarco. Because she is so desperate; she went through the scared straight program and is terrified of going to jail, she does some pretty dumb things like approach a total stranger and offer him a night of wild monkey sex. Of course she has no intentions of following through with it, but the bounty hunter is on her tail. She’s lucky that the recipient of her crazy and let’s face it, dangerous offer, was John, a cop on leave of absence due to stress issues at work. She doesn’t know he’s a cop of course.What follows is a delightful funny read. Renee has poor John so discombobulated with all the twists and turns she tells him. She steals his car, gets stuck in a MacDonalds drive-thru, shoots his radiator and all kinds of other things in order to try and escape him and stay out of jail. He’s a funny kind of guy, wanting to see things in black and white but seeing shades of gray when he doesn’t want to. His father was a strict, by the rules, no nonsense kind of cop but John can’t operate that way himself. When he finds the story behind Renee, he knows he should turn her in, it’s his duty to turn her in, but there’s the ‘what if she really is innocent’ question that keeps him from doing it. His compromise is handcuffing her and that gets really funny when his sister walks in on a hand cuffed Renee, who is pretending to be Alice. I really like him as a character and how torn his in on how to handle the situation.I also quite liked Renee. She does some really, really dumb things and if this were real life I would go all Dr. Laura on her, but it isn’t, so I was lenient. I was wishing she would trust John more though since he’s a good guy – but I understood why she does the things she does. She doesn’t have a large support network, in fact she has one person. Her past worries her quite a bit. She had a sad one and now that her life is finally showing promise, it’s turned upside down and nobody seems to want to hear her side of things.Funny romances, more than any other kind I think, are subjective. What one reader thinks is funny, another reader thinks is NOT funny. So not everyone might think this one is. But I enjoyed it just as much the second time ‘round.This one was a good price though the others aren’t quite as inexpensive. In fact there is one that they are asking $22.20 for – as an ebook!! Every time I see that I think it must be some kind of mistake. I’m safe though. Although I’ve enjoyed every other book by this author, I hated the $22.20 book with a seething burning passion. But I digress. I quite enjoyed I Got You Babe and can get past the heroines opening stupid act.
3 ½ stars. Nicely written. Good characters. Pretty good conflicts. Excellent action scenes. Fun feel good ending.REVIEWER’S OPINION:I am a bit confused about genre. It feels like contemporary romance, but there is a strong suspense element because she is on the run, people are after her, and a mystery must be solved. So I’m going with two genres on this one: contemporary romance and romantic suspense. Although there are a few smart and witty lines, there wasn’t enough laughter for me to call this a romantic comedy.I enjoyed the character Renee: smart and quick to take action. She fears going to jail, but other than that she is fearless. She is effective and does some neat things. John is a neat guy. He’s a cop who cares too much. John’s family was fun. I loved seeing the banter during two family meals.What I didn’t like were the inaccurate assumptions made by Renee. John was helping her, but more than once she had doubts about him and ran away from him. I didn’t like her assumptions. My thinking was come one Renee, don’t jump the gun, give him a chance to continue helping. Her running caused some interesting things to happen, but I didn’t enjoy her thinking.There were a couple of plot holes. Renee didn’t have money for an attorney and was advised by an inept public defender. I’m not sure, but I don’t think there had been a trial yet. I assume she couldn’t afford any bond. So why is a bounty hunter after her? And I don’t know how she got on-the-run before paying any bond. I don’t mind having these plot holes because the characters and action were enjoyable. It’s just that I noticed them.On balance, it was above average for contemporary romance. It was enjoyable but not enough for 4 stars. There were two sex scenes. They were nice.My favorite line from the book, page 55. “She remembered the few times she’d given herself to boys who’d given her nothing in return, the shame and loneliness she’d felt, and she was determined never to feel that way again. She had promised herself that until Mr. Right wandered along, she’d use her body only to hang clothes on and to transport her brain from one location to another.”STORY BRIEF:Renee was raised by an abusive alcoholic mother. Renee was a juvenile delinquent with a long rap sheet. She attended a session run by scary tough female prisoners showing her what life behind bars would be like – lesbian style. Renee was scared. She changed her life to the straight and narrow and worked her way up to be assistant manager at a nice restaurant. Someone robbed a convenience store, shot/wounded the owner, and threw the gun and money into Renee’s car. She couldn’t afford a decent attorney and was found guilty (or will be found guilty). She is on the run. A tough bounty hunter is after her. She needs a ride and fast. She sees John in a diner. She comes up to him offering the best sex of his life if he will take her with him immediately. Their relationship begins. She doesn’t know he is a cop. He doesn’t know she is a fugitive.DATA:Story length: 318 pages. Swearing language: strong, including religious swear words. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: 2. Number of sex scene pages: 14. Setting: current day Texas. Copyright: 2001. Genre: contemporary romance, romantic suspense.
Do You like book I Got You, Babe (2001)?
This is a hard book to rate cause I liked it but I feel like it missed a few things or left me wondering how we got there. And with a story about a woman running from a crime she says she didn't commit and a cop I feel that those missing things are important. (view spoiler)[ Like the moment they go from her confessing her past to them sleeping together I feel like there was something missing to get there. And the fact that there are no consequences for her at the end. I mean she may not have committed the crime but she still skipped bail and did all that damage to the bounty hunter and his car. But that may just be me. (hide spoiler)]
—Shannon
I can't express enough what a delightful surprise I found this book to be. For me it was a perfect romantic comedy. It’s one of my favorite kinds of romance novels, in that it had an almost unbelievable plot, but somehow still remained realistic. Not once did I say, "Why would they do that, it’s just too unbelievable." That to me is the mark of a good author. If an author can make believe that this crazy situation is really possible then kudos to her. I enjoyed the chemistry between the two main characters. John's passion about his work was totally relatable, and the injustice of Renee's situation really put me on her side. I also liked the other characters and will be hoping that the other two cop brothers also get a story. I'd like to see Alex loosen up and maybe Dave find someone to replace his deceased wife. (Just looked it up and all the DeMarco siblings have there own books!! So excited!) Another great part of the book was the playful language used to add comedy to situations, such as quips about McDonalds or the cross-dressers' bar. And nothing is ever repeated ad nauseam which is a big pet peeve of mine. So I could go on and on naming the things I liked about this book, but it’s probably better if you read and judge it for yourself.
—Lauren
This was a fun book to read. The storyline is completely different than most books and it keeps you hopping trying to keep up with everything that is going on. This book is very humorous but has it's serious side also.Renee Esterhaus is being accused of a crime she did not commit but her faith in the system makes her run from the law. This brings up the bounty hunter looking for her. In her haste to escape, she meets John DeMarco, whom she does not realize is a cop himself.It is her job to convince John that she is innocent even with all the evidence against her.Great read.
—Linda
