REVIEW: Speed Dating by Nancy Warren

Carolyn:

My friend Pam forwarded an email to me wherein Amazon was promoting Kindle for PC. I was very appreciative, but I wasn't sure I'd like reading on my PC - my ass is spread enough and my hand gets cold working the mouse for long periods. *grin*

But then I discovered there were FREE BOOKS to be downloaded!!

Well, of course, that changed everything - free is free, after all. Still, I didn't want a free book just to say I had an ebook library, so I tried to be very discerning and I finally downloaded four books.

One of them was Speed Dating by Nancy Warren.

May I just say - I LOVED it!

I liked the heroine, I loved the hero, and I was familiar with the background (Jeff Gordon is my boy!)

Kendall Clarke is an actuary, attending a conference in Charlotte, NC, where she is to receive an award for Actuary of the Year. (Be still my beating heart!). Minutes before the banquet, her fiancee informs her that a) he's breaking their engagement, b) he doesn't love her, he loves another woman who works with them (rather incestuous, in a way), and c) the woman is pregnant.

So, after handling this confession in a mature and adult way, Kendall manages to lock herself out of her hotel room in her Victoria Secret slip. That's when she meets Dylan Hargreave.

Dylan is a NASCAR driver who hasn't been winning much lately. He's also divorced but can't seem to be rid of his ex-wife. He's attending her 4th wedding and needs some protection.

He and Kendall cut a deal.

I liked the light heartedness (for lack of a better word - that happens a lot to me) of the writing. Kendall had her head screwed on right for the most part, and her character grew and changed and finally she took charge of her life. She took action instead of just reacting, as she had been.

Dylan grew also. He came to realize that his love was worth something and the real Dylan was worth something (when you meet his family, you'll understand that statement better, I've never seen such cold fish).

And surrounding this love story is NASCAR. The descriptions of the racing and the atmosphere at a track on race day were spot on and contrasted sharply with the peace and quiet of Dylan's home of his heart, a 50 acre farm far, far from racing.

A great little story. Frankly I was surprised, but pleasantly so.

Didn't you read it also, Lori?



Lori:

Surprise, surprise. I did read it... and amazed myself by really enjoying it.

The NASCAR part of the romance was really good. I enjoyed the relationships and the world it showed with the men being celebrities as well as athletes and a tight family.

I liked Kendall although I'm not crazy about the misunderstanding tropes. I like people communicating. Although I think she was clear in her intentions and really put herself out there.

I think the best thing about this book was that it was a NASCAR romance that I enjoyed. I'm learning that there a lot of books out there that i never would have picked up previously that have turned out to be excellent reads.

I wonder if m/m is in our future Red?


Carolyn:

Oh geez ....

Well, we're almost there with Butterfly Tattoo. (Gorgeous book but not erotica.)

One should never say never, but ... no.