Dec 19 2007
REVIEW: To Do List by Lauren Dane
Dear Ms Dane,
Your novella arrived at a perfect time. Both my Christmas trees are up and decorated (with lots of help from my children) and I’m really moving into the holiday mood. This is a great story to tuck into spare reading time between parties, cooking and other seasonal activities
I guess the plot could be summarized as anal-retentive lawyer and childhood dairy farmer friend realize they have the hots for each other, then decide that it might be love. Add plenty of family members to the mix, stir and bake. I like that lawyer Belle and dairyman Rafe have known each other almost all their lives so the sudden romance didn’t make me roll my eyes. As Rafe says, it was a short step to love from friendship and the two easily stepped right into it. But even better, they talk to each other. And listen to each other. And work to make their wildly different lifestyles mesh.
You add a lot of family members to the story but they add to the romance between Rafe and Belle instead of grabbing the spotlight for themselves. I love the guy talk between the men. And the sibling ribbing between all of them. It really felt like a family coming together for the holidays and not a bunch of ‘characters’ trying to be cute. I also liked how you included the daily aspects of their work lives into the story instead of just telling us Belle’s a lawyer and Rafe runs a dairy farm.
And let’s not forget the romance. Those scenes were hot, flirty and playful, deeply meaningful and very emotionally erotic without being crude or merely two bodies getting sweaty. Erotica+novella often = not working for me because I can’t believe in the romantic connection between the hero and heroine but this story worked just fine. B+ for “To Do List.”
~Jayne
available in ebook form from Samhain
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Dec 19, 2007 @ 13:39:55
I read this during the Dec. 3rd hurricane and flood and it was exactly the mental escape I needed. Belle and Rafe were such likable characters and so grounded. If you enjoyed this, you’d probably also like Lauren’s Chase Brothers series at Samhain, very much the same tone.
Dec 19, 2007 @ 13:41:26
Oh Good!!!! I’ve been craving a little holiday something. And Lauren Dane is awesome, so your stamp just makes it a little easier to buy it.
Dec 19, 2007 @ 14:27:08
I bought this book but have yet to read it so I’m glad to hear it’s a good one. I like Lauren Dane a lot.
Dec 19, 2007 @ 15:50:40
How did you get your copy to download? I’ve been trying to get mine from MyBookAndMore since last Tuesday to no avail. They posted that they have solved their download problems but not true for me.
Boo Hoo! I love Lauren Dane and now you make me even more desperate to read the book with your review.
Dec 19, 2007 @ 19:33:08
Diana, we get our review copies straight from Samhain so I didn’t know there was a download problem. Has it been fixed for you yet?
Dec 19, 2007 @ 22:33:27
Diane, have you contacted customer service? It was my understanding that everyone who emailed had been contacted last week and sent the files. Please email support@mybookstoreandmore.com and they’ll get you fixed up straight away. If you did email, please do email again. There are times that we, just like everyone, don’t get every email thanks to the vagaries of cyberspace. I’m sorry for your troubles and hope you won’t think it’s how things generally work.
Angela James, Executive Editor
Samhain
Dec 19, 2007 @ 23:29:54
Angela, I just wanted to add to what you told Diane V. I had a problem one time, I e-mailed customer service and in less than an hour, I received an e-mail with the book attached. I was so astounded at the superior customer service that I decided there and then that this was an e-publisher who really cared about their customers.
I too, have downloaded Lauren’s new book but haven’t read it yet. I’m definitely looking forward to it.
Dec 21, 2007 @ 10:58:29
Hi,
I’ve not been on the computer since Wednesday so I couldn’t respond.
I usually don’t have problems with MyBookStoreAndMore, but this time it took 8 emails to support to get my ebook (for some reason the download attachment never appeared on my account and the support person refused to send me the .pdf file — just some wacky .prc file.)
Can’t wait to read the “To Do List” — they finally sent me the .pdf file so that I was able to download it this morning.
Thanks for all the advice.
Diane