A very average Phillips, with some recycled plot points from other books (or maybe it's the other way around since I haven't read them in order of publishing dates). The good old southern boy character is getting a bit stale. The strip-tease in front of friends the first time the heroine meets the hero is also somewhat icky by now. I really didn't like the lead male character, Bobby Tom, just the name made me just want to run the other way, the character is a boy-men, a very cliché Peter Pan type of hero. Gracie Snow the lead female character is just... well... paper thin.. not physically, although it's not said, but intellectually, emotionally. The two lead characters kind deserve each other. Why did I keep reading you might ask? Well, because even if her lead characters were very average, Phillips managed to created two very interesting characters in the male's lead mother, Suzy, a 52 years old widow and Waylan Sawyer the town's bad boy, turned philanthropic wealthy man. I wished that the book would have been focused on them. Suzy's still grieving her husband's death after all these years and Waylan has come back and found out he's still very much in love with the girl he couldn't even think of approaching all those years ago. Their story I would have wanted to have more of but it plays second fiddle to the young couples shenanigans. Too bad, there aren't that many well written older woman/man romance out there.

4-4 ½ stars Contemporary Romance I liked SEPs witty writing, laugh-out-loud humor, and steamy love scenes, but the heros crappy treatment of the heroine made me spitting nails mad at times. I just kept thinking, why does she put up with his sh*t?!?! Retired football legend Bobby Tom Denton might be a sexy as sin, insatiably flirtatious, happy-go-lucky, infectiously funny, womanizing, hellraising, aw shucks maam cowboy with killer bedroom skills and a sh*t-eating grin, but hes also an egotistical, immature, cocky, and sometimes mean jerk who treats Gracie like a pity friend, mercy f*ck who should be kissing his royal purple cowboy boots, for almost the entire book. Gracie Snow is a prim, quirky, sexually frustrated, 30-year-old virgin, Ohio wallflower whos insecure about her supposedly Plain Jane looks, but shes also funny, smart, strong-willed, giving, sweet, feisty, selfless, loving, spirited, and kind. And she deserves a whole lot more than someone who acts like theyre doing some huge, inconvenient cosmic favor by just spending time with her. I actually found myself thinking that Gracie might be better off just driving into the sunset, without Mr. Bobby Tom Denton, and I was a little disappointed with the ending because I wanted about two more chapters and an epilogue of some serious groveling on his part. I really liked the secondary romance between Bobby Toms widowed mom Suzy and the former local bad boy turned wealthy, powerful corporate executive, Wayland Sawyer. In fact, I thought their intriguing relationship almost stole the spotlight from main couple, Bobby and Gracie.Overall, I really enjoyed this fun, sexy contemporary romance, but I would have liked it even more and given it full 5 stars had the playboy charmer been taken down a peg or ten and done a little added soul searching and a whole lot more begging!

I have a message for Bobby Tom:I hate your guts and Im glad you got trashed at the end of the book!!!!God, I despised this guy I just wanted to hit him in his big fat head almost all the time. And Gracie being such an idiot o.O deathstare for all of you!!Buuuuuut, overall it was a great book. I really enjoyed it.

Nuestra reseña en A la cama con... un libro

NEW epilogue! SEP has posted an epilogue on her website, free. It's set ten years in the future. Sweet! Book 2 of the Chicago Stars series. Romantic, witty, funny, angsty...it's got it all. 5 stars for characterization, humor, passion...and set in a small town called Heaven, Texas. The only slightly weak point is the setting didn't feel vivid.One of my FAVORITE books of the CR genre. It's filled with humor and angst and lots of interesting and likable -- or not so likable -- characters. The plot was decent, but the characterization and relationship development is top notch. The hero is such an asp! Even better, it's sometimes quietly funny, but not in a stupid or slap-stick way. I chuckled numerous times. When I wasn't smiling, I was reading with my jaw on the floor, shocked, when Bobby Tom got really mean. I was completely engrossed in the drama.PLOT: Gracie Snow, almost 30 years old and yet an "old maid" from a small town, becomes football pro Bobby Tom Denton's general factotum, helping him play a role in his first Hollywood film and also organizing a golf tournament for charity in his home town, Heaven (aka Telarosa) Texas. Bobby Tom is trying to figure out what to do with his life, because a bad knee injury has brought an abrupt end to his football career. So he accepts the lead role in a movie. He is bitter and scared, but trying to disguise it behind his legendary charm. Gracie knows him better than he knows himself; she cuts through his BS until he starts to remember the simple pleasures and key values of life. Gracie reminds me a lot of Daisy, in the wonderful circus romance, Kiss an Angel.RELATIONSHIP / ROMANCE: Gracie Snow is an ugly duckling who eventually undergoes a makeover, becoming instantly sassy looking and sexy, but not outstandingly beautiful. She lovingly nurtures the elderly, fights for the underdog, and befriends the lonely. Bobby Tom Denton is full of pride, arrogance, and the kind of ego that comes with a Superbowl ring. However, gradually SEP reveals his underlying heart of gold. He eventually falls head over heels for Gracie, but it takes a while for him to realize this, because she is not a sex bomb, not a "Grade A prime cut" as he chauvinistically thinks. Her warm heart, honesty, and strong, stubborn personality win him over, slowly. Along the way, the sexual tension slowly builds, with lots of laughs and a few serious scenes along the way. It ends with a grovel scene. The best grovel scene ever, because Bobby Tom has completely fumbled the ball.WEAK SPOTS: Why does Gracie need to be a virgin? At her age? Also, it ends abruptly. I wanted an epilogue after the grovel scene. Nope. But. Wait! NEW epilogue! SEP has posted an epilogue on her website, free. It's set ten years in the future. Sweet! I also recommend book 3 in the series. I loved the blend of humor, wit, romance, and angst. In Nobody's Baby But Mine, we briefly go back to Heaven, Texas.