~buy this book~

I have to admit it. I love wallflowers. I think it’s the memory of a painful prom night sitting at the edge of the gym while couples circled the room to Stairway to Heaven, the girls with their arms limply around their partners’ necks. Since my date is now Out, I don’t count this as much of a personal failure (that’s my story and I’m keeping to it!).

But still…those charming memories mean that I have a huge fondness for a girl who isn’t circling the room in the arms of the football hero. And if she’s snappy and funny about being rejected – well, then I adore her. Just One of the Guys opens when Chastity O’Neill is being dumped. She’s also choking on a stuffed mushroom, but even after that little problem is solved, the conversation doesn’t go too well. She makes the mistake of asking the little creep why (any girlfriend could have steered her away from that question). His answer isn’t welcome: “I just don’t find you attractive enough…with shoulders like those, you could find work down on the docks.” By the time it turns out that she gave him a piggy ride for over a mile and a half, any reader knows that Chastity is seriously challenged in the feminine category. Although, thank goodness, she gives as good as she gets: “I think you need to bathe more often, Jason. This whole Seattle-grunge-patchouli thing is so 1990s.”

She ends up in the bar, nursing a Scorpion Bowl and a grievance, when along comes Trevor (“neither skinny nor pale, but brawny and chocolate-eyed and irresistible”). Unfortunately, another Scorpion Bowl leads to a hilarious conversation during which Chastity tries to get Trevor to admit that he finds her attractive – because otherwise he wouldn’t have slept with her all those years ago. This could be maudlin or depressing, but Chastity is such a funny, unique girl that I simply got swept along for the ride. After Trevor politely declines to answer, and a nice lesbian sends her a drink, she decides it’s time for a change. She needs to fall in love. Fast.
There are so many paranormal heroes out there these days (what man doesn’t have leopard spots or the ability to growl in the night?) that it’s incredibly refreshing to dive into a straight contemporary. Chastity makes a lovely Every-Woman, especially when a perfect doctor falls in love with her and Trevor tells her that he can’t leave his perfect girlfriend for her, even though they have the best crazy sex ever…

Don’t miss this book if you love Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Elizabeth Bevarly and Rachel Gibson. There’s another great contemp writer in town!