PLAIN JANE'S TIGHT END

Author: Liz Hunter ISBN: 075994850X 3/2005 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: HARD SHELL WORD FACTORY

Jane Sebastian is perfectly satisfied living on Green Bay as a reclusive writer, managing her best friend's writing career, until one retired Packer invades her sanctuary and shows her how full life can be. She's finally found the hero of her dreams, with one small complication, he's engaged to her best friend. Tight end Bobby Goodison is in love with a wonderful woman. She makes him feel ten feet tall, and she deflates him when he gets too full of himself. She's feisty and funny--but not the woman who wears his ring. All bestselling author FantaCee wants is the homage she deserves after slaving for years to gain recognition. And attention she gets on her thirty day book tour--an unlimited supply of men, booze, and drugs. Fanny doesn't mean to hurt anyone, especially her best friend or her handsome fianci, but she'll do anything, including breaking the law, to ensure her spot on the bestseller list. Amid the maze of secrets and betrayals, can any of the three find lasting love?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

I better announce first that the title is not what you think, or at least what I thought. I cannot stand misleading titles and covers, as most of you know, but in this case I thank God this is not a graphic porno book! Anyway, this one is okay, but contains a character that absolutely grates on my nerves, and then some.

I don't much care for reading about heroines that continually let so called "friends" dump on them. They are weak and enablers that bore me to tears. At the start, that is how the book unfolds. I am so glad it doesn't stay that way and that the heroine, Jane, does eventually come into her own. Her romance with the hero, retired tight end for the Pack, Bobby, isn't all that hot, though. But when you think about it, getting involved with your best friend's fiance, even if that friend is a self-centered witch who screws you at every turn, tends to dampen the hotness a bit. The story is much better when it revolves around Jane's awareness of her life and what it could be, and the mystery she is caught up in because of the witch, Fanny.

About that witch—I can't stand her. She isn't even a character I love to hate. I just hate her, period. I don't like reading the scenes she is in, or care about her latest fiasco. The way Jane coddles her, it makes me dislike Jane a bit for being so obtuse and forgiving. Obviously, I would hold a grudge! If someone treated me the way Fanny does Jane and Bobby, then had the nerve to blame me for the dissolution of her relationship and life, I most certainly would not make excuses for them or try to help them. On the other hand, the author gets my emotions going and the book wouldn't be a book without a witchy woman, so automatically that makes the book above average.

If you like Wisconsin (my hubby is from there, so I guess I do) and a little bit of Green Bay Packers hotness (I definitely like that), you will appreciate PLAIN JANE AND HER TIGHT END. Chances are, you won't like the witch though, either.

Shannon Johnson