COMING UNDONE

Author: Stephanie Tyler ISBN: 0373793197 4/2007 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: HARLEQUIN BLAZE

Oh no! Surfer-make that ex-surfer-Carly Winters can't believe she accidentally faxed an erotic letter to...a secure military line? Now navy SEAL Jonathon "Hunt" Huntington is at her door, fax in hand, asking her how the fantasy ends. Talk about fate... Because Carly's parents think Hunt is her new boyfriend, and Carly does need a wedding date ASAP. Hunt's ready to play—only on one condition. Carly's got to teach him to hang ten. Problem is it's been a while since Carly's career-ending accident and she's terrified of anything aqua. But with Hunt, letting go just may make her fantasy a reality!

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

You can't judge a book by its cover.

That point is especially true with Stephanie Tyler's debut Harlequin Blaze. Despite a rather, uh, remarkable cover, the story within COMING UNDONE is fairly lackluster on all fronts... including superficial, rehashed characters and a flimsy, predictable plot.

By page 30 of COMING UNDONE, I knew which way the wind was blowing and settled in—without much enthusiasm—for an uninspired sex-fest.

Carly Winters and Hunt Huntington, both coming off recent near tragedies, are ready, willing and able to let off some pent-up steam by attempting to make Carly's sexual fantasies (every last one of them) come true. True, the 'love' scenes are hot, but without any fond feelings for each other, the sex comes off more sleazy than sexy. And, no, I am not a prude, but I do like a little more substance in my reading material than two characters trying mightily to scratch an itch.

In all fairness, the second half of COMING UNDONE starts clicking on more cylinders as this couple develop feelings for each other. Ms. Tyler allows these two to explore their relationship outside of jumping each other's bones. Delving deeper into these two characters, and a sort of sweet secondary romance, helps strengthen the shaky COMING UNDONE.

All in all, though, I could not work up much more than a lukewarm reaction to COMING UNDONE. I kept thinking there should have been more to this story. Sadly, there wasn't.

Debbie Jett