Twice Upon a Road Trip
by Shannon Stacey



I'm not too sure about this cover. She looks like he paid $100 for an hour and he's grinning feverishly because he's about to see his first titty.

But forget the cover. First, let me say, I dug this book. Overall, I've found Ellora's Cave to be a mixed bag in regard to quality, but that's the case in print publishers as well because once you get beyond a certain standard, tastes are subjective. To be honest, this is the kind of thing I write as Annie Dean: a great blend of hot and funny, which can be tricky to pull off. Writing romantic comedy is tough without resorting to a lot of slapstick and stuff that is supposed to be funny but really isn't.

So the good stuff first; here's what worked for me. Jill Delaney is the family loser, the flake who can't balance her checkbook or hold a job, so everyone is pleasantly surprised when she sticks with this job at the library as long as she does. In fact, she loves her job and she's thinking she's found her calling. Might even be promoted soon, she figures, because she's great with the kids. Well, lo and behold, some senior citizen gets hired from out of town to take the job Jill so desperately wants. She goes off and quits, even though she can't afford it, and shit goes from bad to worse, real quick.

She figures this is all the old bitch's fault for stealing her job and her family just shakes their head because this is classic Jill behavior right there. Near the beginning, after she quits her job, she has an altercation in a supermarket parking lot (which is funny as hell) with Hottie Studmuffin, later revealed to be none other than our hero, Ethan Cooper. I loved the interplay between Jill and Ethan; they were just fabulous in the way they struck sparks in a "Moonlighting" kind of way and made me laugh, though I entirely believed their chemistry. Without giving away too much of the book, I'll say Jill decides to take a trip to get away from her shitty life but all she can afford is a senior citizen's bus tour, which Ethan and his mom (the bitch who stole Jill's job) happen to be on, just before she starts her new position. It's a classic Planes, Trains and Automobiles type road trip story, well written, sexy and fun. I do recommend it.

But.

(You knew there was a but, didn't you?)

Occasionally their trouble strains credulity and you pull back from the story and just sort of shake your head. Toward the end, it distracts from the fun and makes you go, "C'mon now..." but it's not enough to mar the book, overall. The other nitpick I had was that I never had any clear idea exactly how old Ethan's mom was. He treated her like she was one foot in the grave, the other on a banana peel, and yet she was still a working professional woman. I understood the motivations behind his uber-protectiveness, but something about the relationship never quite gelled for me. I loved Ethan, but the hero / mom dynamic was a li'l weird.

Still, flaws and all, I say check it out because it's hot, funny and I did enjoy it. The woman can write.

Your review could be here next week, if you're feeling brave. Hit me up.

Labels: Ebook Thursday