Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

There are a few things that will compel you to pull over while driving on a highway and, as Dean Robillard- star quarterback for the Chicago Stars - finds out, a woman in a headless beaver costume is one of them. The woman turns out to be Blue Bailey who has just spotted her ex, the ex that convinced her to move from Seattle to Colorado before he dumped her, and wants revenge.

Before long, Dean finds himself driving from Colorado to his farmhouse in Tennessee with Blue tagging along because she doesn't really have anywhere else to go. Both Dean and Blue have their share of issues: Dean is recovering from a shoulder injury and he doesn't know if he will be as good as he was when he starts to play again, and he doesn't have the best relationship with either of his parents - his mother was a groupie/muse to various rocks stars, and his father is a rather famous rock star whom he barely knows. As for Blue, she has had to put up with her mother's restless campaign to protect everyone but her own daughter, and had to grow up going from one family to another over and over without much stability.

Blue and Dean are both very private for different reasons but, bottom line, neither of them wants to get hurt though they can't seem to stop arguing -and enjoying it, too - while they drive to Dean's farm, once there, who knows?

Well, I do... but if you want to find out you're going to have to read to find out but I can say that Natural Born Charmer is, in deed, a charmer of a book, full of quirky characters and family secrets.

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Match Me if You Can by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Anabelle Granger is the the underdog in her family, they love her but they also think she's a bit of a joke and a failure, mostly because, at the age of 31 she's running her Grandma Myrna's matchmaking business, while her successful older brothers are making it big one as an accountant and the other as a cardiologist. But, over all, Anabelle loves her life, she would like a little bit more stability, though, so she decides to take Myrna's business and make it big, and for that she needs a high profile bachelor to help her establish her reputation as a matchmaker.

Heath Champion is one of the best sports managers of the country, among his most important clients is Kevin Tucker (from This Heart of Mine), Heath is the ultimate overachiever, after climbing his way out of a trailer-park childhood and into professional success and lots of money; but he has decided he wants to get married soon (before he turns 35) so he decides to hire a matchmaking service to speed along the search, first he hires Portia Powers, of Power Matches, famous for her high profile clients but then Kevin's wife Molly asked him to interview Anabelle (who happens to be one of her best friends) and Heath ended up with two match makers competing to match him with the perfect woman for him.

Of course, nothing goes as planed and before long Heath finds himself enjoying Anabelle's company far more than what he enjoys his set up dates. And, in a secondary love story, Portia Powers finds herself attracted to Bodie - Heath's best friend and driver - while her Power Matches begins to crumble about her.

I had more than a few good laughs out of this book and I loved checking on some of the old characters from the Chicago Stars series like Molly and Kevin, Dan and Phoebe and a few of the others.

Loved the book

Grade:

1/2

This Heart of Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Molly Somerville - a mildly successful children book author, creator of Daphne the Bunny and her friends, particularly Benny the Badger) had a long time and fruitless crush on Kevin Tucker, the star quarterback of her sister Phoebe's football team the Chicago Stars, but on a day when she was feeling restless, had just died her hair fire-engine red and Kevin nearly ran her over with his shinny red Ferrari, Molly swore out of her silly crush; only to have her restlessness carry her out to her sister's vacation home where Kevin happens to be, cooling off after Dan Calebow (Phoebe's husband and the team's president) slapped him with a ten-thousand dollar fine for reckless behavior.

After an ill-fated one night stand, Molly finds herself pregnant with Kevin's baby and so happy, feeling she finally has what she always wished for: a family of her own. Only that Kevin doesn't fit in anyway in the little family Molly's imagining, she even deliberately tells him she's not pregnant. But then, Dan and Phoebe - who in many ways are the only parents Molly has ever known - find not only that Molly's pregnant but also that Kevin is the father and they are none too happy about it.

Kevin sees Molly as an spoiled, slightly reckless football heiress - she's not -and has many commitment issues but he's also a PK (preacher's kid) and has a deep rooted set of conservative values that make him marry Molly even though that's the last thing he wants to do.

Only that, after their marriage, Molly miscarriages and slowly slides into depression - she lost her baby, her family, and her work is being questioned by an extremist anti-gay group - which eventually forces Kevin to do something about it -they are still married, after all.

Their journey, physically to a campground and B&B in northern Michigan - which Kevin inherited recently and where he spend many a summer as a kid - and emotionally - for Molly to come to terms with what she lost, her work and the family she does have; and for Kevin to take a look at his past as a PK and confront his only living blood-relative with whom he isn't close at all and his commitment issues - makes for my favorite Chicago Stars book so far.

I even give it Personal Favorite statues because of the best Epilogue I've read in years.

Grade

1/2

Dream a Little Dream by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

After losing his wife and son two years ago, Gabriel Bonner isn't quite ready to re-join the living, but he keeps trying to pretend he is mostly to sooth his parents and brothers; so he takes up the project of re-opening The Pride of Carolina, a drive-in cinema in his hometown of Salvation, North Carolina, even though he really is a vet and he doesn't even care that much about the drive in.

Rachel Stone is tied to a painful scandal in Salvation's recent history, namely that of the T.V. evangelist G. Dwayne Snopes who died trying to escape the police after he had stolen several million dollars from the people who believed in him. Rachel was his wife, and the person G. Dwayne Snopes tried to blame for all the wrong he did (before he died he made several declarations saying his greedy wife had lead him to steal and stuff like that). So, naturally, everyone in Salvation hates Rachel, yet she's forced to return there after her life hits a dead end - as in she has no job, no place to live and she has a son she adores and whom she has to take care of -and she thinks there might be some answers for her in Salvation.

Luckily - or perhaps not so - the first person she runs into upon arriving to town is Gabriel, who doesn't even recognize her but who also doesn't want anything to do with her or her kid (like I said before, he's still pretty deep into his grief). But, eventually, he does offer her a job and finds her a place to stay because, even if he's bitter and has a dead wish a mile long, he's a good man deep down.

There were many things I liked about this book, I liked how it went slow, exploring both Rachel and Gabriel and why they came to be the way they are. I liked how Gabriel's return from the dead was slow and gradual, how he didn't magically fall in love with Rachel's son, Edward, in fact, for a good part of the book, Gabriel doesn't even like him - and he doesn't try to replace his son with Edward - and the feeling was pretty mutual. But, for me, the character I liked the most was Rachel, life was tough on her but she didn't became a bitter person, and there is no false pride about her; she does what she must to survive and keep her son with her the best she can.

There is also a nice secondary romance involving Gabriel's youngest brother Ethan and another character (whom I really liked too) as well as a visit from Grabriel's older brother Cal and his wife Jane (from Nobody's Baby But Mine).

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Nobody's Baby But Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Super smart Dr Jane Darlington is a prominent physicist who just turned 34 and wants a baby desperately, however, having grown up a 'freak' because she was a child prodigy and her father didn't know what do do with her, Jane wants to have an average kid (and she means it in the best way) and she figures the best way is to find someone 'dumb' to father her baby (to even out her super smart genes). She doesn't want a relationship, she just wants a baby.

By accident, while talking to her neighbors' 20-something daughter Jodie, she sees in the TV an interview with Cal Bonner the Chicago Stars' legendary quarterback who's mocking his interviewer by acting dumb. In a fit of inspiration, Jane decides that's the guy she wants to father her baby and it so happens that Jodie knows Cal and a bunch of other players who, coincidentally, want to get Cal a 'real classy hooker' for his 36th birthday and Jodie convinces Jane that posing as said hooker is her best chance to get to Cal.

Now, Cal isn't having the best year of his life, his sister-in-law and nephew died recently and his brother Gabriel is in despair; Cal knows his football career can't last much longer and he has no idea of what he's going to do once his career is over and he also has Kevin Tucker - the team's other quarterback - breathing down his neck.

Jane -posing (badly) as a hooker - and Cal do met twice and Jane does end up pregnant and Cal ends up finding out and marries Jane - with the intention of divorcing after the baby is born - and takes her to Salvation, North Carolina (his hometown) so their marriage seems real to the press.

With this book I found things that I did like and others that I didn't like but it was pretty good over all, I liked the sub plot surrounding Cal's parents and I liked Jane's brilliance about somethings and complete ignorance about others. Cal was, at times, harder to like but he ended up in the plus side of things by the end. All in all, it was a rather sweet book.

Grade:

2/3

Heaven, Texas by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Gracie Snow thinks working for Windmill productions it's her ticket out of her boring life but her world gets turned upside down when her first assignment as a production assistant is to fetch former NFL star Bobby Tom Denton from his house in Chicago where he has holed up and is not answering calls from Gracie's new boss.

Bobby Tom is a football star - he played for the Chicago Stars in It Had To Be You - forced to retire too soon after a bad knee injury and now is at lost at what do to with his life, he has money and women and for a while he thought making a movie would be exciting but now he's stalling about that particular thing. He did plan on showing up at Telarosa, Texas - his home town previously known as Heaven - for filming he just isn't sure when and he certainly isn't going to be 'escorted' by Gracie Snow.

But then, he can't shake Gracie and they end up going together to Telarosa where Gracie ends up working as Bobby Tom's personal assistant and his sham fiancée along the way.

Again, good characters, decent plot but it didn't finish charming me. I did like it better than It Had To Be You but only a little bit. At times I grew annoyed with Bobby Tom and at times with Gracie but over all it was good.

Grade

1/2

It Had To Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Phoebe Somerville - a beautiful New York girl, notorious for some paintings a famous Spanish painter did of her many years ago - is not quite ready to return to Chicago for her father's funeral. A father who neglected and humiliated and basically disown her years ago but who left her two things: custody of her little half sister Molly and the Chicago Stars football team.

Phoebe doesn't want anything to do with the team, she kind of hates it just as she hated her father and cousin - both of them Deserve to be hated Big Time - but she agrees to return to Chicago and be in charge for a while after the Stars' coach Dan Calebow convinces her to do so, letting her know that if the Stars flunk a lot of people will lose their job.

Phoebe and Dan don't like each other, they think they each represent what they hate most about the opposite gender. But they turn out to have more in common than what they first suspected.

For me this book was alright, I kind of liked Phoebe and I kind of liked Dan and the book was kind of interesting but it never finished clicking with me. And I really disliked Dan's relationship with his ex-wife. But I liked Molly and the other characters in the surroundings.

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