FINDING MR. ROMANTIC

Celeste Harte glared at the twenty-nine candles on her birthday cake. She'd squandered her last fourteen birthday wishes on a fairy tale romance, and her life still read like an instruction manual. The frog she'd hoped would turn into aprince...God rest his soul...was a cheating toad. Leaning her hands on the glass-topped table, she puffed out her cheeks and blew. I wish I'd meet a man who would turn my life into a sizzling romance novel. Did such a man exist? If so, would he look twice at her? If she found Mr. Romance, she'd make sure he did. She's lived her life for others and it's her turn now. It's hot, muggy June when Celeste heads for an Indiana campground chosen for its name, New Beginnings. Her hair is highlighted, wardrobe new, and she's primed for adventure when she backs over a railroad tie with her rented RV. Blue eyes watch in amusement from the hammock next door, and she's hot under her tee shirt by the time Nick Dennis comes to her rescue. The heat creeps lower before he's through. Nick is sinuous, sexy, and aggravating as hell, but he says he can turn her life around, and even though he could turn it upside down, he could be her birthday wish come true.

FINDING MR. ROMANTIC starts with Celeste blowing out the candles on her 29th birthday cake. She has one wish on this birthday: I wish I'd meet a man who would turn my life into a sizzling romance novel. She has no idea that she is about to get just that.

Nick Dennis is rusticating away in a rickety old trailer of his cousin's, trying to win a bet by writing a romance novel. When he meets his neighbor, who is a damsel in distress from their first meeting, he figures that she would be wonderful research material for his book.

What ensues is a great romantic comedy in which I alternated between laughing and groaning out loud. Some of the things that Nick did just to get Celeste's attention were so out there, and yet they were so sweet; he could've melted a stone. He could act completely serious and sincere for one minute, and then the next, he is this quirky guy just trying to get Celeste to let her hair down. What better way to meet your soul mate than on a vacation of self-discovery?!

I loved this book. It is fast paced and funny, with a very nice plot and fun lead characters. Betty Jo Schuler has written a masterpiece with FINDING MR. ROMANTIC and made a true fan out of me.