BEING A BAD GIRL

Author: Julie Cohen ISBN: 0263849864 5/2006 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: MILLS & BOON

Marianne Webb has left her goody-two shoes life behind to become a born-again bad girl. She wants to be a sassy bartender, play strip poker, and take up with inappropriate men. And when the baddest bad boy she’s ever seen roars into a bachelor auction on the back of a Harley, Marianne knows she needs to do whatever it takes to get him. Dr. Oz Strummer can’t believe that his friends talked him into selling his body on the open market–on a motorcycle! He’s a responsible lecturer and psychologist, dedicated to his patients, longing for a wife and family. Not a Harley-riding sex object. Except as soon as Marianne bids three thousand dollars for a single date with him, he begins to realise that being bad can be very, very good.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Julie Cohen's April release from Mills & Boon Modern Extra, the international line replacing Harlequin Temptation, is a sequel to FEATURED ATTRACTION, featuring Jack's best friend, Dr. Oz Strummer. Late autumn in Maine is going to be sexy this year.

Oz, the perfect nice guy, is sublimating his desire for companionship (he's a psychologist) with extreme overwork, but his friend talks him into being a bad boy at a bachelor auction for one night. Marianne Webb, a former beauty queen on the run from her past, hooks up with Oz at the auction, thinking he's someone very different than he is.

They couldn't be worse for each other. Oz is lonely and is looking for permanent connections in his life, and Marianne is aiming to be someone other than she's been back in South Carolina. She just wants temporary fun, even though she can't really relax enough to enjoy it. Oz, being a psychologist, can see through her, and Marianne can't handle any evidence that someone is trying to control her.

I loved this book. Cohen really shines here, with well-developed characters and realistic conflict. She's a must buy in short romance authors! If you missed this book, keep an eye out for her June release, DELICIOUS, also from Modern Extra.

Heather Hiestand