MAD ABOUT MAX

Author: Lisa Plumley ISBN: 0821776975 7/2006 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: ZEBRA

Sushi for pooches. Belly dancing. Men in their underwear. It's all in a day's work for Lucy Logan... ...and so is getting unemployed folks spruced up with designer duds at the charity shop Successfully Dressed. Anyone who knows Lucy knows her heart is always in the right place. But the guy who shows up wearing nothing but tighty-whities and a frown doesn't know Lucy—or understand why she won't just let him buy back his "lucky suit." Instead, she insists he earn it back through volunteer work. Of course, Max Nolan's killer abs and effortless charm have nothing whatsoever to do with Lucy's good intentions... From minute one, Max can't keep his eyes off the skimpy-skirted, boho-punk vision that is Lucy Logan. She's a woman of ideals, while he's a man of action—but that doesn't mean they can't collaborate on...any number of things. Beyond getting his suit back, Max figures he can make some great contacts with the shop's rich benefactors, exactly what he needs to get his pampered pets boutique off the ground. And if he gets a little—okay, a lot—closer to Lucy in the process, well, that's a sacrifice he's only too willing to make...

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

I had fun with MAD ABOUT MAX, which is a romantic comedy featuring extreme opposites.

Lucy is a free spirit whose idea of creating retail success at the second-hand clothing shop she manages is to bring in a tarot card reader to entice a few bohemian-types to buy an interview suit. This style of management is going to run her straight out of business if she isn't careful.

Unwilling shop volunteer Max's idea of success is getting a few high dollar society matrons to donate their couture so their friends can pick up the cast offs at high dollar, not to mention the implementation of those business techniques he has honed as a successful entrepreneur. He can fix all of Lucy's problems, but only if she's ready to accept his input.

The two have instant, flagrant chemistry, but their lives are incompatible, even if their intentions are mostly the same. They both need to find authenticity. Will they find it together, as true love creeps up on them?

Plumley offers us a plethora of entertaining secondary characters to enjoy at the periphery of the main action, along with a lot of funny one-liners. You'll enjoy MAD ABOUT MAX, too!

Heather Hiestand