FAST & LOOSE

Author: Elizabeth Bevarly ISBN: 9780425220856 4/2008 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: BERKLEY SENSATION

Thoroughbred trainer Cole Early hopes to make his charmed life even sweeter with a win at the Kentucky Derby. But first, the hotshot media sensation needs a place to stay. With all of Louisville booked for Derby week, he snaps up the snug little bungalow his agent miraculously finds. Strapped for cash, glass artist Lulu Flannery has agreed to rent out her house for the Derby, but she is immediately overcome by second thoughts. What if her houseguest is someone like that rowdy "King Cole" person she sees partying on TV every night and in the society pages every day—and who seems to keep popping up in all the same places as her? A guy like that could wreak havoc on a girl's feng shui. ' But it isn't Lulu's feng shui that Cole is interested in. Especially after he discovers she's the mysterious woman whose house is filled with indulgences to please all five senses—and then some. What's a guy gotta do to ignite passion in the self-possessed Miss Flannery?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

FAST & LOOSE by Elizabeth Bevarly is a sweet and warm romantic comedy with quirky characters that fall in love during the weeks before one of the greatest races of all, the Kentucky Derby.

Cole Early is a thoroughbred horse trainer and after his horse, Silk Purse, won in Santa Anita, he is on his way to the big show in Louisville—that is, the Derby. But Cole was late in booking a hotel and finds there are no rooms left. He is then housed in a local home with the owner moving out for the two weeks he will stay there. But Lulu Flannery, a glass artist who believes in Karma, doesn't want anyone staying in her home that will not care for it as she does—someone like Cole Early—and leaves many post-its behind warning the renter away from her things. This amuses Cole from the beginning, and he starts to wonder about the person who is hosting him in Louisville and uses clues found in her home to piece together who she is. Both Cole and Lulu find themselves inadvertently meeting around town, all the while, and there is an interest there from both parties. But a horse trainer and a glass artist are worlds apart and couldn't possibly share anything in common. Or could they?

Okay, so I really tried with this novel, but there was one major aspect that killed it for me, and that is the lack of dialogue between the characters. Much of the novel transpired in the minds of the characters rather than actual dialogue between them, and I'm the type of reader that feels dialogue is important between the characters for them to establish a bond. Even when the characters were standing right in front of each other, the story would go on for pages in the mind of one or the other, which was very frustrating as they were right there and able to interact through dialogue. That may be just the way Bevarly writes her romances, as I am not familiar with her work and this is the first Elizabeth Bevarly novel that I have read.

Another thing that bothered me was that much of the bond that Cole established with Lulu was through his stay at her home and him snooping through her things, the worst of all which was reading her personal diary on her computer! He fell in love with Lulu by knowing her through her home before he actually got to know Lulu herself, and though some may find it romantic, I thought it strange and unrealistic.

Even with all that said, I really did like Cole and Lulu. I feel that I was able to get a handle on who they really were through their self-introspection, and what I read, I enjoyed. There was a secondary romance between Lulu's BFF Bree and her co-worker Rufus. Bree has been looking for a rich man ever since she was young and is frustrated to not have found one yet, even as her job bartending in a high end hotel's restaurant brings her in contact with sugar daddies regularly. Rufus is in love with Bree, even though she continually rebuffs him because he will never have any money. But seeing Bree's reasons for needing that money endeared her to me, and I ended up liking the secondary romance more than the main one.

FAST & LOOSE wasn't really my cup of tea, but those who enjoy a sweet, tempered romance will want to give this one a try.

Maami Kanbi