ALPHABET WEEKENDS:LOVE ON THE ROAD FROM A TO Z
ELIZABETH NOBLE
ISBN#(13)9780061122187/(10)0061122181
February 2007
Harper Collins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street, New York, New York, 10022
Trade Paperback
$14.95
425 pages
Contemporary
Rating: 4 Cups

Natalie is a local radio station producer and on the verge of getting dumped from her long time lover. Expecting to hear those romantic words of “I love you” and “will you marry me?” will now never happen, at least not for her now.

Tom is a computer website designer who is just getting on his feet with a couple of friends to take his work at home business to the next stage and get an actual office and mainstream clients. His life is now finally going well except for one thing, his love life. There is only one person who he really wants, his best friend, Natalie.

Natalie runs to Tom when she finds herself alone again. Friends since childhood, Tom has always been there for her through thick and thin. They have the best of both worlds, a best buddy and mate all rolled up in a person of the opposite sex. The only problem is that Tom wants more now that Natalie is free from any relationships. He proposes a way to get her out of her doldrums and back into having fun and not thinking about her being dumped. The alphabet game, from A to Z in doing an activity or going somewhere that starts with a letter of the alphabet, but in order. This starts with A for abseiling and finds Tom rappelling with Natalie one weekend in January. The following week she decides on something starting with B for them to go do that continues throughout the year including V for Vegas.

This has a very simple theme but is taken to the very extreme. Besides Nat and Tom there are other major subplots and characters throughout. It is not just a love story but a slice of life about a single couple and others including parents, friends and siblings that are also affected as the book continues. I did enjoy this tale immensely in that it was not boring for an instant since it has an ensemble cast of secondary characters that make it realistic. Romance, marriage, babies, health crises, family stresses and cheating spouses, run the gamut here and make this a very diverse setting for the reader. This shows how someone you thought you loved, never loved you at all yet the one in the wings, maybe your best friend has loved you and waited for his chance to show you and prove that love is still there after all for you.

Lainey
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance
Reviewer for Karen Find Out About New Books