HOT DATE
AMY GARVEY
ISBN: (10) 0-7582-1593-2/ (13) 978-0-7582-1593-2
June 2008
Brava, a division of Kensington Publishing Corp
850 Third Avenue, New York, New York 10022
Paperback
$14.00/ $16.95
288 pages
Contemporary Romance
Rating: 4 cups

Grace Lamb is doing the one thing she never thought she would, returning to the small town in which she grew up. She is not sure what is ahead of her but she can only try. She is not looking for romance but it sure seems to have found her in the form of her childhood crush, Nick. Feeling unsure about the whole thing, she has to find something to focus on and fast. She is not sure what that is going to be, and she does not want to mess up one more thing in her life right now, especially her good friendship with Nick.

Nick Griffin’s world was about to be rocked and turned upside down. He has aspirations to leave Wrightsville but Grace's return makes him re-think the whole thing. He feels an attraction to her that he has never come close to with anyone else. Now he wonders if he can really make something happen with her.

Worlds literally collide when Grace runs her VW Bus into the back of Nick’s cop car. Now she has to figure out what she is going to do with her life and Nick should not factor into it. But she has the most difficult time keeping her emotions in check. Nick appears to have the same problem, yet it does not seem to bother him as much. Ideas brighten as Grace helps her brother Toby work on the antique shop he inherited. She is not sure if that is what she wants to do but it helps keep her mind off other things. Yet, when a man connected with the mafia shows up claiming her Aunt Celeste has something for him, she struggles to figure out what to do with it all and with Nick who wants to protect her. Will she let him or tell him to bug off?

A strong-headed woman is easy to relate to. Grace, seemed so much like me in some ways that it was down right scary. She wants to find her own way in her own time and fix her own problems. Nick is so used to helping his family with everything, he does not realize when he oversteps his bounds. Ms. Garvey has a sensational hit on her hands with this book. I fell in love with this small town and the characters right away! Definitely another author to add to my automatic buy list!

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