Sandy M’s review of A Man in a Million by Jessica Bird
Contemporary Romance published by Silhouette Special Edition 1 Jan 07
I really am addicted to Bird’s heroes. Whether they’ve come from the wrong side of the tracks and have now made good, lived through a horrible childhood, they’ve been to prison like Spike in this story, or anything else she throws at them, they’re all still gentlemen, they love what family they’ve got, they treat women right, and, of course, they’re as sexy as all get-out. They have a certain mind-set when you first meet them, but even though they think they’ll never change, they’re open to that change once they feel it coming on and then they embrace it wholeheartedly. Men after my own heart.
Spike Moriarty put his happiness and his heart on the line once before and told a girlfriend about his past. Next thing he knew, she disappeared without so much as a goodbye. So that’s a mistake he’ll never make again. One-nighters and short-term relationships are all he’s ever going to chance again. Even when he meets Madeline Maguire, the most beautiful and sexiest woman he’s ever seen, he hesitates to get involved. She’s from a rich family and out of his league, so why take the chance she’d walk away from him too? But when she needs help to stand up to her brother, Spike initially misunderstands why she wants him by her side while she’s visiting. He eventually goes to her rescue and ends up having a slice of heaven when Mad admits her attraction and gives herself to him. Knowing they can’t have forever, he’s determined to store up some memories for the lonely future head of him.
Like a fish out of water when she’s on land, Madeline is also off balance when it comes to men. She’s used to working with the men of her crew, she’s a sailor just like they are, so she’s always treated like one of the guys. Plus, she’s as tall as most men, not petite and blonde, so she’s usually invisible to most males. Especially the one she’s been attracted to for a while now. Spike and his hard, sexy bod that sports incredible tattoos turns her on something fierce, but now that they’ve met up again, it seems he’s jumping to all the wrong conclusions every time they talk. Finally giving up when he refuses her plea to help her get through a family weekend, Mad builds up her courage and heads out to face off with her brother over the family business. However, she gets the surprise of her life when Spike shows up after all, but the bigger surprise is finding out he’s also attracted to her. Their short affair is cut even shorter when her spiteful brother butts in where he doesn’t belong and causes hurt feelings, broken hearts, and just general havoc with their lives.
So far Spike is my favorite Bird hero. There’s just something about him that softened my heart when reading his story. He and Madeline are great together. I especially enjoyed their lovemaking on his motorcycle parked on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. My goodness gracious, what a scene. I think I’d like to try that myself. And when they’re apart after their misunderstanding because of Mad’s brother’s machinations, Spike broke my heart when everything goes wrong for him after he returns home and he sits on his porch just staring at nothing. Definitely a man in love and he doesn’t know what to do about it. His astonishment when Madeline doesn’t run after he tells her about his past is also a favorite scene.
I know Sybil is probably going to have a conniption when she sees my grade for this book, but I can’t help it if I’ve had a run of wonderful reads lately. I’m a very happy reader right now.
Grade: A
From the back cover:
“Have you met Madeline Maguire?”
Sure have, Spike thought. I saw her last night in my dreams.
As far as bad boy Spike Moriarty was concerned, Madeline Maguire defined female perfection. When they’d met, she’d walked up as if she wasn’t the most gorgeous thing on the planet and asked to see his tattoos. He — a tough guy who’d make grown men run — had just about passed out. But their connection was definitely one-way…it had to be. Because he could never be the man in a million she was looking for, not with the things he’d done and seen. So for as long as she’d let him he’d give her whatever she wanted. He’d worry about her walking away when it happened.
LOVED this book. Of course TBND was my most favoritest Bird book EVAH. But this book… loved…
So no sybil agrees, she would give it an A too 😉
I wanted to love this one, thought it started off strong, then lost steam. I was also weirded out by the fact that Mad seemed to have an eating disorder, and I thought it was handled oddly. But that’s a personal hot button.
I liked this book too, but I agree with Devon – I remember there being something a bit off with Mad’s eating/not eating. This was my first Jessica Bird book, and what actually convinced me to read the BDB books. I admit, I was a skeptic. I mean really, their names are Phury, Rhage, Zsadist, Vishous… the snotty scholar in me scoffed. I’m so glad I was won over.
I didn’t really look at it as an eating disorder. Granted, she didn’t eat properly, but when it first came up it was at the table with her brother, so I put it down at first that she couldn’t eat just from the stress of being near him; then when it talked about her not having periods because of her athletic schedule – which I have heard of — it didn’t help that she didn’t eat properly, but, remember, she did consciously make the decision to finally eat properly and get on a better schedule once she and Spike share their feelings and she knew they’d have children — if it were a true eating disorder, I don’t think it would have been that easy for her to decide to start doing things right. I think it was done to show how she changed from being so wrapped up in her sport to the point of her body reacting as it did to her giving up some of her “fanaticism” of the sport for her love for Spike and wanting to have a family with him. It all just seemed to work together for me.
LOL, Sybil, I was thinking more along the lines that I’ve given the last four or five books an A of some sort! I know you like these Bird books!