LauraD’s review of Close Quarters by Denise J. Agnew
Romantic suspense ebook released by Samhain 20 May 08
Neena Williamson has taken charge of her city’s charity calendar- a beefcake calendar featuring local men. Sitting in a local coffee shop, she’s thinking about how to find Mr. December when she’s yanked out of her thoughts by a truly hideous Hawaiian shirt. It’s being worn by Mitch Gilroy, new to town, but who has already earned a good reputation as a handyman. The shirt would have been a deal breaker, except Neena and Mitch are thrown together when the coffee shop is robbed.
After spending an hour or so locked in the storage room, they’re already too attracted to each other to back away from it.
For a pretty short ebook, there was a lot going on here. The calendar, the robbery, and as always, the ghosts from both Neena and Mitch’s pasts- there was so much action that character development suffered. I would have loved to gotten to know Neena better, especially more about the backstory between her and her mother. The one bit of information we’re given is almost cruel, it’s such a story within a story.
Mitch’s history was told in more detail, or at least the “why” of his current status. But he seems to be a little too good to be true. Neena’s girlfriends kept throwing her towards him, and I kept thinking “Is he the only straight guy in town?” I liked Mitch for not making fun of the calendar; instead he had fun with posing for the calendar-even with positioning his tool belt appropriately. It’s all in the direction the hammer hangs, y’know?
Grade: C
Summary:
First impressions can be dead wrong.
Neena Williamson is positive the man who just walked into her favorite café is all wrong for the local charity’s new hot male calendar. For starters, he’s wearing the most butt-ugly Hawaiian shirt on the face of the earth. He doesn’t fit anyone’s image of a smokin’ hardbody, even if her friend insists he’s perfect for Mr. December.
When a gunman robs the café, Mr. December proves that underneath his bad taste in clothes, he knows how to bring it.
Clarksville, Wyoming is the perfect place for Mitch Gilroy to hide in plain sight. He enjoys his low-key handyman job, and no one pries into his former life. But in an instant, Mitch is forced to remember everything he’s tried so hard to forget.
Thrown together by sudden violence, Neena and Mitch quickly discover how tangled their emotions can become. And the only way to banish the monsters that haunt them is to do the one thing they fear most. Become vulnerable—to each other.
Warning: This title contains a hot nekkid calendar boy shoot, heroic rescues, explicit, multiple orgasmic sex, and graphic language.
Read an excerpt.
