LynneC’s review of Playing For Keeps by Catherine Mann
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin Desire 2 Apr 13
Let’s get the plot out of the way first. This is totally preposterous on a number of levels. First, the hero is described as a soft rock star. I didn’t think people used that term anymore, but a man who writes piano ballads doesn’t seem like a soft rock star to me, unless the term has a different definition in the States. To me, a soft rock star is someone like David Coverdale, not Billy Joel. And having the man on the cover bear a startling resemblance to Liverpudlian comedian John Bishop doesn’t help.
Second, our intrepid hero works as an Interpol agent. In what universe does Interpol have secret agents, and what kind of jurisdiction do they have? Interpol is an agency set up to coordinate police forces and is never the force it was meant to be, so no. Never.
From the Interpol website:
“Does INTERPOL send agents around the world to arrest people?
No, the INTERPOL General Secretariat does not send officers into countries to arrest individuals. All investigations and arrests in each of INTERPOL member country are carried out by the national police in accordance with national laws. Each member country has an INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB) which is staffed by highly-trained law enforcement officers and acts as a designated contact point for the General Secretariat and other member countries. International investigations are coordinated via these NCBs.”
In other words, Interpol is another boring bureaucratic agency that doesn’t quite work. There are no agents, no undercover activities. It just serves to connect police forces around the world.
It would have been better had Ms. Mann set up a secret force of her own, then it would probably be more believable. Her force, her rules. When I reviewed a previous book in this series, I let the Interpol thing ride, because, why not. But this book just doesn’t work as well for me.
Still, a Harlequin is more about the characters than it is the plot, so how about those?
Celia Patel is a teacher at a school in the community where she’s lived most of her life. Malcolm misbehaved, or was framed, and was sent away to military school where he was recruited for Interpol. He has since become a singer and has a successful career as a “soft rock” musician. When he appears at the school to visit Celia, the teenagers scream at him and line up for his autograph.
“He was this generation’s Harry Connick Jr. and Michael Bublé—times ten.”
Wait – kids are screaming at Harry Connick or Michael Bublé? They don’t even scream for Robbie Williams these days. Beiber, yes, but he’s not ready for the big time at Harlequin Desire. It’s a really weird image, and I couldn’t quite make it work in my mind. One thing’s for sure – as described, cool he ain’t. At one point he’s described as “dreamy.” Really? Wasn’t Elvis “dreamy”? Sixty years ago? Bobby Darin?
Celia I like. I love that she has ethnic roots but doesn’t let herself be defined by them, and I find no particular problems, although the complete color blindness of the community she lives in is a bit idealistic. She has found a life for herself as a music teacher.
Malcolm is the perfect alpha, despite his slightly dorky name, but I do like that he isn’t yet another Lucas. I’ve read far too many of those recently. He is a great singer and a brilliant agent. A bit too much for one hero, and I don’t see how he gets the times in the day to do this and to romance Celia. However, he mangles a house in England far beyond what would be legally allowed. He’s installed a spa in a basement and remodeled the gardens in an historic house of some size, one which would for sure be at least Grade II. That restricts what can be done with an historic house; basically, nothing that is irreversible or destroys original features.
They have a shared past that is much more interesting than the rock star and agent angle. They made love for the first time when Celia was sixteen, and, shortly after, she got pregnant. Her parents being wealthy, she was sent away to have the baby, then it was adopted.
The Interpol recruiter is deeply sinister. He recruits vulnerable teenagers to his cause by attacking them at their most vulnerable point. He shows Malcolm pictures of his daughter. This man is a manipulator of young people and yet he’s in control of a military school? And he works for Interpol?
I like that both Celia and Malcolm accept their responsibilities towards the baby, and that he is kept informed all along. He is from the wrong aide of the tracks and was sent away to military school, she came home and continued with her life. That was eighteen years ago. I do find it strange that they didn’t at least keep in touch in all that time and she accepts his sudden reappearance with barely a raised brow. Malcolm does have to persuade her that she needs looking after, and Celia slips into TSTL territory by refusing to accept that she needs help, but Malcolm looks after her with a ruthlessness that verges on the controlling dickhead. Plus, he uses this to seduce her.
Grade: C-
Summary:
It’s been eighteen years…and he still wants herIn high school, Malcolm Douglas was a bad boy who stole the heart of small-town girl Celia Patel—as well as her virginity. But life pulled them apart…and just as well, for he’d already broken her heart.
Now Malcolm is a world-famous billionaire dedicated to atoning for his sins. When he swoops back into Celia’s life, he tells himself he only wants to protect her from recent threats. But the desire between them leaves them as breathless as teenagers. Will Celia ever forgive him? Maybe. If he can make today’s pleasure erase yesterday’s pain.
Read an excerpt.
