Dinca’s review of Until He Met Rachel by Debra Salonen
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin SuperRomance 11 May 10
Debra Salonen has a hit with the mysterious Rufus Miller. I had a hard time not taking a peek ahead while reading, but I just didn’t want to miss anything. With one misconception after another, these two opposites, Rufus and Rachel, are definitely attracted to each other.
After her short marriage collapses, Rachel Gray takes off in her Porsche, a leftover possession from her marriage, to Sentinel Pass in the Black Hills of South Dakota where her brother has settled. After all, she can start a website design business anywhere. She is counting on a local artist to be her first client. Rachel is impressed with the man’s work, even if he is a recluse and she refers to him as Big Foot’s cousin. When she discovers he doesn’t live in a hovel in the woods, she senses there is more to the bearded, flannel-covered hulk than meets the eye.
Rufus Miller is in hiding. Not just from the world but from himself as well. He has changed his name and lifestyle until he has transformed his very existence. When Rachel wants to open him and his work up to the world, he is reluctant. Rufus wants no part of him and his home displayed in pictures on the internet. He eventually finds himself allowing her to display his art on a website that turns out to be a huge success.
Rachel offers money to Rufus to be her date at a Christmas party and wedding so she can avoid the disparaging remarks from her mother if she shows up alone. Rufus agrees and shows up looking like the old self he left behind in New York. Rachel’s mother is so condescending to him she accuses him of having to rent a suit. At least the derogatory remarks are directed at him instead of Rachel. But when he vanishes from the party without saying goodbye, Rachel confronts her mother and then takes off after him.
The tension between these two is so tangible, from the first look they share to the box of sex toys later scattered at their feet, that you will read straight through to the last page. Even the supporting characters have believable personalities. Rachael’s mother could be a book unto herself. Maybe she will some day.
Grade: A
Summary: Rufus Miller is a mystery.
It’s the one fact the entire town of Sentinel Pass can agree on. And Rufus has no intentions of solving the riddle. He likes his privacy. His cabin and his work suit him just fine, thanks.
Then Rachel Grey shows up.
The energetic entrepreneur has decided Rufus is her ideal client and is full of marketing ideas to make him a household name. And he’s tempted. Not by her impressive strategy, but by her. Suddenly the guy least likely to answer a direct question wants to open up. Wants to share his space with her. Wants her to know all the skeletons in his closet. And that urge to be with Rachel so completely is the biggest mystery of all.
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
