Friday, October 2, 2009

Review: Power Play by Nancy Warren

Title: Power Play
Series: Forbidden Fantasies
Author: Nancy Warren
Read copy: eBook
Published: November 1, 2009
Publisher: Harlequin
ISBN: 1426842635
ISBN-13: 9781426842634

Keep her hands to herself?

Not easy for Emily Saunders, who's in Elk Crossing, Idaho, for a family wedding. She's double booked in the same hotel room with a sexy cop attending—of all things!—a hockey tournament. As a massage therapist, Emily's soon itching to soothe Jonah Betts's gorgeous muscles—both on and off the ice.

Jonah can't believe his luck—a sexy single woman sharing his cozy room, albeit temporarily. Okay, her orange bridesmaid dress is a disaster and her family is convinced he's actually her boyfriend. He's ready to go along with it even as he makes his play....

Until Emily is suddenly calling for a TIME-OUT! Will Jonah's fantasies be permanently iced?


My rating:

***READER'S NOTE***
The blurb sucks by the way, having (almost) nothing to do with the story.
***END OF READER'S NOTE***


Emily is in Elk Crossing, Idaho, her home town, as a bridesmaid for her cousin's wedding. Jonah, a Portland cop, is in Elk Crossing to participate in the Over-Thirties-Hockey Tournament

A case of bed bugs and absolutely no vacancies thanks to the hockey tournament, forces them to share the last room available in the Elk Crossing Lodge. And an unfortunate incident of the wrong person answering the phone, now Emily's family think her forced roomie is her boyfriend.

Up to the second half of the eighteenth chapter (out of 21), this was a fun, sweet, sassy, and sexy little Blaze story. The beginning with the bedbug infestation was hilarious, and the forced roommate business predicted major chemistry and sparkage. And it delivered. Boy, did it ever.

Both Jonah and Emily were great characters, and even greater when they interacted with each other. The forced proximity quickly "matured" their relationship from reluctant friendship, through all the stages of dating (thanks to a thunderstorm that didn't let them sleep, so they talked through the night), to end up in explosive sexual chemistry, complete with dress-up fantasies involving champagne, strawberries, and a blindfold.

Then, in the second part of the 18th chapter, the sexy, sweet, sassy story took a plunge into a ridiculous suspense subplot that had neither head not tail, but was used more as a cheap parlor trick to make the hero and heroine realize the truth about their feelings.

Also, the side love story involving a secondary-character (a page-count increaser already seen—and severely disliked—in SEALed and Delivered) was completely unnecessary. The author could've used those pages to devise a good and plausible reason for the H/h to "get the epiphany" without the stupid suspense subplot.

Still, the first 17 and a half chapters were amazing enough to earn this one 4 stars.



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