totally cute. ( )

Heaven Texas
4 Stars

Sexy as sin and as affable as they come, former football star has never met a woman he couldn't charm the literal pants off. So when prim and proper Gracie Snow is sent by a production company to ensure he arrives on set for filming, Bobby Tom is convinced he can shake her off. Little does he know that this plain Jane is about to teach him more about love than he could possibly imagine.

It would seem that Susan Elizabeth Phillips' heroes fit into the same mould of alpha jerk as Kristen Ashley's. Bobby Tom's ego is so humungous it is amazing he doesn't trip over it when he walks. Consequently, it is very entertaining to see him brought to his knees by a sweet heroine who doesn't have a clue about her own appeal.

The secondary romance between Bobby Tom's mother and the boy from the wrong side of the tracks (all grown up) is just as sizzling and satisfying as Bobby Tom's and Gracie. Both couples have wonderful chemistry and heat up the pages together.

All in all, a lovely read and I will definitely be continuing with my binge of this author's backlist.

( )

Gracie Snow e Bobby Tom Denton sono i protagonisti di questo bellissimo secondo libro della serie Chigago Stars, tra le mie preferite in assoluto. Gracie, insoddisfatta di quello che fa, decide di cambiare vita e accetta un lavoro di assistente di produzione ad Hollywood dove il primo incarico è quello di convincere Bobby Tom Denton a presentarsi sul set per iniziare le riprese di un film. Un compito che si rivelerà tutt’altro che semplice e che sarà l’inizio di una bella storia dai mille risvolti. Un altro libro avvincente, intrigante, emozionate e anche molto divertente, con personaggi come sempre ben caratterizzati e ben inseriti nel contesto del racconto, un’altra storia da non perdere, assolutamente. ( )

I couldn't really get into this book. He was pretty much a conceited jerk. ( )

Digital audiobook read by Anna Fields

ZERO stars

Book # 2 in the Chicago Stars romance series.
From the book jacketIt’s Gracie Snow’s job as a new motion picture production assistant to get the legendary ex-football player, Bobby Tom Denton, back to his Texas hometown to begin shooting his first movie. Good luck with that. A head-spinning battle of the sexes – with Beauty waging war against Brains – except this male beauty has a fine intelligence, and brainy Gracie isn’t nearly as ordinary as she thinks.

My reactions:

No. Just No.

A “gentleman” does NOT play mind games for his own amusement to trick a virgin into succumbing to him so that he can then drop her like a hot potato when the fun is over. (Even if eventually, he will fall in love with her and propose, his intention from the outset is to just use her.) Past hurt does not give a man a free get-out-jail card to blackmail a woman into having sex (of course, he has secretly admired her for decades and would never “really” hurt her). There is nothing remotely romantic or appealing about these scenarios. Shame on Phillips for propagating such a misogynistic message.

Anna Fields does a reasonably good job of narrating the audiobook. She handles the many characters with skill and kept up a good pace. Too bad she had such dreadful material to perform. ( )