In Bed with Her Boss - Brenda Jackson

Reviews? By an Author on her own blog? You can see why here. And further here. I'm contemplating setting up a separate blog, but I'm having title issues. Anyone care to make a suggestion? Because my initial offering with the acronym of McWAAR isn't cutting it.

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In Bed with Her Boss
Brenda Jackson
Kimani Romance 2007
Series: The Lockharts--Three Weddings and a Reunion

Blurb:
D'marcus Armstrong was demanding, autocratic and cranky as a boss. But as the star of her feverish nighttime fantasies, the man was simply divine. Still, Opal Lockhart had no chance with Detroit's self-made millionaire. What would a high roller like him want with a buttoned-up, naive secretary like her?

Enter the Lockhart sisters—for some attitude adjustment and a wardrobe makeover. With some décolletage and come-hither heels, they have the sex kitten in Opal downright purring.

Now she's giving D'marcus notice—he'd better watch out!

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I thought I’d start my reviews off with a local author from here in Jacksonville, Brenda Jackson -- she’s got quite a nice solid shelf of books in my local library which is great to see for a local author.

In Bed with Her Boss is the entrée book of the four book, four author Kimani Romance series about the Lockhart sisters, and tells the story of Opal, the self confessed quiet girl and peace maker of the four Lockharts.

The object of Opal’s affections is D’marcus Armstrong, her boss, and general all around category romance rich guy -- he’s got the looks, the money, the tortured past, the whole kit and caboodle of the Rich Boss / TSTL Secretary (or in this case Administrative Assistant) standard. But D’marcus is the Arrogant Bossman - light version, compared to say his 80’s/early 90’s counterparts, and Opal definitely isn’t in the TSTL category, she knows what she’s getting into right from the word go. So no SOB 80/90’s Boss/Secretary deal, but that staple fairly much is the story arc.

Now, to say right from the beginning, I liked the story. It was a simple read (this afternoon, simple was good), sexy, and the protags were realistic -- seriously nice cover too, btw. But -- I’m figuring you knew there was a but coming -- it was a story that maybe was a little too pat. I’m all for losing that hand wringing wet mop secretary of the overly conceited boss of older romances, but Opal and D’Marcus were all just a little too nice; a bit flat and too on formula to make the story more than just a pleasant afternoon snack.

One thing I found while reading, and even now having finished, is that I’m having a hard job placing the story in Detroit -- but I must qualify that by saying I’ve not been to Detroit to know better. I don’t know if it was because I know Ms. Jackson is from the South, but I really got more of a relaxed Southern family vibe from it. The Church scenes, the references to family and food etc, came off a little more like what I’ve read in various ‘Southern Lit’ (I get a kick out of the fact that the amorphous ‘South’ has it’s own quasi genre). I’ve always envisaged Detroit to be a bit more hard-edged and dirty being that it’s the motor city. Maybe it’s a byproduct of the ‘nice’ feeling I have from the whole story, but I just didn’t get ‘big bad city’.

While not much of a Church going person myself, I liked the way Ms Jackson included the sisters’ faith into the story without being preachy (one problem I have had with a couple of AA protag stories in the past), but also kept them real in so much as that the sisters were modern in their outlooks and actions i.e. nightclubbing, sex etc. Their faith is part of who they are in a comfortable background manner, not overtly in your face and stealing you away from the love story -- something I’ve admired in Catherine Anderson’s backlist.

There is one nitpick I do have though, there’s a thread throughout the story with D’marcus and one the players from the team he co-owns that I hesitate to call suspense, because it’s just a big, thin hanging thread I want to tug on and get rid of. I kept waiting for the big public showdown when Dashaun gets his revenge -- exposing D’marcus and Opal’s affair perhaps -- but it never arrived. I’m actually left wondering if Dashaun is going to show up again later, maybe with the party hearty youngest sister Amber? But that might be the author in me looking for sequel bait. I picked this book up at random off the library shelf, so other than the front page telling me there are three other books, I’m not sure what’s coming, and if once I lay my hands on the other three books, it does turn out to be bait for a longer running thread, I’ll make sure to correct this review.

I believe this is my first Brenda Jackson book (but don’t quote me, I’ve read thousands, and have a seriously holey memory for author names), and even though this was a lightweight, afternoon snack type read (and hey, we all need an afternoon sugar rush now and then!), I’ll definitely look out for more from Ms Jackson. She also set the ‘world’ up in such a manner that I’m quite keen to look up the stories for Opal’s sisters Ruby, Pearl and Amber -- I see on her website that Ms Jackson has a family saga style series, I think I’ll hunt them out and see how Ms Jackson reads amongst a continuity that is all her own.

(ps - don't look to find the books on Harlequin.com. Even though this was released in 07 I can't seem to find any listing for it on their site)

(pps - wait, I lie! I decided to try one more time and amongst the eBook listings I found it!)

Position Vacant isn't the redheaded stepchild...

The reviewers tell me so!

Check them out at my main site www.annedouglas.com

A new review...see if it makes you giggle...

TCM reviews just got back to me with their review of Persuading Jo.
At first I thought WTF? Then I re-read it a couple of times and started giggling. Lets see if you can come up with the same conclusion I have.

Will & Grace has a lot to answer for - NOT, one hastens to add, that author Anne Douglas has anything to apologize for on that score, but the fact remains, any ménage a trios involving two gay men, a cute female roomie, and the not-so-nagging suspicion that one or both of them want to have their way with her, is bound to draw comparisons, no matter how much the reader tries to shut the mind to the ensuing images.

Jo, Matt and Brian met when all three were at college, and it swiftly became apparent, to the boys, anyway, that the trio was destined to be together forever. But fair’s fair; Jo had the right to determine her own life, so they let her be... and, for eight long, frustrating years, they watched as she made one bad choice after another, and was nowhere nearer to finding happiness than the day she first walked through their door, and almost caught them having sex. Brian stood up just in time, but she knew what he’d been doing down there, and they knew she knew, which sets the tale up perfectly for some delirious bouts of voyeurism, shot through with stolen fragments of the lovers’ conversation. So Jo knows the score as well. She just needs to be persuaded....

Persuading Jo is a quick and exhilarating read, its 91 pages a roller coaster ride on which every scene is either setting up for sex, coming down from it, or just going at it hammer and tongs. There is a subplot, involving Jo’s creepy cousin, but it doesn’t really go any place before fizzling out in a final chapter that winds things up a lot more abruptly than it ought to. The dialogue is a little cheap, too, with the boys, in particular, cursed with a vocabulary straight out of an early 80s porn flick. For all that, however, Douglas tells her tale with vivid verve, and the hiccups are certainly overwhelmed by the highs.

Actually he raises a valid point - does my fascination with multiple partners in a loving relationship (versus wham, bam, thank you sir & madam, sex) stem from a popular culture television show?

Will and Grace had so much pointedly unexplored sexual exploration opportunities. First there is Will and Grace - wasn't the running joke that Grace turned Will gay? Is she such a fag hag because she is hoping one day he will realise that unlike all his other lovers, shes the one who hung through thick and thin with a hope that she might turn him back?

Jack and Grace - the love to hate each other relationship - more than just the biting sarcasm between them and the blatant and constant fight for Will's attention, there was the constant wonder if Jack would take the final step of finding out why Grace fascinated Will so much, to find out why he, Jack, couldn't measure up. Of course everyone else but Jack knew Will would jump in front of a bus if he had to to save Jacks ass, even if he was treated like the annoying puppy that won't let go of your pants leg.

Jack and Will - the tortured unrequited love.

Karen - oh Karen we loved to hate you - the perfect foil for them all. Trying so hard to be a bitch, and succeeding of course; but when it came to the crunch she pulled out the goodies, even if she said it was for an ulterior motive. Karen, so sexually ambiguous, you didn't know who she might be going to come on to next. Such a refreshing hurricane to keep you guessing. Would she do Jack? Rosario? Grace? Her husband? The bellboy or the waitress? What better personality to upset the Will/Grace/Jack triangle so successfully?

Karen is the one who rang true for me.
Seriously, Grace was a whiny bitch, who was totally inept at keeping her life on track. Even with Will as her crutch she got it wrong. She wasn't just a chick-lit girl, she was the chick-lit girl - if a cow had invaded New York and plopped a nice big cowpat on the sidewalk Grace would have stepped in it, then tripped over her boyfriend and landed him in it face first while exposing her underwear to the general populace.
Karen? Karen, aside from her bisexual tendencies, was a woman who had a real life. A tough time growing up, then she had compromised to her need for security by marrying Stan only to end up loving him anyway. She didn't like her step kids most days and they didn't like her, and lets face it, how many trophy wives and step kids really do like each other? Though I always got the idea that she didn't like that so much - that she would have liked to have been move involved with their lives and to have them like her. After all, that's what it was all about, she hurt people before they hurt her - a facade to cover up how desperately she really did want everyones approval.

So, in the end, do I think in my instance I am playing out a hidden desire to rewrite Will and Grace the way I wanted it to play out? No, I don't think I am. While Will and Grace had an amazing cast dynamic with an intricately woven, twisty web to tie the characters up in I would never have saddled Will with both Grace and Jack - eh could you imagine the Sunday morning bickering, and the moaning and whining? Now Rosario, Will and Karen...that would be a different story altogether!

New Reviews

Two from the same site, and both of them pretty good, if I do say so myself!

http://www.cupidslibraryreviews.de/persuadingjoad.php
http://www.cupidslibraryreviews.de/persuadingjoad2.php

"Persuading Jo" is an excellent read. To read about how loveable Matt and Brian act in order to help Jo to overcome her shyness is really sweet and something you want to read and read and read again. That the two men love Jo from the bottom of their hearts and that they want Jo really in their relationship is a heart-warming experience to read about.

The love scenes are sorchingly hot and the only sad thing about this book is that there has to be an end.."

"PERSUADING JO is a ménage-à-trois reader's dream. All three characters are written very well and are very likeable. Matt and Brian are dreamy and would make any woman desire and want them warming her bed. Despite Jo having a hard and victimized history she is quite strong and has an inner drive and desire to succeed at what she sets her mind to. In PERSUADING JO there is light humor and a tad bit of drama, but what the focus of this story is, is to get Jo to accept and be in a relationship with her two best friends. The way in which the author does this is through a series of sensual steps that get your heart racing and Jo sexually primed for her two friends. Brian and Matt are any girl's wet dream so their seduction of Jo is not a difficult process. Yet because of some of her emotional scars there are a few road bumps in the way. The scenes with Jo and her men are very hot and take place in some wonderful places like outdoors and a shower scene to die for. The relationship between Matt and Brian in and of itself is very hot and these two men are very loving and physical with one another and eventually this includes Jo. The conclusion of this story is quite passionate and tender. I really enjoyed how MS. DOUGLAS made this steamy ménage-à-trois believable and work. The feelings and desires between all the characters are intense and their bond sexually is only highlighted and strengthened by their friendship. The respect and love they all share is quite enviable and their erotic scenes are not easily forgotten. I am so curious about the next book in this series."

YeaHa!