Hitting the Brakes a romance novel by Ken Casper

Ken Casper’s Hitting the Brakes is a good solid NASCAR book. This one deals with the difficulties of owning a NASCAR team and being a single father.




Jim Latimer’s uncle Richard owns PDQ racing, a NASCAR team. Richard has a stroke and hands over the reigns to an ill-prepared Jim, who is a CPA. Anita handles the press releases for the team and tries to explain things to Jim. Jim has difficulties being able to accept the large amounts of money it takes to own the team along with the constant pressure of the press. He understandably worries he is making the right decisions about the team, his uncle’s health, and the fact that his 11 year old son gets into the occasional fight. Anita and Jim don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things but work together and get along outside of the racing stress. Anita spends some time with the Latimer’s and Jim’s son looks forward to her visits as well as Jim. When they start a personal relationship, Anita quickly gets spooked of her feelings and needs some time to figure out what she wants.

This is a good book with fun scenes involving the kids playing soccer with well known NASCAR drivers and Jim burning the burgers. Not only fun scenes but it also shows the difficulty of being a good parent and that you make mistakes as a parent and you just hope that your kids will forgive the mistakes and understand the intended message.

Until next time.........

Just Desserts a romance novel by Barbara Bretton

Barbara Bretton’s writing reminds me a lot of Catherine Anderson’s, who’s writing I love, so it is safe to say that Barbara Bretton ranks right up there in my view. Her books have serious issues with characters that have a sense of humor. Another favorite theme of mine is family because my immediate family is such a big part of my life and I cannot imagine life without my husband or our kids. The other cool thing about Barbara Bretton’s stories are that the main characters aren’t 25 years old but are in their late 30’s, you don’t see many books like this. Why I think this is cool baffles me because I’m still in my 20’s.




Hayley bakes wonderfully designed cakes and owns 60% of Goldy’s bakery. Her bad news ex-husband owns the other 40%. Lizzie’s, Hayley’s 14 year old daughter, intelligence puts her in the genius catagory and she runs the business side of Goldy’s. Hayley’s mother is a great oceanographer who never told Hayley who her father is. During a pre-nup contract work for a famous rocker, Tommy Stiles, lawyer Finn Rafferty discovers that Tommy has another daughter, Haley. Tommy wants to meet and get to know his daughter and granddaughter that he didn’t know existed. Finn goes and commissions a cake for an after party of a concert and is immediately drawn to Hayley and her daughter. Hayley and Finn are cautious around each other because Hayley thinks he’s going to pull the plug on this big contract and Finn is trying to get to know her but is not supposed to tell her who her father is until Tommy meets her and tells her. In the middle of this Finn drives 4 hours to deliver chinese food, they chase down her dog and get covered in mud, Hayley’s neighbors all want tickets to the concert that she can’t get. Hayley and Finn fall in love in spite of the big secret.

There are some great scenes that make you identify with the characters. Hayley finds out that Finn is coming and quickly cleans the bathroom by hiding everything behind the shower curtain, but when they get all muddy chasing the dog she has to fess up move everything so he can shower. Tommy’s relationship with his kids makes you think of a Dad not a rock star, so you have the fun Dad and kid scenes with toys all over the house and teenagers being teenagers. I really really enjoyed this one and hope you do too. Other Barbara Bretton books that I’ve read and loved are Someone Like You, Chances Are, Shore Lights, A Soft Place to Fall, and At Last. I hope you enjoy these as well.

Happy reading.

Just a Taste a romance novel by Deirdre Martin

Just a Taste is another great novel by Deidre Martin. She ties serious issues with funny scenes to put together a great story. Both of the main characters are chefs, so those of you who like to cook there are recipes at the end that the author shares with you. I haven’t tried them but they sound good.




Anthony Dante, chef and half owner of Dante’s, is slowly getting over the death of his wife. His brother, Michael (the other owner of Dante’s) has recently retired from professional hockey and is a househusband/ stay at home dad (a job my husband would like, at least for a little while). Michael tells Anthony that he has to get on with his life and tries a little matchmaking. Vivi came from France with her half sister to open a french bistro, which happens to be across the street from Dante’s. Sparks fly between Vivi and Anthony when they argue over who is the better chef. The problems that arise are that they are both passionate people, who constantly butt heads about food, Anthony being able to move on from the death of his wife, and Vivi dealing with her sister and getting things ready to open her restaurant. Also, Michael struggles with being a house husband and not being involved in hockey. His son wants to be a chef like his Uncle Anthony but Michael would like him to play hockey so he can still be apart of the hockey world. And Natalie, Vivi’s sister has problems of her own.

There are so many funny scenarios between the two brothers picking on each other. Vivi’s English is excellent but the idioms that Anthony uses confuse her and when she tries to use them they usually ends up a mess. There is a constant good natured feel of this story. I really enjoyed it and hope you will too.

Until next time...

Peak Performance a romance novel by Helen Brenna

Peak Performance by Helen Brenna is another great NASCAR story emphasizing family bonds.




Payton Reese, a sportscaster/mountain climber wants to interview the elusive Rachel Murphy, an engine specialist, for a special he is doing on families in NASCAR. The Murphy family is legendary in NASCAR. Rachel had a bad interview a couple of years earlier and has not been interviewed since. Payton, who knows nothing about NASCAR, really wants to interview Rachel as part of his Murphy family special. He is immediately drawn to Rachel even with her trust issues. They both fear commitment and it takes them awhile to trust themselves much less each other. They are both trying for promotions- Payton’s would move him to the west coast, which is another hurdle for them.

Fun/ interesting scenes- Payton takes Rachel mountain climbing. - Payton gets to drive Rachel’s brother’s race car and Rachel freaks out because she is worried about him. - Rachel sends Payton a copy of NASCAR for Dummies.

I have another NASCAR book in my pile to read so another one is on its way. I hope you enjoy these books as much as I do.

Happy reading!

Chasing Stanley a romance novel by Deirdre Martin

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As I was reading Chasing Stanley, Deirdre Martin had me laughing out loud on my way to work yesterday. The characters are realistic, flawed people that you can’t help liking (especially Stanley the 150 pound Newfoundland dog). I love animals and have two dogs of my own that are spoiled rotten, in other words they sleep on the bed. Back to the book.




Jason Mitchell, a professional hockey player newly moved to NY City, belongs to Stanley, the dog, who is not leash trained. He runs into Delilah Gould, dog trainer/ dog walker extraordinaire, whom he hires to train Stanley so they can live peacefully in the city. Delilah is very shy and doesn’t like large groups of people and has very needy parents. Jason’s fraternal twin brother, Eric, is also a professional hockey player and lives only a few blocks away. Jason is outgoing and enjoys going out in large groups to parties with his teammates. Their love for dogs brings them together but their differences and schedules cause problems that they must overcome to make their relationship work.

There are so many fun scenes to choose from. Jason falling asleep at a dog show, the friendly rivalry between Jason and his brother Eric. Eric’s incredible bad timing always interrupting Jason and Delilah’s romantic moments. I can’t wait to read another Deirdre Martin book.

Until next time....

Out Of Line a romance novel by Michele Dunaway

Michele Dunaway’s Out Of Line is only peripherally related to NASCAR. The main story is about honesty and trust in a relationship. Lucy works as a computer specialist and Sawyer is about to become a math professor. Lucy’s good friend is engaged to a NASCAR driver and Sawyer is the brother of twins who also are NASCAR drivers.




Lucy’s friend asks Lucy to find out who was trying to blackmail her fiance. Nothing came of the blackmailing scheme but they want to find out who was behind it. Lucy and Sawyer start dating and things are going very well and they quickly decide that they would have no secrets between them because of past bad experiences. As they fall for each other, Lucy’s exboyfriend warns her away from Sawyer and she overhears Sawyer arguing with a PR rep for his brother. She starts to feel as if there is something that she should know about Sawyer. Needless to say it all blows up in Sawyer’s face when Lucy discover his secret.

Of all of the NASCAR books I’ve read this one wasn’t the best but still a good book.

Until next time.....

No Good Girls a romance novel by Jean Marie Pierson

I had never heard of Jean Marie Pierson, but her book No Good Girls means there might be a new author on the rise. This is not so much a romance but a novel on friendship and finding the love of your life and stumbling along the way.




The story is of 4 good friends in New York City. Geri, a struggling writer who works for a publishing company, knows how to fix cars, and has some amazingly bad luck in love and great luck in friends. Her Mom left when she was 8 and she is always trying to figure out why. She is trying to get into the film industry but hates her current job. Geri has an extraordinary relationship with her father, and has a crush on her downstairs neighbor, Todd. Todd loves Geri but lacks the courage to do anything about it. My favorite part of the story is Geri’s imaginary friend JT whom she talks to. She picked his image from a male model that she ends up meeting but thinks she is just imagining her friend JT because she is drunk at the time.

There are so many touching moments between friends that this is much more than a romance novel. Geri’s roommate, Emmy, a math teacher, has a crush on a stockbroker and he has a crush on one of his coworkers. Maria is a cop that no one takes seriously because she is tiny and Sally has her own problems. These friends will do anything for each other and be honest to tell them when they are screwing up their lives. Everyone needs friends like these four.

Happy reading!!

Freedom’s Price a romance novel by Suzanne Brockman

First, Suzanne Brockman is one of my absolute favorite authors of serious romance/action novels. Whenever I see her name on a book I know I will enjoy it so I picked up Freedom’s Price without even reading the back and I was not disappointed. This not one of her Navy SEALS books if you are familiar with her writing.




In Freedom’s Price, Liam is a journalist who spent years in a foreign prision being tortured and a few more years just trying to make it out alive in a war torn country. Marisala was only 15 when he met her and 17 when she broke him out of the prison and nursed him back to health and got him to safety. Now that her country is safe, her uncle, Liam’s friend, sends her to the US for college even though she is now 22 and way older in life experience than the other students. Her uncle has convinced Liam to be her guardian and watch out for her and try to get her to fit into society a little better. Growing up as freedom fighter has not trained her to be a part of polite society. Of course a housing mix up means Marisala ends up living with Liam until she can get into an apartment. Both have physical and spiritual scars from their experiences and need each other to try to work past them and have a meaningful life. This story is how they resist and give in to each other and figure out how to heal and fall in love.

This is one book that will touch your soul. Enjoy.

Satisfaction a romance novel by Marianne Stillings

I’ve read a couple of books by Marianne Stillings and I’ve enjoyed every single one. They all put a smile on my face. Her characters are engaging and have silly moments intermingled with serious moments. Satisfaction is another great book by her.




Ethan Darling (you have to love his name), who is a private eye with a history with the SFPD, gets hired as Georgie Mundy’s bodyguard. Georgie, who is a famous TV chef, resists having a body guard because she has secrets that she wants to keep. This book has very little about Georgie the TV chef and more about Ethan. Ethan makes figuring Georgie out and fixing her problems his goal. They meet by colliding in an elevator and then the sparks start to fly. At one point they are houseguests of an acquaintance of Georgie’s and she tells people that he is her feng shui master, so Ethan makes her call him Master and he starts calling her Grasshopper. There are some action scenes with kidnappings, a murder, and a shoot out. There are lots of romantic moments that bring these two together. And you can’t forget the jokes about having a last name of Darling. I really can’t tell you more without telling you any of the little surprises that the author has in store for you.

Until next time...