Cardboard Hero
Shelby MorgenContemporary erotic romance
Available from Ellora's Cave
ISBN: 1-84360-682-8
October 2003
| Bestselling Romance Author Victoria Rose Townsend's husband has recently left her for another woman and in the process cleaned out their bank account. So to keep herself from financial ruin, Tory is trying to write a new book, a Scottish Historical, which will bring her name out of mid-list and back to the top ten. Tory had become famous writing a series of romances called the Boys of Summer. But those were all sweet romances with only a chaste kiss or two after the hero married the heroine, and no one will by a book today without sex. Not only does Tory know nothing of Scotland but also she has never written a sex scene in her life and does not know where to start.
When Tory discovers an old life sized cardboard cut out of the model for her Boys of Summer books, she begins to have fantasies that her Cardboard Hero has entered her life. The entire Boys of Summer series featured Tory's ideal fantasy hero even though he had different names and different descriptions it was always the same man. Tory had been in love with this hero forever and the model they had found for her books fulfilled all her ideals. As her hero comes to life in her home and begins to seduce her, Tory learns that he knows only what she has written. Since Tory never wrote a sex scene, he is not even anatomically correct. For Tory fantasy and reality start to collide as her imaginary lover not only becomes more real but reality begins to reflect her stories. Ms. Morgen is a wonderful storyteller and has written a humorous and enjoyable look at one romance writer's life. The plot is well laid out and there are some surprising twists that make this a delightful story. I found myself completely engrossed in this steamy story of Tory Townsend and her perfect romance hero. Tory's naivete and lack of knowledge of what was going on around her both in her real life and also the romance publishing industry was a little hard to believe but necessary for the development of the story. I enjoyed this witty tale of love, fantasy and real life romance.
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Reviewer: Larenda Twigg |
