Lovers and Barbells
Amanda McIntyreContemporary romance
Available from Venus Press
ISBN: 1-59578-118-8
January 2005
| Nina and Jeff have been the very best of friends since their college days. One morning Jeff spots Nina flirting with Hank, the new owner of the gym next door to her bookstore, and his feelings concerning Nina are thrown into confusion, and all of it sexual. When he questions her about what he saw, she startles him by asking if he is jealous. He is then shocked into realizing that his feelings are not at all in compliance with the relationship he thought they had....Nina has the hots for him in a bad way and has been just waiting to turn their friendship into something steamier. Independent of the other, the two decide to finally do something about their situation. Nina tortures herself with a week at Hanks gym to put herself in perfect shape to try and attract Jeff, and Jeff, suspicious and wanting to know everything about Hank (thinking Nina has finally flipped in her taste for men and might be in lust with Hank) takes a week off from his job to do research on Hank, at the gym. This week of focusing strictly on the absent other brings everything to a head, and it takes Hank to finally get the two to face their feelings. How important the three have become to each other becomes clear when a horrifying event results in someone being shot.....
These three characters are all very likable, and the zany secondary figures do add to the story. It is satisfying to see that the problems Hank has from his past are also dealt with and that closure is in his future. Sexual content is more sweet than erotic, but fitting to the story. There is some really funny conversation between certain characters that made me laugh out loud. I would say this story makes for an enjoyable read.
Overall rating:
Reviewer: Glenda K. Bauerle |
