Then He Kissed Me

November 1, 2010
This character- and plot-heavy sequel to June 2010's Crush on You delivers a very sexy hero, a frustratingly stubborn heroine who doth protest way too much, and a messy tangle of voices and story threads. Tomboy Stephania "Stevie" Baci avoids responsibility for the family vineyard–cum–wedding destination until she is forced by circumstance to coordinate the nuptials of her ex-fiancé and his new flame, a bona fide princess. Luckily, the bride's princely, very alpha male brother, Jacques "Jack" Parini, helps Stevie save face by posing as her new fiancé. Abundant plot elements add depth but muddle the story arc, and the multicharacter head-hopping detracts from the hero and heroine. While the protagonists' challenging, determined venture into love and lust is touching, stiff prose and pronoun confusion keep this romance flatly earthbound.

December 1, 2010

When Stevie (Stephania) Baci's ex-fiance and his royal bride-to-be decide to have their wedding at Tanti Baci, the family winery and newly launched wedding destination, and she ends up in charge of the event, she doesn't think things could get much worse. But when the bride's notorious, fast-living brother, in town with the express purpose of keeping Stevie from sabotaging his little sister's big day, averts a social disaster by announcing his engagement to a stunned Stevie, she realizes just how wrong she can be. VERDICT A sassy tomboy heroine with her own limousine company and a footloose playboy hero in search of a life set the pages aflame with their sexy antics and outspoken banter in this bubbly, easy-going sparkler that nails its Napa-in-January setting and touchingly continues the "Three Kisses" trilogy. Ridgway (Crush on You) lives in California.

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2011
Stevie, the middle one of the three Baci girls, is tough, independent, and not interested in the Napa Valley winery that has been in her family for a century. She runs her own business, Napa Princess Limousines, and is much more comfortable in her chauffeurs uniform than in a skirt, especially since her long-term boyfriend, Emerson, dumped her for a real-live princess. But Stevie is conscripted to help out with the failing winery when her sister, who started a wedding business to boost income, breaks her foot. Even worse, the next big wedding is that of Emerson and Princess Roxy. Roxys brother Jack, a bad-boy tabloid favorite, is on the scene to make sure nothing goes wrong, and he doesnt like the idea of her wedding coordinator being the grooms ex. Then, when he and Stevie are caught canoodling, he claims they are engaged. Ridgways (The Care and Feeding of Unmarried Men, 2006) breezy romance features enjoyable characters and hotly detailed lovemaking in a contemporary Napa Valley setting.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)