More Than the Doctor Ordered/A Hitchin' Time

Okay, I admit it. I'm a sucker for Duets, and for Duets set in Nowhere Texas specifically. Nowhere, Texas, you see, is the setting for both this volume and "Designer Genes/Two for One!" by the same authors.This volume gives me everything I'm looking for in a Duets volume. The relationships are developed well, but the impediments to "true love" don't involve really painful issues that would detract from the general "romantic comedy" flavor. Both the main characters and the secondary characters are appealing and just quirky enough to provide a number of hilarious situations.This particular volume doesn't provide a lot of real emotional depth to off-set all the silliness. But that kind of depth is a rare thing indeed in a romantic comedy, and probably not what you're looking for in a Duets volume anyway. This is a very good, funny read, and you'll fall in love with all the characters of Nowhere. I did!

"More Than the Doctor Ordered" by Jacqueline Diamond. In Nowhere Junction, Texas, former beauty queen Lilibeth Anderson places an on-line ad claiming she is an heiress seeking matrimony. Lucas McRifle responds as he sees Lilibeth as the capital he needs to market his product. Before he meets Lilibeth, Lucas is hurt and pretends amnesia so that he can learn if his intended is more honest than he is when it comes to telling the truth about money. However, his injury leads to Lucas meeting and falling in love with reticent Dr. Mimsy Miles, leaving him with a for love or money decision "A Hitchin' Time" by Charlotte Maclay. Lilibeth Anderson wants to be married, but finds no one in Nowhere Junction even remotely appealing. She decides the next new eligible bachelor is hers. When the former principal quits to join a demolition team, the education board hires Alexander Peabody as the new principal. She thinks he is perfect even if he answered the wrong ad, but he refuses to see Lilibeth until he proves his worth as an inventor just like his family has done before him. However, his inventions seem rash and cause messes rather than proving to be better mousetraps, leaving Lilibeth to wonder if she will ever marry even if she loves this nerd. DUETS 55 contains two tales that are tied together by the same characters and location. Both stories employ slapstick plots that some readers will find amusing while others distracting. Fans who enjoy the absurd in their romantic writings will take pleasure in these weird stores. Everyone else will find this book goes nowhere.Harriet Klausner