Return Engagement

Almost twenty years ago Lindsay Varner and Noah Patrick starred in a hit TV series. She played the cute cheerleader/girl next door to his hunky surfer boy/football hero. Lindsay's mother, a barracuda agent, had taken her to Hollywood, leaving Lindsay's younger sister, Jolie, behind. Lindsay achieved fame and fortune and jealous Jolie didn't. Noah also achieved fame and fortune and a life-destroying addiction to alcohol. On the evening of Lindsay's eighteenth birthday she made love to a drunk twenty one year old Noah. The next morning the still drunk Noah had a new bedmate and heartbroken Lindsay left California to return home to her extended family in Belle Coeur, Missouri. She married her childhood sweetheart, had a son and became a widow eight years ago. She owns a bookstore with her cousin and doesn't miss Hollywood at all. After the series ended, Noah fell into a tequila bottle and lost everything - family, the fancy cars, big houses, acting jobs - and became a skid row bum. Now sober for two years, Noah is enticed by Lindsay's barracuda mother to reclaim his profession; she sends him to Belle Coeur to the family's theater to act with Lindsay in a play Jolie wrote. Lindsay's entire family, aunts, uncles and cousins, are involved with the theater, including her cat, Pyewacket. After Noah meets the family and gets Lindsay's back story, he helps her figure out what barracuda mother's motivations are. Oh, and they fall in love. I liked everything about this book-the characters, plot, dialogue, small-town setting. A big twist near the end didn't surprise me but, because this book was so wonderfully written, so full of fun and quirky details, even the expected felt fresh and new. I will look for more by this author. If this story was a color, it would be a happy, warm yellow.

Love, love, love this book!! I have reread it half a dozen times since I bought it when it first came out and it just gets better with each read. Noah, the hero, is the main reason I love it so much. He's incredibly hot (a requirement, of course!) but he's also sweetly endearing. He's insecure, he screwed up and he's just starting to get his life back on track. He's a recovering alcoholic who hit rock bottom. The author doesn't gloss over this, but treats it as the never-ending battle that the disease is. Unlike many books, no excuses are offered- no tragic past, no horrible life-altering event that sent him over the edge. He just plain got out of control. Gosh, now I just made it sound like a depressing book but it isn't! We meet him after he has cleaned himself up and is on the upswing. It's wonderful to watch him ride to the top again. As with all Lynn Michaels books, this one has a colorful array of supporting characters and you'll be laughing out loud. It's one of those books that you just don't want to end. So, I do the next best thing... go back to the beginning and read it again!

I've long been a Lynn Michaels fan. She has such creative additions that make her novels special and different.But she really put it all together in Return Engagement. With the crazy family--and the characters remain true to who they are which is a wonderful source of humor--and the twists and turns of love, this is my favorite Lynn Michaels' novel and one of the best books I've ever read. Yes, EVER read!This book is so rich and wonderful that it's like eating a thick, chocolate brownie filled with chocolate chips and white chocolate chips and M & M's and all sorts of delicious surprises. I enjoyed Mother of the Bride as well and am looking forward to many more wonderful books from this amazingly talented writer.

I loved this book. There were many positive things that added up to the perfect story. The hero, reformed bad boy Noah, was hit with a book, slapped, muddied and insulted repeatedly but still keep managed to keep his humor, coming out on top in the end. He is someone who will quickly win you over. It certainly was his story. The secondary characters were many, one of my favorites being the weatherman uncle who couldn't get a forecast correct. The dialogue flowed with many memorable one-liners that I loved, like Noah's line "that's it, we're voting her off the island" when speaking to Lindsay about her sister, Jolie's intolerable behavior. I certainly hope Lynn Michaels revisits the town of Belle Coeur again in a future book. If you liked Mother of the Bride, Return Engagement will be right up your alley. However, in my opinion Return Engagement was better.

I read Mother of the Bride and was waiting for this one to come out -- it's superb! Better than Mother of the Bride! I stayed up until 1:30 in the morning reading it: it was fresh, frank and sexy. Run to the store for this one!