Where Is He Now?

After a failed marriage and new romance with the "perfect" man, Jeanne Clair Cassiday realizes that her romance woes can be attributed to one thing - lack of closure from the one that got away. As her 15-year high school reunion is approaching, she is assigned the task of looking up Nate Donneli, the class heartthrob who was most likely to succeed. After dumping her his freshman year at Princeton, she never heard from him or of him again. When she stops at his father's car repair shop, she is shocked to discover that Nate Sr. no longer runs the place; the new owner is her Nate. After catching up with each other, she is shocked to find out that he has a 14-year old daughter, and wrongly assumes that she was dumped because of his father status. Turns out that Nate had to give up his dreams of becoming an architect so that he could take care of his siblings after his father suddenly died, leaving the family with very little, but the repair shop (that Nate managed to make very successful). He daughter Caitlin was the product of a one night stand and the mother wanted nothing to do with Nate or Caitlin, so he obtained full custody. Part of the charm of the story is how quickly the two can assume their old roles - illustrated by how they immediately refer to each other via the pet names (Peanut and Shadow) they gave each other 15 years earlier. Before they can resume their relationship, she needs to break him of his nasty habit to take care of everyone, and open up and let someone else take the burden for a change, and help him find the thief who has been embezzling from his company. There is a cute secondary romance with the class nerd and a former rock star that took a wrong turn in her career and became an addict. It is a very well written and tender story that will tug at your heart strings.

If you graduated in the late 1980's you will enjoy the "remember when" factor of this book. The plot was enjoyable but predictable. I enjoyed the honesty of the characters. A nice beach read.

In Ann Arbor, Nate "Shadow" Donneli manages the family owned Donneli Motors, an antique car dealership. He also raises his daughter Caitlin by himself since his spouse divorced both their child and him. He is worried about the family business because someone, probably one of his siblings, is cleverly embezzling money from the firm.With her father, Jeanne "Peanut" Cassiday runs Oz Enterprises, which hosts events for organizations. She, her best friend, and a nerd are in charge of the fifteenth anniversary St. Sebastian High School reunion. Though preferring to avoid her reunion assignment, Jeanne visits Shadow, who was her high sweetheart, to ostensibly see if he will come as the person who was most likely to succeed. Instead she asks him why he deserted her. Unable to ignore their attraction, they start seeing each other. The promise of their teen love blossoms into adult forever feelings. However his daughter and her father depend on Nate and Jeanne respectively, making their vows of responsibility turn permanency between them as evanescent as it was back in high school.This is a fun contemporary romance with a wide cast that supplements the prime romance including a charming secondary love story. The where are they now feel to the plot makes for a fine time that will have readers asking the same questions about their high school peers. Though the embezzlement seems unnecessary, fans will appreciate this warm second chance at love.Harriet Klausner