Smitten by Books

CAN THE ROLE OF A LIFETIME…

Lacey Clark’s dreams of Hollywood stardom didn’t turn out quite the way she planned. Instead, her life is more of the daytime-drama variety: One of her actor ex-boyfriends fathered a child with another　woman, and now, long story short, Lacey is the adopted single mother of his son. She takes little Henry with her to South Carolina to escape the film business but winds up working at a small movie studio,　determined　to do a good job both on set and at “home.” Only problem is she ends up sharing a house with movie star Beau Wilder, who is no role model for Henry—and only spells trouble for Lacey…

LEAD TO A HAPPY ENDING?

Beau is arguably the most gorgeous man on the planet—and a known ladies’ man. His wealthy Lowcountry pedigree is rivaled only by his bad-boy charm, a combination that proves irresistible for Lacey. And he adores Henry! If they weren’t both on a movie set, their lives would seem too good to be true…unless the chemistry—not to mention the burning attraction—between them is real, and Hollywood’s golden boy is actually falling for this sassy single mom? When it comes to love, sometimes you just have to throw out the script…

Every so often an author comes along and grabs me by the seat of my pants with character development, excellent structure, and a love story to win me over. Kramer hit all the right spots with You’re So Fine.

Lacey Clark is a single mother, down-on-her-luck, and she’s riding the last wave before she wipes out. That includes a borrowed ambulance, illegal squatting in a lighthouse-converted-to-a-house thanks to an ex-employer, and no job prospects. Lacey, once upon a time, wanted to be an actress, she’s even been in a couple of movies, but her B-movie career caused more damage than good. The great part about Lacey is that she never gives up and she always believes in doing the right thing, even if it costs her. Southern charm and ingenuity are what make this character easy to relate to, even if the situation’s she’s put in are a bit over-the-top.

The hero is the real deal, old-Southern-money-meets-Hollywood-honey, Beau Wilder. He’s forced into a house-sharing situation with Lacey and her son. Instead of being burdened he finds himself attracted to the force-of-nature Miz Clark and charmed by her son, Henry. In the meantime he’s stuck make some artsie movie he wants nothing to with and facing down some demons from his past. Through all of this he keeps trying to save Lacey and I love how he’ll keep trying even though she keeps denying.

Both Beau and Lacey want to be successful in their future, and they don’t think they need each other to do that. What I love is that both characters are independent and responsible enough to be on their own, but throughout the book they realize it’s better when someone’s along for the ride with you.

Secondary characters – the movie director and his family, including always-lying-grandpa Dickey are a hoot. Plus, there’s a few more family members that show up to turn things wacky and bring the H/h closer together or try to drive them apart. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough of this review left to talk about all of them, but let’s just say I won’t forget any of them anytime soon.

Plot and pacing is good, I couldn’t seem to turn the pages fast enough. As for the often times saggy middle that bogs down books, this one didn’t have one. Internal conflict is balanced evenly with external conflict, though a lot of the external issues are small jumps that the characters are able to overcome quickly. The only thing stopping this from being a five is that the ending was the tiniest bit rushed. I wanted just a couple extra pages expounding on the final details or maybe a sweet epilogue a year or two in the future.

Overall, I truly believe Kramer has the chops to be a contemporary front runner and I’ll be keeping an eye out for future books. I’m also still hoping Kramer will hit the historical stacks again and finish her House of Brady series.

Reviewed by Landra
Heat Level: Hot