It's been a long time since I read a romance novel. It's been even longer since I've read a GOOD romance novel. Vampires and highlanders and viscounts, oh my! Give me a break! Same (...), Different Author.

How am I supposed to believe that two people who just met two days ago have already fallen madly and passionately in love? Well, Cabot starts off on the right foot, -they just haven't liked each other. At all. There's a foundation there already, rather than having one slapped together in a week or less.

The characters themselves are great, too. Lou (short for Louise, good lord) is a fairly typical staple of Cabot's adult contemporary books: creative, independent, intelligent. This isn't really a bad thing, though, for two reason. One is that even though these female characters have the same basic personality traits, they all have different habits and histories to explain them. The second is that they're a hell of a lot more likable than some of the characters from Cabot's recent young adult work. I liked Lou. I'd like to slap Mia.

Being a writer myself, one who is rather familiar with Lou's feeling of observing life, writing life, but never living life, I found someone I could relate to in a romance novel--for once. She's fun and spunky, a little naive, with a lot of defense mechanisms, including a sharp-edged sense of humor. Romance novel heroines have this habit of falling under one trait: independent or innocent or intelligent, etc. Not Lou, who is a refreshing mishmash of all those things.

And thank god for Jack. Finally! Jack is a womanizer who doesn't want to commit. Note here I say "doesn't want to" rather than "is afraid", because for most of the book, he isn't afraid of commitment. And the reason for all this? HE'S A MAN! Cabot doesn't make any excuses for Jack. He wasn't beaten as a child, he didn't have his heart broken, he's just a guy. A somewhat misguided but over all nice guy.

Jack develops a fear to commit when he realizes that, if it's with Lou, he'd like to. Why, you ask? Again, it's simple: he's a guy. An American male, which we all know is not a species generally encouraged to express or even understand their emotions. This is not the horrible thing romance novelists and their audiences seem to think it is. There doesn't need to be an excuse for a guy to be promiscuous or cold or insenstive. Give it a rest already, would ya?

And while a number of current romance authors like to pussyfoot around the sex matter, Cabot just goes for it. The over all lack of stupid metaphors that imply something, rather than describe it, was nice.

Some people think the plot was improbable. So, what...vampires aren't improbable? There's very little on the romance shelves that is probable. At least this was enjoyable.

Oh, and the Hindenburg thing? Hilarious! I hated that damn song, too, Meg!

This was a first time read for me term boyfriend (10 years) for someone else he can commit to. She is now on location in Alaska for the last of her screenplays "Copkiller IV". The problem is she finds herself with Hollywood badboy Jack Townsend after an incident involving a gun, helicopter, and a man off of his rocker lost on Mt. Kinley. Apparently she not the only one that wants him dead. Actually not dead maybe maimed. Not only is he an actor (the horror of that) but he also broke her best friends heart and this is the reason behind her thinking.

Jack is not what the tabloids or Hollywood has portrayed him to be. In fact he would be glad to give up the glitter for a normal life and a chance to find the perfect someone. Little does he know he is about to be trapped on a snowy mountain with that someone.

It was fun to read how theys two opposits come together and the laughs are plentiful. Jack's mom and Lou's dad not to mention Alssandro the Yorkie add plenty of laughs as secondary characters. This is a real treat that you don't want to miss.

When screenwriter, Lou Calabrese's, boyfriend of 10-years takes off with an actress he worked with in Lou Calabrese's hit screenplay, and gets married, she is absolutely stunned. Ten years together, and he was never able to commit, but suddenly he's married. If that weren't bad enough, she's forced to sit on a plane with Jack Townsend, the absolute hottest guy in Hollywood, who's ex-girlfriend just happens to be the woman who took off with Lou's man. But, could there be a romance for these two written in the stars?

This is an absolutely fantastic book. Meggin Cabot has done it yet again, only this time it's with her very first contemporary romance. Lou is a very enjoyable character, and her best friend, Vicky, is absolutely hilarious (even if she is a little materialistic). Fans of Meggin's previous work, "The Boy Next Door" will relish in this fantastic romance.

Erika Sorocco