Audio Review: Best Laid Plans by Elaine Raco Chase

Best Laid Plans by Elaine Raco Chase

Description:
Take a trip back to 1983. There was no TSA and people smoked on airplanes. (The airplane scene actually happened to me and the nun!)

This was New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina – a place I fell in love with and visited a half-dozen times. Alas, some of the restaurants I knew are no longer in business and menu prices certainly have changed.

Fashion – is still fashion! The styles come and go, but somehow are reborn again and again.

While it was a sensuous romance when it was first published, it was fun to amp things up!

Meet Amanda Wyatt – she had an eight year plan and accomplished so much more. Attractive, talented, she was a success whether she was designing high fashion or running her own elegant shop in New Orleans. And she had a friend with benefits relationship with –

Lucas Crosse, her lawyer and the brother she never had for twelve years. He knew her intimately - well almost. Now, he's decided he wants that, too. And he's ready to fight for Amanda with –

Wade Lloyd. He entered Amanda's life by accident. Now he wants to be a permanent fixture. But can he handle her success? Can he handle Amanda? Can he handle her friendship with Lucas Crosse?

As for Amanda – she has choices to make. A new, exciting love? Or a best friend whose benefits she's begun to dream about.

My Thoughts:
Amanda and Lucas have been best friends for twelve years. When Lucas comes to visit after not seeing one another for two years, they start to discover feelings they never noticed before. But will getting together ruin their friendship? Then a new guy steps into the picture and Amanda has some decisions to make. This was a lot of fun, with 80's fashions and decorating, bantering between comfortable friends, and plenty of steam.  They were both great characters and I was rooting for them to get together, waiting for them to get their act together already. But they had to adjust to seeing one another in a new way. 

Jill Arehart did a nice job on the narration. She has a great voice for it. She brings the characters to life and does an admirable job with the French that is thrown in. 

My Rating: ****
Steam Factor: !!!!

My Source: author

Audiobook Information:
Author  Elaine Raco Chase
Title  Best Laid Plans
Narrator  Jill Arehart
Publisher  Elaine Raco Chase
Abridged or Unabridged  Unabridged
Length of Production  7 hrs 15 min
Year of Publication  2013


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Review: No Easy Way Out by Elaine Raco Chase

No Easy Way Out by Elaine Raco Chase

Description:
Engineering robots, and all non-living creatures, was easy for Virginia – not so much with people. So when her best friend dragged her to the company Halloween party, Virginia went kicking and screaming…well as much as her Playboy bunny costume allowed for any movement.

But with her mask in place and her normal reserve as tiny as her costume, Dr. Farrell suddenly let loose. Wild and wanton, she fell into the muscular arms of the costumed and masked Bandit. His virile charms and passionate kisses penetrated her reserve. But at the stroke of midnight, when the masks were to come off, Virginia fled, leaving her bunny tail in the palm of the handsome Bandit’s hand.

Dr. Alex Braddock was determined to find the curvy ass that fit the tail. He was stunned when it appeared that his new boss, Dr. Farrell was his sexy rabbit.

But was it the prim, professional Virginia? She resembled oatmeal!

Or her wanton twin sister? She got turned on by the navel in an orange!

Which woman was the aggressor? Which woman ignited burning desire? Which woman – became the all-consuming question that needed an answer.

This romantic comedy is a laugh-a-minute, with a team of fairy godmothers that would make any Cinderella blush and a surprise twist in the middle that makes for no easy way out! 

My Thoughts:
What a fun read! Serious, genius, Virginia never has any fun. Her friend convinces her to go to a masquerade party, she has a steamy time on a balcony with a bandit until the clock strikes midnight and she runs off like a fluffy-tailed Cinderella. Then the bandit turns out to be her new co-worker and she and her friend invent a twin. So funny. Things do get more serious, but I was satisfied by how things turned out.
The narration for the audio is fantastic. The narrator does a great job with the voices, Virginia's friend Diane in particular. Lots of fun to listen to.

My Rating: *****
Steam Factor: !!!!


My Source: author

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Review: One Way or Another by Elaine Raco Chase

One Way or Another by Elaine Raco Chase

Description:
One Way or Another was the original title of my second novel, Tender Yearnings, number 19 in the Dell Ecstasy Romance line published in 1981. It went into a record second printing after just one month!
I actually wrote the novel because I was told not to - that romance readers didn't want books where the heroine had a family, especially when they appeared in the same novel. How silly! So Abigail Wetherby was born, along with her mother and sister. Not only that, but my hero, Nick Maxwell came equipped with a father who fell in love with Abby's mom.
When I wrote this story, credit cards were just beginning to grow, the economy was still in trouble, gas cost a fortune, and computers were run by punch cards. I even mentioned the latest craze: having a home computer that printed on green and white paper! (I resisted getting a computer until 1988!)
I hope you will fall in love with this "contemporary classic" and enjoy a time capsule of the way we were.
Meet Abby, computer killer and prickly proprietress of the Cove Bookshop in Camden Cove, Virginia. She's a woman with many secrets, a mother and sister she fiercely protects, and a secluded, quiet life that has become a bit boring.
Enter Nick Maxwell, a man determined to bring Abby to her knees and into his arms - but he had more than a few secrets of his own.

My Thoughts:
This is a contemporary classic, meaning it was originally written in the '80's. Much of the story revolves around a credit card company (run by Nick) and Abby's hatred of them. It was fun to get that little peek into the past. I mean, a computer than runs on punch cards? A novelist who uses a typewriter? My children will never know a world without home computers and credit cards, so I enjoyed that aspect of the story.

I liked the characters Nick and Abby. They were so cute and connected right away, but you know that when someone is keeping secrets, it is going to come back and bite them. So I was holding my breath, waiting for that to happen. I just loved the story. There was plenty of heat, without being graphic. Lots of build-up.

I received an audio copy for review. It was enjoyable to listen to. The narrator, Janina Edwards, did an excellent job. She has a great voice and just became all of the characters. You know the narration is done well when it sort of fades into the background and all you hear is the story.

My Rating: *****
Steam Factor: !!

My Source: author

Where to get it:
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Where to find the author:
Elaine Raco Chase
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Triangle Variety Radio