Harvey is a university professor who piques the fascination of rapacious university student Annalise one day when she sees him at a café she often visits. Annalise takes a shining to the reserved, but virile professor, and schemes to get closer to him by any means possible. Will this be a fanciful dip into the fountain of youth for Harvey, a May-December fling for Annalise, or true love?
Interesting older man/professor and younger woman/student romance. Secrets and misunderstandings come between them. Can they overcome their broken hearts? This is a short novella,moves quickly and I enjoyed reading.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own and freely given.
This is my honest and completely voluntary review of this book.
Annalise, Adrian, Cary are all good friends, share the place and go to college. Add to the mix a favorite coffee shop, a handsome stranger and a very determined young woman’s plan…..you are now set to begin the story.
Annalise is that very determined, headstrong young woman with a plan. She sees this handsome stranger one day at the favorite coffee shop, while there between classes with her roommate Cary. She is head over heels already, and she has not even met him…..yet. She begins her plan one day with a wink when she walks by while leaving the coffee shop. Her handsome stranger’s reaction is completely unsure of what just happened.
Harvey has been through a lot in his lifetime. He is a very busy professor at a college. He is in the coffee shop to unwind a little from work. He is taken off guard when the young woman “falls” behind him. Harvey, being a gentleman makes sure she is okay and unhurt, and moves on in his life, without her. Not liking the being blown off before given a chance, Annalise finds her handsome stranger. Harvey is about to learn, if Annalise is told no, she will do it anyway.
Things spiral from the beginning. Being told no, doing it anyway. Secrets are revealed. Overheard conversations between roommates are a huge misunderstanding. Two broken hearts. Roommates step in for support. More secrets revealed. All of this spiraling and moving around lead to a very happy ending and it is all thanks to that determination of a young women who does not liking to be told no!
This story is OK but, unfortunately to me not really engaging. I am not a fan of Annalise, the heroine. I found her to be immature, reckless and whiny. Harvey, the older professor is weak and too sensitive from his personal trauma that he’s not that appealing either.
I enjoyed the first two stories I read by Ms. Carrington, but after reading several of her poorly edited stories with bad dialog, silly characters (not all) and some boring or unrealistic storylines, I’m sorry I didn’t stop with the first two. There’s just too much maintenance in trying to get the proper meaning without the punctuation making everything clear; the blank filler page between chapters; and the lower case usage of proper nouns for the stories to be enjoyable.
Sabrina’s Surprise Visitor – I love this book cover; it reminds me of Larry Hagman in his JR role, which of course, I used his voice while reading. I wanted to read it even though the last two stories I read by Marcia were bust. I enjoyed this little story as much as The Grandmother’s Message. Good for a coffee break. Needs editing; missing commas change the meanings of the sentences. 4*
MAN ON A MOTORBIKE – An interesting short story about the romance of a carefree biker and his wife. I didn’t agree with what the wife said about meeting the husband at the end of the story, but this is a good coffee break read. Needs editing, but doesn’t keep the story from flowing. 3*
SILAS SAVAGE – The sequel to MAN ON A MOTORBIKE. I tried to read it but the main character acts like an idiot when faced with her mother-in-law and rages instead of converses. Needs editing and has the annoying blank page in between chapters. 3*
BEAUTIFUL BEAU MONTAGUE – I didn’t find this novelette interesting and the lack of editing bothered me, interrupting my reading. The dialog didn’t come across as natural. Having a blank page in between chapters was annoying. I stopped reading at Chapter four, 20 percent. Internet and Mom are uppercase. There’s my mom. Hey Mom, over here. 2*
EARLE’S GRAND DESPAIR – I had problems with the woman watching a man while they were both waiting for others and then finds his behavior peculiar because he looked at her strangely when he was leaving. The woman’s behavior was unnatural to me; she calls him brokenhearted when she just called him strange; the scenario, the dialog and the storyline don’t work. I couldn’t finish when the waiter decides to gossip with her since she’ll keep a secret and stopped at 16 percent. There’s the annoying blank pages between chapters. Needs editing. 2*
The Grandmother’s Message – My first read by this author. A sweet, quickly read, interesting story crossing lines and bringing generations of mothers together with their granddaughter. Needs minor editing, especially with titles. 4*
Adam, My Guardian Angel – A sweet attitude adjustment. An angel gives a woman the self-confidence to take back her life. Good for a quick coffee break. Needs minor editing. 4*
HARVEY HANDSOME – This needs editing and there’s a blank page in between chapters; both excessively annoying. Annaliese is stupid and Carey is dumb for going along with her. Her joke could have been expense with a doctor’s bill until I realized they had Socialist medicine, but it was still a stupid idea. I believe it’s “Harvey, Harvey, wherefore art thou handsome Harvey?” The story is a little too long, editing would have helped, but it ends well. Harvey didn’t act like a confident man of his age would have acted, but the game worked out in the end. 3*