"It's sexy, sharp, witty and just plain fun!"
Jacquie Rogers has struck me for some time as a talent
waiting to "happen". One of the problems with being a
unique talent, is it's hard to land with a publisher.
Editors are often unwilling to take on oddball i.e. risky
projects because they fear not hitting target with
mainstream sales. Once this sort of author does, they
usually rocket straight to the top of bestsellers lists.
Rogers is that sort of author waiting to make the jump.
And she will. Watch. With this delightful book, she is
one step closer. Her quirky talent and strong voice bring
this wacky novel alive. She had me smiling and laughing
aloud¯not many authors actually push me to full laughter,
but Rogers does, allowing her to join the narrow ranks of
Nina Bangs and Lynsay Sands. Set in the real town of
Gasmere, Idaho, the clever author puts the town on the map
with this romp through rodeos, matchmaking miniature mules,
and people finding where they belong in life¯and
discovering it's not always where they thought they should
be. Brody is hiding out from the high-power, big-money world of
Pettybottom Enterprises. And what better way to hide than
in the guise of a rodeo clown! He loves playing the clown,
figuratively and literally, loves the thrill of bull-
riding, the roar of the crowd, thus he believes he knows
where he belongs, and it's not behind some desk as CEO of a
business that is dull and stuffy. He loves the small town
life and the contentment he finds as far from Pettybottom's
pressure as you can get. Rita Markham is an actuary, a lady who crunches numbers.
She finds stability, finds security in dealing with dull
and stuffy facts. She loves big city sophistication. She
might fall for the head of Pettybottom Enterprises, but
never for a rodeo clown, no matter how sexy Brody is.
Once, she shook off the dust of Gasmere, Idaho and her
roots in the rodeo circle, and now wants nothing to do with
another broken-down rodeo clown. But is the small town
girl really that enamored with big city life, or is she,
too, hiding from whom she really is? Socrates the mule doesn't understand why humans have to
make everything so darn complicated. He understands
people, odd beings that they are, and even understands
love, and is totally perplexed why humans just don't get
it. It's up to Socrates to save the day and make Brody and
Rita see what is real and what is important. The author's talent shines, giving a fast-paced, humorous
tale that marks her as an author on the rise. It's sexy,
sharp, witty and just plain fun!
Reviewed by Deborah Macgillivray
Posted October 19, 2008
|
