"Jelly Beans Spice up Romance for Cajun Hunk and Creole Scientist"
Look out Jack, those magic beans are making something grow
but it sure isn't a beanstalk! Those jellybeans, liberally
laced with love potion, are the only thing that could
possibly bring childhood nemesises Lucien LeDeux spicy
Cajun lawyer, and Dr. Sylvie Fontaine cool Creole chemist,
together. Or are they? Now thirty three, Luc and Sylvie had known each other since
childhood. They had grown up on opposite sides of the
tracks, but depending on how you look at it they'd had
nothing and everything in common. Luc who'd been born on
the "wrong" side had grown accustomed to being snubbed.
He'd suffered serious abuse at the hands of his father,
and had been left on his own to care for his two younger
brothers. As boys like him often did, he'd hidden his
vulnerability behind obnoxious behavior. Wealthy and
painfully shy Sylvie had been the prime target for his
taunts. Sylvie's high profile mother had cared more about proper
deportment than Sylvie's feelings. Luc had been the bane of
Sylvie's young existence. Little did she know that he'd
only been protecting himself, rejecting her before she
could reject him. The boy Luc had even taken to washing his
limited clothing in a stream, all because Sylvie had once
seemingly shown disdain for his dirty-kneed jeans. As an
adult the
habit had stuck. Though he still claims not to care for
her, Luc is always immaculate, having every stitch of
clothing, down to his socks and underwear, dry cleaned. The last thing that Luc had ever want to do was to beg
better-than-thou Sylvie Fontaine for a favor. But that is
just what his brothers had coerced him into doing.
Pollution is destroying the local shrimping industry and
Luc's father's oil company is the suspected culprit. Luc is
representing the shrimpers and needs an unbiased party to
do lab testing. Sylvie, currently working for a pharmaceutical company, is
conducting tests on laboratory rats to determine the
efficacy of her experimental love potion. The product,
labeled JBX is administered using impregnated jellybeans.
Who could have predicted that the obnoxious lawyer would
sample them when her back was turned? To make matters
worse, the intended party was meant to fall in love with
her! The tale becomes madly hilarious as the ever calm Sylvie
totally looses her cool and tries everything imaginable to
make him cough them up. Failing that, she begs Luc to leave
town until the effects of the potion wear off. Luc intends to do just that, but his imagination has taken
hold of him. Not a day later he is crashing Sylvie's
mother's posh party to beg for the antidote. Unfortunately
he reveals all before the entire town, including a sleazy
reporter. Before they know what has hit them, both her lab
and their homes have been ransacked, and they are fleeing
an unknown enemy. Could the threat be from Sylvie's
competitors, or oil company goons hired by Luc's father?
Now forced to spend time in each other's company , can
these two find a way to dispel the misunderstandings of
their past? Okay so Luc at least has a reason for his
lustful feelings, but what could be Sylvie's excuse? The reader will find themselves laughing hysterically from
beginning to surprise ending. Ms. Hill serves up one hot
and spicy romance and even sneaks in a bit of voodoo.
Highly recommended. Copyright © 1999
Reviewed by Leslie Tramposch
Posted February 26, 2002
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