Well, you all know how I feel about Karen Templeton's books, so when I saw this one at the second-hand store I had to grab it. Published in 2004, EVERYBODY'S HERO delivers another wonderful family-oriented romance. Just because it's 'family oriented,' don't think it's not hot though. I mean, good grief, how do you think babies are made anyway???.
Taylor is a Kindergarten teacher running a day camp when, Seth, a new kid is brought in, sullen and silent. His guardian isn't any more cheerful, but, my goodness, Joe's a major studmuffin! It's all Taylor can do to hold her hormones together through introductions. Turns out Joe is Seth's much older brother. Their dad and Seth's mom were just killed in a car wreck. Joe is suddently a single parent in his thirties after a long bachelorhood and Seth is reeling with grief over losing both his parents.
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Joe's into construction and he's only going to be in town for the summer. Doesn't make sense to get involved, especially with his new and overwhelming responsibilities. Here's my favorite quote from the book-
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Joe: "What kind of guy gets turned on by a woman reading a children's story, for crying out loud?" Well, Joe, for one, and my husband for another. I was a nanny when he married me and now we're expecing Baby #5. This kind of guy makes a great dad! And to think, some girls worry such men don't really exist. They do!
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Taylor's been burned by her workaholic father and workaholic ex-husband and fears Joe's the same way, 'cause the guy really works his butt off. And she wishes like crazy she'd stop falling for workaholics. Stinkin' hormones always getting her trouble.
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Then, she finds out that Joe's been working his butt off most of his life because his deadbeat dad abandoned the family when his little sister, Kristen, was born with Down's Syndrome. So, this guy's felt the pain and rose to the challenge twice in his life. And I'm yellin' at the back, "Nail his butt to the sheets! He's the one! He's the one!" (Psst, the love scene is one of the best examples of 'Sensual' I've ever read.)
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Calm down, Kiddies. Taylor and Joe have some good friends and they all kinda gang up and the next thing Taylor knows she's at a big shindig listening to her girlfriends talking about having sex and making babies. In fact, one is so huge with babymaking she can't have sex anymore. And poor ol' Taylor just wants to gag.
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In case you're worried Joe's going to take advantage of Taylor's rabid maternal instinct (childcare professionals are born that way) and push Seth off on her, you should know she doesn't stand for it.
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This was a great story for me to read as my pg hormones are going crazy and all that. Click on Karen's name at the bottom here to see how much I've enjoyed her books in the past. She has a huge backlist and she's up for the RITA this year, which is the prestigious award given by the Romance Writer's of America. http://www.karentempleton.com/
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