Desdemona Wainwright is a caterer who is on the hook for the bills when the bride doesn't show up for the wedding. So she goes to the groom to have him cut her a check for the catering bill. Sam Stark is the groom who has been left at the altar. Sam is into computers in the 1995 release and he has his own computer security business. Since he was more or less abandoned by his parents when they divorced when he was ten, Sam doesn't know much about families or trust. Desdemona was adopted into the Wainwrights when her mother remarried after getting away from a husband who was really dangerous. Family, and especially her beloved Wainwrights, are the center of Desdemona's life.

It doesn't look like the two of them would have very much in common. The Wainwrights are theater people who live on their emotions; Stark is the very definition of someone who avoids emotion and greatly prefers logic. But Desdemona falls in love with him because she can see how much he needs her and family ties.

Someone, however, is trying to steal a new computer program Stark is working on and the first and most obvious suspect is Desdemona's stepbrother Tony. Tony and Stark don't hit it off! Tony is very protective of Desdemona and doesn't think unemotional Stark is right for her. Stark is jealous and fears that Tony has romantic designs on Desdemona.

When claustrophobic Desdemona finds herself locked in the freezer of her catering company with the body of her ice carver by a masked villain who takes a couple of shots at her, she manages to send Stark an email using the PDA X-1000 he gave her for her birthday. Both become even more invested in discovering who is trying to steal Stark's program and blame Tony though it takes quite a while for Stark to become convinced Tony isn't the mastermind.

This was action-packed and filled with the growing love between Stark and Desdemona. It was also filled with a number of quirky characters from Desdemona's extended Wainwright family. I enjoyed Stark's younger half-brothers who come to stay with him when their father abandons them like he abandoned Stark years earlier. I like the way family sort of crept up on Stark who managed to prove that he wasn't at all like his feckless father.

The technology was dated but the romance was timeless. It was also filled with the charming banter that is a hallmark of Krentz's writing. Richard Ferrone did a fine job narrating this one and did a good job with the female voices and children's voices. ( )

Het liefdesverhaal van Desdemona en Stark is meeslepend. Heel goed geschreven! Stark lijkt een gevoelloze robot, maar dat blijkt uiteindelijk niet zo te zijn. Er zit ook wat actie in, een aanrader! ( )

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A strong opening with millionaire computer genius Sam Stark left standing at the altar for the second time and Desdemona Wainwright, his wedding reception caterer, left with the bill. After patiently listening to his self-censuring tale of woe, she finally gets through to him long enough to get paid, and thus begins a growing relationship between two very different personalities.

Computer espionage puts in an appearance and propels the story forward, but the progress is held back by the baggage of Desdemona's extended theatrical family and similar complications on Sam's side.

Ms Krentz probably did some homework to make the computer hacking realistic, but not enough to make this element of the story convincing. Some dreadful plot holes in mid-story didn't help, and the airport scene at the end, with family and friends allowed a front-row seat at an FBI takedown, was almost juvenile in its naivety.

Desdemona's optimistic and trusting personality was a tad too sugary, and Sam's misanthropic nerd character peppery and unsympathetic.

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Theater and computers don’t mix well – except in this delightful tale by one of my favorite writers. The novel combines a solid plot line, based on industrial espionage, interesting male and female leads, and a pinch of humor. Several dialogs are simply priceless, probably some of the best JAK has written. All in all, this book is a perfect brain candy (I shamelessly steal the term from Mike, the Paladin): a light, engrossing read with no thinking required. Of course, there is prerequisite steaming sex, demanded by the genre, but if you ignore the few bed scenes, the rest of the novel is addictive, fluffy, and fun. You can’t stop turning the pages until you reach the last one.
Recommended for all romance buffs.
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