Early to Bed? (Harlequin Temptation) [Mass Market Paperback]

"Early to Bed?" is a kitchen sink adventure, where Summers never stops throwing things in the way of her heroine from the moment Lily walks into through the revolving door into Henry's Place. A strange woman tells Lily to "Beware the Ides of March" and gives her a palm reading that involves a tall, dark, handsome lover. Then she discovers her reservation has been cancelled, which is the first of a series of steps that put Lily in the wrong bed where she ends up burning up the sheets with Tony Romano before they have even been introduced. As for Tony, he is suspicious of Lily's motives for being there, but he needs help in saving the family establishment and every since he heard her voice on the phone he knew he had to meet her.

In any romance novel there has to be something else going on besides the romance to keep the story going, and in "Early to Bed?" Summers comes up with a lot of plot complications to throw into the mix. Both Lily's step-brother Jerry Langford McNeil and her ex-fiancé Giles Fortescue show up to make a move on Henry's Place and somebody is actually taking shots at Tony (or is it Lily? Or is it both of them?). There is a point in the story where Tony stops and takes stock of the situation and his summary takes up half a page. Then Tony's extended family gets involved in the proceedings and eventually Lily's father and her step-mother show up. It seems nobody at McNeil Enterprises has much faith in Lily, which makes it rather hard for her to have faith in herself.

Ultimately the romance part of "Early to Bed?" is the minor part in the proccedings. The mystery about who exactly is doing what to try and get Henry's Place is really the primary thread of the novel, with Lily's attempt to find her place in the world coming in second. Her feelings for Tony and his for her almost end up being leftovers because there is so much going on that it is hard for them to find time to actually think about each other let alone spend some quality time together. This is a romance where you just go with the knowledge that Lily and Tony will live happily ever after and that in the end our heroine will stand on her own two feet, and play along with the mystery so you can enjoy the big "drawing-room" scene where we finally find out "whodunnit."