Popping the Question [Mass Market Paperback]

In Baltimore, Chris Adams has second and third thoughts about using POPPING THE QUESTION to help him propose to his girlfriend Veronica Alexander. However, thinking four years of dating is enough, he finds the courage to enter the facility only to see chaos as four women seem to be wrestling with an overweight male. Company owner Dianna West explains that they are trying to help a client get off the floor because his knees gave out while practicing to propose.

Dianna knows not to get involved with a client, but finds she desires Chris. He feels the same way though he wonders why as he has a girlfriend. As fate seem to keep placing Dianna and Chris in the same environs such as a wacky restaurant scenario, both resists the temptation even if love seems the force that draws them together.

Though the use of fate is overdone (what are the odds of the same restaurant in a city as big as Baltimore is?), the audience will enjoy this romantic romp reminiscent of the screwball comedies of Hepburn in the 1930s. The story line amuses the reader through the antics of the secondary cast and the humorous bantering of the lead couple. Cheryl Anne Porter provides those fans of a sparkling jesting romance with a fun time.

Harriet Klausner

From the back cover:

All those men...none of them hers.

Business at Baltimore's unique marriage-proposal service, "Popping the Question," is bustling. Owner Dianna West happily designs exciting scenerios to aid romance-challenged bachelors in winning the big "Yes!" from their sweethearts.

Never the bride...not even the bridesmaid.

Chris is everything Dianna wants, but he's committed to another woman. What's a girl to do? Risk her business to win him? Risk her heart, only to lose him? And what about Chris? He thought he knew his heart and his mind...but then he met Dianna...

When Chris finally pops the question, will it be to the right woman? And when he does...will she--can she--say "yes"?

And my review:

I'll admit, I wasn't sure if I'd like this, as I came into it disappointed by this author lately. But I remembered how much I'd loved Sara's Bounty by this same author, so I gamely picked up POPPING THE QUESTION, determined to give it a try.

The premise is an oldie, but a goodie--a woman falls in love with a man promised to someone else. And to complicate matters, he's her client. If she falls in love with him, she could lose the business she's worked so hard to build.

I think that there was a good story in there somewhere, but this book needed serious thinning. I think the author would have been better served making this about 100 pages shorter, perhaps as a category romance. Because it was very padded. Everyone rambled, all the time. It was really annoying. For example:

"Standing on the white wrap-around porch with the overhanging eave, Chris Adams eyed Popping the Question's front door. According to the stickers attached to the glass, they took Mastercard and Visa and most other major credit cards. So, anyway, it was a nice door, as doors go. And it probably didn't warrant this much scrutiny, but he was in no hurry to go inside. What was the rush. Wow. Popping the question. A big step. One giant leap for mankind. Hence, this study of the wooden door with its inlaid oval of glass. Inside, the glass was curtained with a lacy sheer held tight at both ends by some sort of satiny tieback thing. It resembled a woman's waist but more accurately described how his guts felt, Chris decided."

All this rambling about a door? Get to the point already! Everything was like this. The characters practically spent five minutes just deciding if they should take their next breath. Instead of adding to the story, all it did was drag it to a near stand-still. While I like details in a story, I don't like my books to be over-written.

I have one more book by this author to try. I think I'm going to put it at the very end of my long queue of to be read books. Maybe a break from this author will make things better. But after five disappointing reads vs one enjoyable one, I'm not holding out a lot of hope. This book is not recommended by this reader. If you want to read something by this author, try SARA'S BOUNTY instead.