Pure Chance (Harlequin Temptation) [Paperback]

When Drew Stuart moved beyond insulting or rude Valentines to mushy and started talking about marriage, Serena Deveaux decided to put an end to the nonsense. They've been best friends since kindergarten, and the last thing Serena wants to ruin their friendship by getting married. Her parents had already provided a terrible example of what can go wrong. Now she tries to live as simply as possible: an occasional lover without long term relationships, playing and have fun without marriage. Now Drew has made things not so simple.

Serena concocts an elaborate scheme to ditch Drew's romantic notions. And the scheme involves the only man she's ever loved, Brandon Chance. Fifteen years ago a graduation kiss with Brandon proved to her how foolish becoming involved with a best friend can be. Now she wants to hire Brandon to be her bodyguard and then make Drew think that they are lovers. He'll warn her about friends who destroy their friendship over romance, stop persuing her without destroying the friendship, and all her problems will be solved. After all, marriage is not an option, even if it costs her a cherished friend.

When she shows up at Chances Protection the first morning of business, Serena refuses to be turned away by Brandon's irritability. But he quickly changed his tone when she handed him beignets and cafe au lait. He's spent fifteen years trying to keep Serena out of his life. They are too much alike--"too reckless, too rash, too willing to throw caution to the wind and fly straight into disaster." What he wants is a sensible practical wife to help keep him out of trouble. What he gets is, well, trouble...

Julie Elizabeth Leto creates a passionate, sexy tale of love reunited. Serena is a playful, unpredictable sprite that doesn't back down no matter the wager or the chance she must take. Chance has to learn to reconcile the fun and unexpected with his vision of the future and learn to listen to his heart, creating a marvelous tension in the novel that keeps the reader smiling. Don't start this one at bedtime unless you want to be up all night. Very highly recommended.

First off, Pure Chance is self-consciously "steamy". For example, the heroine has an "erotic garden" that exists for no other reason than to have her pose on various parts of a marble fountain while they have sex. It was quite obviously supposed to be really daring. But cold, wet, marble? Not sexy. And also dangerous. Bah. Besides which, it has nothing to do with the story, nor does it fit with the character.

I'd overlook that--way too many romances are self-conscious about the sex scenes--if the rest of the book were better.

The heroine, the hero, and the man who's pressuring her to marry him used to be best buddies in school, then after a drunken and rejected pass at graduation, the hero and heroine, both believing the other hated them, separated.

Now, years later, the hero's back in town, "retired" from his military "regiment" (and would it hurt authors to do a teeny tiny bit of research??) and opening a bodyguard business, and the other friend has started pressuring her to marry him.

So the heroine gets the bright idea to hire him for a bogus threat that becomes real.

Complicating matters, she's vowed never to marry, and he thinks he wants to marry a woman who'll keep him grounded (both the hero and heroine are risk-takers).

It's a great premise, but then it doesn't follow through.

First, the heroine for no good reason says she needs to hire him for "a friend." (Yes, I know this is standard when asking advice, but she wasn't asking advice, she was hiring a bodyguard.)

Then their reactions flip-flop. Rather than stick to the original premise of "I want you, but you're not what I need and I'm not what you need," they're all over the place. Sometimes, it appears that they think she's the one who wants the white picket fence and 2.7 kids, and he's the one eschewing marriage.

Again, this could work if it were explored or explained. But instead, it just looks like a mess. And the motivation for the friend's proposal doesn't make much sense, either.

Honestly, this could have been an excellent book with a bit more editing, which is why I wrote so much about it--it's more frustrating to read a book that could have been great but wasn't than one that's just ordinary.

Pure Chance by Julie Elizabeth Leto
Harlequin Temptation # 814 - January 2001
Book # 1 of the Men of Chance trilogy

Brandon Chance blew all the best in his life fifteen years ago, when he lured Serena into the dark corner of the gym at the senior dance and gave her a sloppy drunken kiss and groped her. Even his apology for his behaviour couldn't mend the pain he'd caused his very best friend, so he left to join the Air Force. Now he's back in New Orleans starting his own security firm. Serena had felt betrayed by Brandon's advance years before, he'd been her best friend, and he had ruined that. Now here she is, another best friend, Drew, is pressuring her to marry him and Serena knows it won't work. So she wants Brandon's help to prove to Drew that friends should never marry but to get Brandon to help her, she needs to triple-dog dare him to accept a bet, which he loses. She then invents the Cliché Killer, her very dangerous stalker, so Brandon can be her full time bodyguard. But Serena didn't count on the sizzle that had barely started when they were teens, to be a scorching blaze now that they were all grown up.

I loved this one! It's sexy and fun with tons of laugh-out-loud moments. Both Brandon and Serena are wild-child adventurers. So when Serena speaks those words "I triple-dog dare you" Brandon doesn't have a choice. A thoroughly enjoyable read!

----for Samantha's story see Insatiable by Julie Leto - Temptation #835 - June 01

Men of Chance trilogy
Pure Chance by Julie Elizabeth Leto - Harlequin Temptation # 814 - Jan. 2001
Her Only Chance by Cheryl Anne Porter - Harlequin Temptation # 818 - Feb. 2001
Chance Encounter by Jill Shalvis - Harlequin Temptation # 822 - March 2001