"Trouble strikes in Eden again"

From the moment Mark DeLucca met his new boss, blond sexy Nicole Reed, she rubbed him the wrong way and turned him on all at the same time. He resents that she was able to buy the bar when he couldn't come up with the funds, and he hates it that she is just the type of woman he is drawn to, but knows he needs to avoid at all costs. Mark grew up poor, the son of an abusive father and an alcoholic mother and knows from past experience he would only be a temporary fling to a classy woman like Nicole.

Nicole Reed has bought the Blue Moon bar in order to start over after her break up with her boyfriend and the loss of her job. She hopes that a new location and profession will help her to overcome her problem with relationship addictions. But she has never run a bar before and she needs Mark's help. Unfortunately she is very attracted to this dark, dangerous looking man and all of the relationship books she has been reading tell her it would be a bad idea to get involved with him.

As Nicole tries to take charge of the bar and begins changing things that Mark thinks are just fine the way they are, he considers quitting and looking for a new job. But then a bombshell in the form of a son he never knew he had is dropped in his lap and Mark knows he has to keep his job and maybe get Nicole's help if he wants to get custody of Danny, but now how will he be able to convince Nicole that he wants her for herself and not for what she can give him? In spite of herself, Nicole is drawn to Mark and his son and soon realizes that she has fallen in love with both of them, but is afraid that her luck with men will run true and that Mark may be only using her because he wants the bar and needs help with his Danny.

I have enjoyed following the trials and tribulations of the inhabitants of the town of Eden in Ms. Kantra's mini-series, Trouble In Eden. In this installment the hero and heroine have their own distinct quirks and insecurities, and different ways of dealing with them. Mark is a volatile sort of hero, one moment teasing Nicole and the next withdrawing into himself. Nicole is endearing with her reliance on self-help books to steer her in the right direction, be it relationships or managing a small business. Virginia Kantra has a talent for creating realistic characters who succeed despite the troubles life (and Ms. Kantra) throws at them.

Reviewed by Janice Bennett
Posted March 25, 2003

Summary

Sexy bartender Mark Delucca has enough trouble playing instant dad to the six-year-old son he never knew he had. He can't afford to take on a stuck-up blonde with boyfriend problems. Bar owner Nicole Reid is miserably aware that Mark looks like every mistake she's ever made... only better. When Mark and Nicole are forced to work together, there's trouble. And only bigger trouble can bring them together for good!