"Blazing hot and hysterically funny contemporary"

Forty-year-old Roberta Jones Spivey has always played it safe. Her marriage was sexless for the last five years, but she stayed faithful. Her job is boring, and she's being set up to take the fall for her boss who's guilty of fiscal malfeasance, but she's kept on working for him. Only when her husband Warren decides he'd rather be with the high school sweetheart who dumped him all those years ago (funny, he seems to be able to get it up with her, but not for Roberta, who actually helped him locate the woman so he could deal with his past), does she decide that Spineless Spivey has to go. With this in mind she cuts off the long hair her husband preferred, dyes it red, and gets a complete makeover, leaving her subdued accountant's wardrobe behind in favor of short skirts, tight jeans and cropped tops guaranteed to make priest have lustful thoughts. Her goal is to make her ex sorry for what he's ditched without a second thought: HER.

When Bobbie reaches the small rural California town of Cottonmouth, she decides she's no logner Spineless Spivey, but sassy Bobbie Jones. To prove it to herself, she insists on renting the cottage across the street from the man her real estate agent insists is a serial killer. Nick Angel isn't really a serial killer, just the town's former Bad Boy with a wild teenage past, and the only things he's been burying in the garden are dead animals deposited in his yard by anonymous donors who'd like to see him leave town. Bobby is determined to make his acquaintance, especially after she's gotten a good look at this dark-haired, dark- eyed hunk who could serve as the model for warriors in the fantasy artwork he makes his living with. Once she gets a job waitressing at the local diner, she has a confrontation with her husband's girlfriend -- the Cookie Monster, Cookie Beaumont, who is very much married to a rich older husband, Jimbo, who owns the new mall outside town. Warren tells Bobbie that poor Cookie is being abused by Jimbo, something Bobbie has trouble buying into. She starts learning some of the town's sordid secrets (and there are lots of them), attracts the attention of the blond and studly town sheriff, and has her hands full with him and Nick, who turns out to be as gifted in bed as he is at painting.

When a murder occurs, can Bobbie clear both Warren and Nick of suspicion and find the real killer before he finds her? Which good-looking guy will she choose -- or will she return to her old life as an accountant in San Francisco, and try to mend her broken marriage? And what the heck is all the mystery about Mary Alice and Nick?

Any woman who's ever been dumped can identify with Bobbie's predicament and desire to prove to her husband what he's missing. Her emotional transformation from Spineless Spivey to sassy, stubborn, risk-taking Bobbie takes a bit longer than her makeover, and it's a fun read. Bobbie is an appealing, down-to-earth heroine with a lot of common sense and much more going for her than she or Warren realize. Daring to take on the gorgeous but surly Nick is just her first step on the road to liberation from her deadly dull past. Fortunately Nick, despite his hostile attitude at first, quickly learns to appreciate the charms of his persistent new neighbor and becomes her ally and lover in her search for revenge on the Cookie Monster (a really annoying blonde bitch who seems to have slept with half the town)and justice for Warren. The sheriff makes an appealing second choice, and even Warren isn't as bad as he sounds in te beginning, just an uptight, repressed guy who doesn't realize what he had 'til he's lost it.

Lots of neat twists and turns in the plot make for suspenseful reading, and the love scenes are spicy as authentic Tex/Mex. This is a fun read, with enough suspense to keep you guessing, a heroine you'll root for, a hero worth Bobbie's persistent pursuit, and the Cookie Monster to loathe.

Jennifer Skully also writes e-books as Jasmine Hayes and J.B. Skully, and she's on my Must Buy List. Here in her first print novel, she displays her gift for tight plotting, a hero and heroine you care about along with colorful supporting cast, and wry, tart dialogue that adds the spice of humor to the suspenseful storyline. This is one print debut whose author will win you over immediately.

Sensuality Rating: an inferno! Includes oral sex and one scene of voyeurism, and both heroine and soon-to-be-ex- husband are having sex with other people.

Reviewed by Gillian Fitzgerald
Courtesy Sensual Romance Reviews
Posted February 2, 2005

Summary

Who'd have thought an ordinary housewife could hook a serial killer...

When her husband of fifteen years deserts her for his married high school sweetheart, Roberta Jones Spivey changes her looks, shortens her name and follows her soon-to-be ex. Warren will be sorry he left when the newly svelte Bobbie Jones moves into town!

So what if Bobbie ends up with an alleged serial killer for a next-door neighbor? She seriously doubts that the very handsome Nick Angel is anything more than a misunderstood bad boy, but there's no denying that sex with an alleged serial killer sounds risky... exciting... just the thing the new Bobbie Jones would do...