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A SIDE OF EGGPLANT | STORM'S COMIN'!


*In connection with my YT playlist of the same name, a series of videos where me & Mr. EFR get into the hilarious absurdity of romance novels. 

The Weather Girl - Amy Vastine


Summer Raines knows when it's going to rain. She can feel it. That's why the local weather girl's so good at her job. Too bad she couldn't have foreseen the tumultuous arrival of Travis Lockwood, everybody's favorite star NFL quarterback. Make that former star NFL quarterback. Sidelined back to Texas after an injury, the golden boy is trying to steal her precious on-air time. Summer is reduced to reporting from… football games. It's enough to make her quit and become a storm-chaser like her parents. She's stuck with a career that's going nowhere and a man who delights in her refusal to be charmed. Falling in love isn't nearly as easy as predicting the weather.



 
Summer Raines, a meteorologist for a small news channel in Texas, has her work environment turned upside down with the arrival of former NFL quarterback Travis Lockwood. Recently suffering a career-ending shoulder injury, Travis has been hired on as the station's new sportscaster, even though he has zero experience in this position. Tensions at the station rise between him and Summer when her boss tells her he's shaving 30 seconds off her weather segments and giving them to Travis so he can bond with his new audience. Summer points out that the sports segment is already one minute longer than weather, but her boss is unmoved. Summer is forced to shelve her new idea for "This Day In Weather History". 

Feeling bad about his part in the scheduling upset, Travis does his best to reach out to Summer to develop a friendship. Acknowledging that the change is not directly his doing, Summer is open to the idea. Additionally, Travis tries to go to the station boss to try to get Summer her 30 seconds back. Observing their off-camera banter around the office, their boss decides he has a better idea. He'll send them out as a duo, Travis reporting sports from the field, Summer following with the weather. 

Spending all this extra time with Summer, both on and off camera, Travis begins to see the unique quirks that make her special. What many find irritating, Travis finds adorable: Summer's ability to accurately predict rain 100% of the time, just off her gut intuition, regardless of what weather technology says; her tendency to deflect uncomfortable moments by blurting weather trivial; her trick of calming her mind by picturing enemies being sucked up into an F5 tornado.

At the same time, Summer sees things she likes about Travis. Discovering his talent for nature photography, she encourages him to push through fear and take risks to go for what he truly loves, regardless of pressure his family puts on him. Advice she doesn't really follow herself... but she still puts it out there LOL. She has her dream job of traveling the world reporting on weather dangled in front of her multiple times, but she keeps putting it off for fear of leaving her grandparents... even though they're basically screaming at her to go for her dreams already!

I had a laugh at the passage that describes Travis's love of photography: "Travis photographed things he thought were cool to look at when he traveled... It was his way of remembering the places he'd been."

Umm, yeah... isn't that kinda the case for everyone? LOL

When the duo of Summer & Travis brings record high ratings for the station, their boss decides to make them the face of the weather team. Senior weatherman, Richard, is not happy. Neither is newscaster Rachel, who has eyes for Travis. Suddenly, technical glitches and mishaps start to happen with unusual frequency, all focused around Summer... green screen errors, teleprompter errors, her public appearances mysteriously canceled, even set lights crashing down, nearly taking out Summer. But is the blame on Rachel or Richard? Are they working together? 

It's a cute, clean romance with a dash of mystery. Only 2-3 kisses and a smidge of hand-holding in the whole story. The plot moves a little slow at times but the friendship that grows between Summer and Travis is sweet enough and has enough entertaining light conflict / butting-heads moments to make the read worthwhile.

Plus, who's not down for a story that includes a cat fight on a parade float! 

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How could she feel so involved with a man she'd known only twenty four hours? Top photographer Kiki Andrews and returned to Texas to photograph country singing sensation Stoney Blue for Lifestyle Magazine, never imagining the chemistry that would draw them into each other's arms. It was an impossible mix - two careers on a collision course, and a younger man who was her ideal mate. She was a worldly professional, not a teenage groupie chasing a star. She had a job to do; nothing would get in her way. Except the perfect man and the moment she couldn't allow to escape.




 

Hotshot NYC-based photographer Catherine "Kiki" Andrews's most recent assignment gives her the opportunity to return to her hometown of Houston, TX. Her mission: photograph 24 year old rising country music star Stonewall "Stoney" Blue while he's on tour and submit the photos for a feature in Lifestyle Magazine. Stoney's success story --- an honor graduate of MIT who worked a civil engineering job by day and played bars and nightclubs at night until one of his singles caught fire on the music charts, encouraging him to make his music gig full time. 

Right from the first meeting, the chemistry between Stoney and 29 year old Kiki is undeniable. While Stoney is quite open with his flirtations, Kiki struggles with her feelings battling her sense of professionalism. She has other hang-ups as well: For one, she's not a fan of country music, and she's a little uncomfortable with the fact that Stoney is younger than her. 

A few hours with Stoney wears down her defenses. Less than 24 hours in, they're making out. Less than 48 hours... there's topless action. Stoney is one smooth country boy! Or so you might think. But as the story goes on and more of these interactions go down, it becomes clear that Stoney may be 24 but he has the seduction style of a 15 year old: make out, boob grab, repeat.... was it good for you? LOL 

Kiki's work quality starts to suffer as her personal interest in Stoney increases, so for the sake of her employment she has to think fast and get back on track. But in romance novel magic, the plot creates opportunity for her to do that by spending even more time with her crooner. 

The relationship is cute enough by fling standards but long-term? Nah, not believable. Stoney has A LOT of growing up to do. A solid relationship built on teamwork doesn't mean your lady just does whatever you want without having interests of their own. But of course our two main characters, stars in their eyes, are fully confident they can overcome anything. It'll be a cute enough read for country music fans, but nothing all that swoon worthy here for me. 

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Check out our video discussion on these books HERE. 

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