New York Times Bestseller Carly Phillips offers a light and varied plot mixing family values with hot sex. In Under the Boardwalk readers are introduced to the Costas family, gorgeous Greek cons blessed twice with raven-haired identical beauties. The serious twin Professor Ariana Costas has left an independent, Vermont teaching-life to return to -- and come to terms with – her wacky Jersey family while her wilder counterpart Zoe goes missing.
Seeing the family after a five-year hiatus, Ariana notes the Costas haven’t changed, much to her chagrin. Their latest money-making venture has them performing a local-theatre “Addams Family” reproduction while mother Elena has gotten entangled with a deadly Atlantic-City casino. The worse part is the missing twin Zoe, formerly a showgirl with Elena, is ostensibly the cost.
Enter Undercover Detective Quinn Donovan, who strengthens the family theme as an emotionally-bruised ex-foster child and volunteer on the case of a young foster girl. Quinn, working undercover on a case involving the casino, also brings piqued sexual tension to the book: During a nighttime beach jaunt, he slams his body onto Ariana’s, rescuing her from a bullet meant for Zoe. Ariana and Quinns’ mutual heat is instant and the attraction leads Quinn to confess Zoe is alive and well. But he tells Ariana she must exit town for her and Zoe’s safety. Embracing familial tendencies, Ariana instead raids Zoe’s closet to do her own casino investigation.
Shakespeare could have added a lot to this eccentric love story, which has characters that follow romantic instincts like Viagra and repeat one-word sentiments like “Damn.” Lucky for the reader, the tension between Ariana and Quinn is hotly realized again and again, climaxing in multiple parts. And for sex Phillips has steamy, unadulterated talent!
* Stay tuned for wacky, sensual fun in the second Costas book (this one’s Zoe’s) – keep posted at Carly Phillips’s dynamic, ever-changing site: www.carlyphillips.com
