Category: Romance Publisher: Red Adept Publishing
Type: Fiction
Pages: 294
Copyright: April 23, 2013
Shy banker obsessed with romance novels, falls head over heels in love with her rich, mysterious client...a man keeping secrets.
Banker Katie James has a serious thing for romance novels. She’d almost rather settle for a fictional boyfriend than risk her heart on a flesh-and-blood man. Besides, the only real guy she’s remotely interested in is her rich, unattainable client, the mysterious Cooper Maxwell.
Looking less like the ultra-conservative man she knows and more like a drop-dead sexy character from one of her books, Cooper crashes Katie’s 29th birthday party. But one too many drinks lands Katie in uncharted territory… Cooper’s bedroom!
Drunk on love, Katie dives headfirst into the relationship only to discover that Cooper is keeping secrets… dangerous ones. As if things couldn’t get worse, her meddling mother makes a surprise visit, digging up a whole new set of problems.
Who would have guessed having an assassin for a boyfriend would be the least of her worries?
Excerpt
Chapter 1 - THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
“Look around, Katie. Somewhere out there is the perfect man for you. You just need to take your nose out of a book long enough to find him.” Vicky’s crimson lips spread in a wide smile, and I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at her.
“Oh, leave her alone,” Silvia said, peering at Vicky over her leopard-print reading glasses. “It might do you some good to read once in a while. I assume you know how.”
“Very funny.” Vicky rolled her eyes, tossing her flaming hair with a flourish. “You clearly didn’t notice the leaning tower of paperbacks on her nightstand. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many books in one place. They practically block the light coming in her bedroom window. And that—” She poked my arm with a lacquered fingernail. “—is bordering on pathetic. You’re just a few cats away from being a cliché.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but she cut me off.
“Come on, Katie, wouldn’t you rather have a flesh and blood man in your bed instead of a dusty old book? There are dozens of guys in here. Don’t you think at least one of them could drag you away from your stupid romance novels for a change? I’ll bet you’ve got a book stashed in your purse right now.” Vicky pointed at the bag I clutched in my lap. “Go ahead, Silvia. Prove me wrong.”
Silvia shook her head and chuckled. “I’m not going to dig through her purse.”
“There’s nothing wrong with reading romance novels,” I whispered, releasing the strangle hold on my bag to shove it behind my back against the booth.
“Oh, sweetie…” Silvia patted my hand. “Vicky isn’t saying there’s something wrong with reading romance novels.”
“No, that’s exactly what I’m saying,” Vicky said, then took a long slurp of her frozen margarita. “And for the record, you don’t just read them. You read them again, and again, and again. Most of the books I saw were held together with tape. Do you ever get anything new, or do you keep reading the same ones over and over?”
“I get new ones… sometimes.”
Vicky had one thing right. I did have a book stashed in my bag, and I should have been home, tucked into bed with it. So what if I had a thing for romance novels? Ok, maybe thing wasn’t a strong enough word. It didn’t quite define the entire scope of my relationship with the paperback romance. Involved would be more accurate.
But despite what my coworkers might think, I wasn’t some un-dateable old maid, spending her nights curled up with six cats while crocheting gaudy afghans in retro-seventies colors and sipping warm milk. I didn’t even own an actual cat.
“If you ask me, you’re wasting the perfect opportunity to find Mr. Right,” Vicky chirped.
What did she know about my Mr. Right? A quick scan of the smoke-filled bar proved my point. Not a single guy in the place even remotely resembled the lead in my nightly fantasy. Okay, so it wasn’t a very big room, but like Vicky said, the place was packed with a wide assortment of men—like the guy with cheese dip down his front and his buddy, laughing hyena-man. As far as I was concerned, not a single one warranted a second glance, certainly not an invitation into my bedroom. Definitely no one worthy of butterflies in my stomach.
Vicky raised an eyebrow. “Well?”
“Well, he isn’t here now,” Silvia answered, and I could have kissed her. “Which reminds me, what happened to June and Phil?”
Vicky shrugged, slurping down another mouthful of her drink.
“Maybe they aren’t coming.” I was ready to slide out of the booth and make my escape. “We should probably just go.”
Silvia glared at me. “You’re not going anywhere. I’m sure they’re on their way. They wouldn’t dare skip your birthday party.”
Perfect. I was trapped.
“You know,” Vicky said, “you’re way too old to be single.”
My mother was fond of saying that very thing, far too often. But they were both wrong. I’m still in my prime. As a matter of fact, I don’t think I’ve even reached my prime yet. I’m only twenty-eight years old.
“Happy birthday, Katie!”
Oh, wait.
Twenty-nine.
The rest of my coworkers had finally arrived, honking plastic party horns and waving a heaping shot of Grand Marnier in my face. Just what every girl needs on her birthday—liquor. Twisting my lips to the side, I contemplated the drink placed in front of me.
Vicky picked up the shot and shoved it into my hand. “You do know you actually have to swallow to get drunk, right?”
I examined the glass filled with orange-colored liquid and shuddered. “You guys. You know I don’t drink.” A rush of heat spread across my face and down my throat as I remembered the last, disastrous time they’d talked me into drinking.
June smiled, her rich brown skin crinkling around her eyes. “Drink it.” As the permanent designated driver of our group, she lived vicariously through the rest of us.
“Oh, come on. You’re such a novice, James.” Phil, my branch manager—or BM as we liked to call him behind his back—made a point of never using my first name. He shook his bald head. “Just drink the damn thing.”
Holding my breath, I put the glass to my lips and, with another shudder, took a sip, the first of what I feared would be many.
~~~
By nine thirty, Silvia, June, and Vicky were flitting around the room, trying to convince Phil to sing karaoke. I sat alone at the table, wishing I was home with my imaginary cat and my fictional boyfriend.
“Aren’t you going to come watch Phil make a fool out of himself?” Silvia’s sudden reappearance startled me back to reality. Her highlighted, teased hair reminded me of one of her Yorkies.
“Uh…” I wasn’t about to stand elbow deep in strangers by the stage just to listen to our boss sing karaoke, especially not dressed in the Hookers R Us outfit Silvia had given me for my birthday, no matter how amusing that might be. I also didn’t want to be anywhere near there after the morbid dedication they just played. Who would dedicate a song to a murdered politician? And did they have to mention a dead guy on my birthday? That might very well be a jinx. Well, at least I’m wearing black.
“Come on, Katie. It’ll be fun.”
Tugging at the tight leather skirt barely covering my thighs, I glanced down at my knee-high stiletto boots, remembering the way my legs wobbled dangerously when I walked in them. “No, I’m fine.” I flashed Silvia the best fake smile I could manage.
She frowned. “You aren’t going to find anyone worth checking out over here, sweetie. Trust me, Vicky already looked.”
Vicky leaned over the booth, her red hair only inches from my face. “There’s nobody worth bending over for, that’s for sure,” she said with a wink.
Silvia snorted. “We’ll be back in a few minutes.” Then she turned to Vicky, grabbing her by the elbow. “Come on. Let’s go watch Phil sing.”
I watched Silvia’s spiky caramel hair bob as she dragged Vicky away from the table and made her way through the crowd—shoving bodies out of her path with a perfectly manicured hand—and it occurred to me how much she reminded me of my mother. They were both a little bit scary. And like my mother, Silvia was forever trying to drum into my head how I would never find a real man as long as I kept pining for a character in a book.
Ironically, Silvia was the one who gave me the first three volumes in a series of vampire romance novels, introducing me to my fictional boyfriend… and my new favorite author—Elizabeth Jayne. Like we were kindred spirits, the woman spoke to me, as if she’d poked through my fantasies and written them down. I’d already read every book of her Immortal Blood series cover to cover and back again so many times the pages were pulling loose.
What I wouldn’t give to jump back into volume five, Blood of the First, the one I’d tucked into my bag. Bright orange sticky notes peeked out from between the pages to mark my favorite sections, and I’d seriously considered pulling out my trusty highlighter from the desk drawer and highlighting a few really juicy parts. But at midnight, the time I was typically immersed in the story, I hardly felt like climbing out of bed to dig for a marker. And besides, that would be pathetic.
So instead, I’d memorized the page numbers.
I reread my favorite passages each night before slipping off to sleep, hoping Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome would visit my dreams. Sometimes, I imagined I was falling asleep in his arms.
My fantasy man was simply better than any real man I’d ever met. Romantic, mysterious, and did I mention hot? Sure, hot in print, but I had a really good imagination. Besides, real men all seemed to be interested in the same type: the cocaine-chic supermodel. But that definitely wasn’t me.
So what if my dream guy had a few drawbacks? Besides being completely one-dimensional, which was not much different than a lot of the real men I’ve dated, and a seven-hundred-year-old vampire with fangs—he was and always would be trapped inside the pages of a book.
But all men had their flaws. Didn’t they?
“Oh my God! Did you hear Phil?” Vicky landed in the booth across from me, and I nearly jumped out of my skirt. “I laughed so hard I almost peed myself.”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure she wet herself.” Silvia flashed a wicked grin as she slid in beside me.
Vicky pursed her lips and glowered at Silvia as she waved for the waitress. “How long does it take to get a drink in this place?”
June squeezed her plus-sized bottom into the booth beside Vicky. “He wasn’t so bad. I thought he was almost good. I believed he found paradise by the dashboard light. That was a Meatball song, right?”
“Meatloaf, June. Meat. Loaf,” Vicky said.
Meatball or Meatloaf, it didn’t really matter. I’d heard Phil sing. In fact, I was pretty sure all of Atlanta had heard Phil wailing up on stage. June was being too nice. But June was always too nice.
“James, did you drink my beer?” Phil shouted as he got closer to the table.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Katie would never drink beer, let alone your beer,” Silvia said. “You drank it before you went up there.”
“Did you find any hot guys in the five or so minutes we were gone?” Vicky asked me.
“Do you mean besides Phil and his Day-Glo golf pants?” I bit back a grin. “It’s not like I could’ve missed him coming from a mile away.”
“What’s wrong with my pants?” Phil laughed, and I practically got a contact high from his beer breath. “You don’t like green?”
“Don’t you listen to them, sweetie.” Silvia patted my hand. “I have a feeling you’re going to find a nice man very soon, someone with infinitely better taste than Phil, and a lot more hair.”
“Hey now, don’t hate. I have hair. I just choose to shave it off.”
I didn’t have to say anything. Silvia already knew the only real man I’d ever be interested in. And he was completely off limits.
So where did that leave me?
Right here. Smashed into a booth, three hundred sixty-five days away from the big three-oh, breathing in secondhand smoke and sucking down shots with the people who were nearest and dearest to me in the whole wide world… the people from work.
I had just one word for that. Pathetic.
The waitress came by with another round and handed me a shot I didn’t order. Perfect. Like I said, what more could a girl ask for on her birthday?
I pressed up against the wall of the booth and sipped from my second drink. The amber liquid warmed me all the way down, and I felt my inhibitions drifting away. Silvia gave me a thumbs-up, and I threw back the last swallow, eyeing the room once again. The place had gotten crowded, but I still didn’t see anyone worthy of a good stomach flip. I was, however, vaguely aware of my name being called over the speaker system.
I cringed as I heard, “… birthday girl, Katie James. Where are you, Katie?”
My friends started to cheer, and a beaming Silvia shook my arm. “That’s you! Get up. Go sing!”
Crap. As my clapping and shouting coworkers nudged me out of the booth, I felt the color drain from my face and thought I might faint.
The simple fact was I loved to sing… when I was alone. I’d never sung in front of a crowd, certainly not at a karaoke bar. Yet, there I was, being propelled toward the stage by Silvia, the real manager in my office, title or no title.
I dragged myself forward, feeling more like I was headed to the guillotine than the stage, looking back to my table for moral support the entire way. They waved me on, cheering like a bunch of high school girls at a pep rally. Even Phil.
I spun around to watch where I was going, and a guy shoved a microphone in my hand. Next thing I knew, I was facing a crowd filled with semi-drunken college students and business bankers. Dozens of eyes stared at me, and I really wished I hadn’t worn the short skirt and form-fitting blouse Silvia had promised would make me look hot.
I was a banker, not a prostitute. I didn’t dress hot. I dressed professionally—not that kind of professionally. Well, not usually, anyway. But on the night of my big birthday soiree, I was Silvia’s science project.
I stood in the wash of the spotlight, my heart slamming in my chest beneath the sheer black blouse. My insides did a mini flip as I started to sing the first line of the Etta James song.
At last…
Then I saw him step through the door—the most beautiful man I’d ever seen in all my twenty-nine years. He was the epitome of tall—at least six-two if I was any judge—dark—thick wavy hair, just long enough to run my fingers through—and handsome—with that sexy just-rolled-out-of-bed look that always made my heart race.
A serious ripple began to build in the pit of my stomach. I could only see him in profile, but he obviously hadn’t shaved that morning, maybe not the day before either. He could have stepped right out of one of my romance novels. I couldn’t have written him better myself.
My mystery guy appeared to be searching the crowd for something or someone. And when he ran a hand through his hair, the way I’d just imagined doing, it was all I could do to breathe.
Sing, Katie, I reminded myself. It was a wonder I could sing at all. From his dark jeans and gray Henley shirt, to his battered brown leather bomber jacket, I quickly memorized every inch of him to recall later. He didn’t notice me, but I was barely aware of a single other person in the room. I was trying to send a telepathic message for him to turn my way, and either my message got through or he felt my eyes burning a hole through him because he spun around to look directly at me.
Even from up on the tiny stage, half-blinded by the lights, I saw a flicker of heat radiating from his dark eyes. Then he flashed his perfect white teeth in the most dazzling smile, threatening the last shred of my composure, not to mention setting loose a swarm of butterflies.
But I knew that smile… didn’t I?
The little fantasy I’d created cracked along the edges and reality spilled out. How could I not have realized it was him right away? I tried to chalk it up to the two shots I’d polished off before stepping onto the stage and the sheer terror coursing through me as I belted out the song.
It couldn’t be.
He was too unbuttoned. Too disheveled. Too… perfect?
Mr. Off Limits himself.
Cooper Maxwell.
Professional Reviews
Big Al's Books and Pals
Romance novels have a basic formu … no, let’s call it something else. Time tested patterns. The basic blueprint is boy meets girls. Sparks fly (or sometimes just the opposite at first, but the sparks come before long). Then, we have the big misunderstanding (probably due to poor communication) and the couple seems headed their separate ways. Last, something causes them to realize they misunderstood each other, get back together and, go riding into the sunset. (Actually that last part is a Western. I wanted to make sure you were paying attention. Replace with “live happily ever after”)
But really, all novels fit a pattern. We’re so aware of it with Romance because of the relatively small number of templates for a novel; this is by far the most popular one. However, this means that for the story to feel fresh, an author has to come up with great characters and situations. They need to feel like real people. The situations have to be realistic. In To Katie With Love, Erica Lucke Dean came up with some great characters.
Katie is a character who should feel familiar to a big part of the target audience. In fact, many will see something of themselves in Katie. Other than the obvious gender difference, I did. She’s an avid reader, introverted, and will often choose a vicarious adventure in a romance novel over the alternatives on her social calendar. The people she works with are quirky, yet real enough to remind me of past co-workers. And her bank job gives her plenty of chances to meet men with both money and looks, especially the mysterious Cooper Maxwell.
The situations Katie gets herself into seem almost larger than life, yet not so much as to have me disbelieving. I was surprised multiple times as the story was working its way to a conclusion, never guessing the answer to the big question every reader is going to have by that point, nor guessing how (or even whether) Katie was going to get that ride into the sunset.
FYI:
A small amount of adult language and some mild adult situations.
Rating: ***** Five Stars
Chick Lit Central
This novel is a real treat, and it was refreshing to have such an honest, relatable main character in Katie. As a dedicated Karaoke enthusiast, it was extremely enjoyable for me to have the first pages of the book engaging in my favourite pastime, and it allowed me to really jump right into the novel with both feet.
I did find, however, that Cooper Maxwell was a bit too perfect throughout the entire novel. I felt like I was waiting for him to drop the ball and come out as a shady character, but he never did. Surprisingly, it both pleased and disappointed me, because his perfect personality should have been more trusting towards the woman he loved so much, and his secret really shouldn’t have been a secret from her. I did enjoy what the twist was all about, though, and wasn’t expecting the outcome. I loved how Ms. Dean ended the novel and I thought the little twist was definitely well played.
To Katie with Love was a great story, and I would highly recommend that anyone looking for an easy read pick up this novel. Reader be warned: Do not read the chapter involving Katie's mother while in bed late at night. I laughed so hard I woke up my husband!
Cabin Goddess
5 Marshmallow Review!
Reading this book was a blast. I am not openly into chick-lit but I love a good chick-flick so it was no surprise I was tempted to pull on my university logo sweat pants with a whole in the knee, put my hair in a side ponytail order pizza or zap a Lean Cuisine meal, grab a box o’ wine and dig into it. This book was a pure delight to read. Twists and turns and as it says on the book cover “Who would have thought having an assassin as a boyfriend would be the least of her problems!” Perhaps if she took a cold shower under all four shower heads in the Chandelier Room with Adjoining Toilet (CRWAT – yes you will have to read the book to understand the context) and perhaps she could have some clarity.
The story is fast paced and seemingly has the typical insta-love at the very beginning like every other romance novel out there. But the fact is both of them have been having feelings for each other for longer than the “first chapter”. The truth is Cooper Maxwell had her as his personal banker for over a year and as we will learn he has had his eye on her for a very long time. Dean has written Katie, Cooper and the rest of the “cast” into believable, over the top and yet still well-rounded. Katie makes me want to give her a hug and a makeover at the beginning with her insecurities and total inability to handle a healthy relationship. Instead of accepting what Cooper is offering her at face value she starts letting her very vivid imagination get the best of her… despite the fact he fed her bacon. See, this would be it with me. I would not question him after the bacon no matter how many mysterious money transfers and bodies were piling up… (just saying!!)
Katie protects herself by hiding behind her pretend cat and her pretend boyfriend who lives on the pages of her favorite vampire romance novels she reads while laying in her average count sheets. But Katie has a very well meaning friend who decides to put her in a pair of ”dangerous” boots and a not so subtle top ohh.. and not to mention the mini skirt and then sets her loose on her birthday to have some fun. What she doesn’t know, as we read about her inability to handle alcohol, is her wardrobe is not the only one thing her friend has been arranging.
If I were to write a joke to describe the book it would start with “Dark steamy hot client walks into a bar…” wait, what is the punch line? Well it could be Katie as she throws back another shot and starts having dark steamy thoughts about Cooper aka dark steamy hot client as the night goes on and the drinks keep flowing… But this book is not a joke, no matter how funny Erica Lucke Dean writes some of the defining moments of Katies new found love.
Later on that night the joke maybe on Katie as she rolls over and wakes up face down in “magnificent sheets” and realizes she is not at home. The sheets should have been an indicator but I am willing to bet the missing pile of books with all the “dark steamy” parts marked were a bigger clue.
Katie’s transformation begin that night as she gains more confidence and begins to face the day with a pair of dangerous boots and butterflies in her belly. But she also is faced with the mystery of who her new beau is. She knows how much money he makes yet…. how is he making it? Basically we have a recipe for a typical romance novel. Boy meets girl, girl falls for girl, boy falls for girl, they kiss, some secret ends in a misunderstanding, something fun and quirky happens and in the end…………. they live happily ever after. But Dean has a whole new take on writing romance – and it involves a chick-flick style of writing. If this was a movie, I bet I could get Geoff to watch it with me because of how fun the whole story is! Especially all the twists and turns, which I guarantee you will be surprised with! It is all that and a bag of chips… wait no a bag of marshmallows (seriously read it, you will get it!!)
