Amazon Absolute XPress Cozumel Karma trade paperback Category:  Romance Publisher: Absolute XPress (a division of Hades Publications) ISBN-10:  1894817168 Type: Fiction Pages: 212 Copyright: December 15, 2008 ISBN-13: 9781894817165 The only nod Maggie O’Shea gives to Karma is the belief that no good deed goes unpunished. She’s certainly done enough good turns for her family. Fortune isn’t smiling on her, particularly in the romance department. The lone significant relationship she’s had is with her lesbian friend, Pat. Men have pitched her so many strikes, she’s considering batting for Pat’s team. Pat insists a singles cruise will be the perfect spot for Maggie to get it on, without having to get along with a man. Maggie feels ill about sailing on “The Good Ship Syphilis” but when a blond Adonis collides with her rental car in Cozumel and he’ll do anything to make it up to her, things take a turn for the better. With her caustic wit and language as salty as the sea-kissed patio of his beach house, Maggie isn’t the sort Cole would normally look twice at. But the red-haired hot head proves to be even hotter in bed. While he works to convince her the incredible week they spend together is more than a mere magical moment, Maggie discovers Cole could be destined to be a part of her future—whether she wants it or not. Excerpt With a sly grin Pat slid the glossy brochure across the bar to Larry. “Don’t you think this looks like just the sort of place Maggie needs?” Jumping Jesus on a jet-ski! Did she really want our regular customers contemplating my random sexual conquests while I was gone? While I was gone? Holy crap! Was I actually considering going? Larry lasciviously eyed the bikini-clad babes for a few pages, and then I saw his ruddy complexion darken another shade. Apparently he’d come to the page that read A floating fantasy at sea, specifically geared to free-living adult singles. He slapped the magazine closed and drained his scotch. “Ah, yupp. Looks right nice. Very nice indeed.” He pushed the empty glass toward Pat. “Sure, Patty, if you insist. Maybe a double this time. I—ah, hear the food on those ships is something else.” His eyes darted everywhere but at the brochure. “It’s a singles cruise, Larry. Seven straight days of sweaty sex at sea.” Pat slid him a generous shot. “That ought to put the Irish back in her eyes, don’t ya think?” Larry mumbled into his glass, playing that doggie trick of ‘if I can’t see her, she’s not here’. Great, we’d managed to embarrass a man who’d taken a leak twice in our ladies room with the door wide open. I wondered if I had enough in my savings account to get a two-for-one hit on Pat and Rachel. “Larry, it was a joke.” I rolled the evil brochure and torpedoed it into the over-sized can at the back door. “I’m not really going.” “Oh, you’re going,” Pat said with another maniacal laugh. I wrapped an apron around my waist and counted out a change float from the till. “All points taken, Pat. I’ll be a good girl and put on a happy face, but drop this.” “Can’t do it.” “I’ll look into a vacation. But not this vacation. I mean, what sort of people go on a cruise like this?” Was I actually questioning her? What an idiot I am. Now she’d think I was interested or something. “Young, hot, horny. People just like you, Mags, who need a seven day, sailing sex-fest.” “Pu-leez! Can you say desperate? Depraved? Degenerate? Disgusting?” Pat tossed her crew cut, and her wide smile revealed a gleam of her tongue stud. “Can you say deposit?”

The Literary Nymphs
5/5 A Golden Blush Recommended Read! Outstanding!
I absolutely loved Cozumel Karma from the start and can’t recommend it highly enough to fans of the genre. I was instantly captivated by Maggie and Pat and the trouble they’ve had to go through to get where they are today was believable and at times, heart-wrenching. Maggie’s development in particular was a success as she starts out as a strong, independent woman whose duty to her family is becoming detrimental to her own well-being but as things progress, we see just what an effect her childhood has had on her. I really did worry at times that it might all be too much for her to overcome and I honestly don’t know how the character survived this long with her family and upbringing dragging her down at every possible opportunity. There is intrigue with the character of Cole as it is obvious from the start that he is just what Maggie needs but his life is a mystery to her and she fights the desire to learn more about him as she believes no one is ever as good as they first seem. The entire cast is so strong and I really was kept guessing to the end just how these characters could possibly get their happy ending. The plot grabbed my attention and one plot twist in particular, which I won’t spoil here, is worthy of much praise. I look forward to reading more from this author.