Full House [Mass Market Paperback]

"Full House" tells the story of Billie Pearce, a divorced mother of two who finds herself lonely and bored when her children go away on vacation with their father. Deciding to try something new, Billie signs up for polo lessons. The actual polo is a disaster, but her polo instructor, wealthy playboy Nick Kaharchek, is another story. After having her foot stomped on by a horse, Billie is taken to the hospital by Nick, and their fascination with one another begins.

Used to sophisticated and snobby women, Nick is drawn to the lovely, warm, and real Billie. And Billie finds Nick irresistible, though she's sure a handsome, rich, and exciting man like him would never be interested in her. But there is an intense chemistry that sparks between them, that neither Nick nor Billie can deny, and they begin a fun, romantic, and somewhat unusual courtship.

Things start to get crazy when Nick convinces Billie to let his cousin Deedee stay with her until her upcoming wedding, and Billie inherits a redheaded whirlwind! Billie finds Deedee utterly exhausting, and quite annoying, not to mention the presence of her enormous fiancé, wrestler Frankie the assassin. Billie's not quite sure how things got so out of control, but she knows that Nick Kaharchek is to blame. Not that she's able to stay mad at him.

And Nick has lots of problems worse than Deedee, including her cousin Max, a young genius in hiding on Nick's vast property, on a mission that involves blowing things up and generally running amok. Billie finds this a little frightening, but she has other things to worry about too, like Nick's jealous and nasty ex-fiancée. Add in Billie's bug-killing neighbour and a touch of mystery near the end, and you have yourself an offbeat, light, and pleasant romance.

There isn't a whole lot of conflict between the main characters, nor in the story as a whole, really. It's just a quick and fun read that can be read, enjoyed and then most likely forgotten. "Full House" isn't a fabulous, standout novel, but it's not awful either. My advice is that even if you're a big Evanovich fan; if you don't like romances, don't read this book. But if you enjoy romances and non-demanding, feel-good tales then "Full House" is worth the read.

If this has been the first Evanovich book I ever read, I never would have picked up "One for the Money" and the others. The plot is not only predictable and unrealistic, it is flat out unbelievable and immature. It could have been written by a starry-eyed teenager, dreaming of her knight-prince to come in on his horse and sweep her off her feet away from all the problems of the world. Come on, this is the real world here.

The female lead, a divorced mother who conveniently has time to spare given that her children are away for the summer, falls into a rapid romance with a rich, good looking, seemingly perfect man (all the stuff we dream of, girls) who pursues her and asks her to marry him after only knowing her for a few days! The children, upon their return, welcome him with open arms, and all ends happily, despite minor tribulations from absurd characters, a seemingly early, albeit poor, attempt at the Plum style of colorful, goofy characters.

(While I know the Plum novels were not entirely realistic either, most of the plot lines were believable and the characters had some depth. None of that here.) Again, I did not expect this to be a Plum novel, and didn't want it to be, but I expected it to be well thought out and believable.

The bottom line: I abandoned this book on the lounge chair in Mexico, only half-read. Maybe someone else picked it up and enjoyed it, but in reality, I hope it was thrown out by the attendant.