UNTIL HE MET RACHEL by Debra Salonen

Publisher: Harlequin Superromance
Date Published: May 2010
ISBN: 978-0373716333
Contemporary Romance, Series
Mass Market Paperback
Reviewed by Lil


Rachel Grey is done with doing things to please her mother. That saw her to a calamity of a marriage and a career that was so much less than inspiring. The result is that she is picking up the pieces of her life. Now, she is going to follow her instincts and her heart. The town of Sentinel Pass was where her brother had found happiness, perhaps it would work for her, too.

Beautiful art piece birdhouses and their creator, reclusive Rufus Miller, would be perfect to launch Rachel’s dream of opening a web design business. All she has to do is convince the quiet, hermit of a man to give her a chance.

Deep under layers of mountain-man camouflage is a hero who has hidden himself away from the world to lick his wounds in peace, as well as, to find peace. He is an amazingly attractive character for his soft heart and even in his attempts at keeping himself isolated from the whirlwind of fresh air that takes his life by sweet storm.

The heroine is authentically charming with the ability to laugh at herself. She has a wide streak of compassion and fairness like the type of person one could imagine as a best friend and is worthy of a happy ending.

Ms Salonen gives us a wonderful romance with humor and characters with enough quirk to be believable. She has a fine touch of showing and not telling so that we fall into the story and fall in love with the hero just as the heroine does. The author is new to me, but now that I have been introduced I will be getting to know her work much better. Happily, there are currently five other books in the series, Spotlight on Sentinel Pass: BABY BY CONTRACT, HIS BROTHER'S SECRET, DADDY BY SURPRISE, PICTURE PERFECT MOM, and FINDING THEIR SON.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

BABY BY CONTRACT by Debra Salonen

Publisher Harlequin SuperRomance
Date published May 2008
ISBN 978-0-373-71492-6
Contemporary Series Romance
Mass Market Paperback
Reviewed by Angie





Libby McGannon wants a baby desperately. She is not looking for a husband, just a family. She finds herself creating a webpage on MySpace.com advertising to “sell” her half of a share in a gold mine, for a donation of sperm. She plans to screen potential donors and find the right man to father her child.

Cooper Lindstrom is a popular reality television host who is finding his career coming to an abrupt halt. As his series loses ratings, he also finds out he is broke, and his deceased mother’s gambling debts are haunting him. When Cooper finds Libby’s ad, he finds himself intrigued and responds.

Libby and Cooper come together in a bizarre plan to create a baby. Neither is sure of their actions, but both have an agenda to get what they want. What they don’t expect is sparks, attraction and lust to pull them together for a night of passion. When Libby realizes she is in love with Cooper, she knows she has to get him out of her town. She doesn’t realize just how far Cooper will go to get the woman he loves, and watching these two come together in a happily ever after ending, makes this book well worth the read.

Debra Salonen is a talented author who creates a humorous tale filled with lust and love. She gives readers a look into what makes the internet a unique place to meet potential mates, and then into what happens when you fall in love with the wrong mate. Her characters are multi-faceted, they make you want to love them, yet want to strangle them as they each make mistakes and have to correct their wrongs.

Secondary characters in this novel stay secondary, yet give the book a realistic feel. The characters of Sentinel Pass come alive making this reader want more. Luckily Ms. Salonen has plans for this small town, and her next installment in the Spotlight on Sentinel Pass series is slated for September of 2008