Karen Kendall, First Date

First Date By Karen Kendall

In South River, New Jersey Marty demanded his daughter Syd Spinelli drop everything to come home to evaluate his books since his assistant of thirty years Betty Lou Fiotche embezzled money from the Marvs Motor Inn chain. Syd, an accountant, resents her task as she knows Marty can afford to hire a team to do what she is doing for free and that the loot stolen amounts to an insignificant total.

However, everything at home seems unimportant when her younger sister Julia, who manages the smallest motel in the chain in spite of her seeming incompetence, sends an email announcing she is engaged to a Roman Sonntag. Syd drops everything and quickly heads to Texas to stop her sibling from a disaster. As she interferes with the plans of Julia and Roman, the best friend of her future brother-in-law Alex Kimball tries to preoccupy her. Soon "Jersey" and the "toad" begin to fall in love, but he knows he owes her the truth as to why he initially pursued her.

Big sis Jersey's invasion of Texas leads to a fine contemporary romance starring a likable cast. The Toad knows he has much to make up for if he wants to keep his Jersey girl with him, but that is for the next few books to determine how successful Alex is. Syd is a delight although dropping everything to protect an adult from herself seems odd especially since their parents seem numb and dumb. Fans will enjoy the amusing chick lit FIRST DATE between Syd and Alex and look forward to Karen Kendall's next step in the Bridesmaid Chronicles FIRST KISS.

Harriet Klausner