Leslie Carroll, Herself

Herself

Leslie Carroll

Avon, Mar 2007, $13.95

ISBN: 0060859954

Speechwriter Tessa Craig is probably the most dedicated member of re-elected New York Congressman David Weyburn's team because she enjoys being his discrete lover. However, during an aerobic exercise session at the Metropolitan Health Club, David collapses with Kelly Adonis the male instructor giving him CPR and saving his life. Rumors erupt that David is gay with Kelly as his male hunk lover. David's political manager decides he must stay sexually clean until the storm blows away, so, heeding that advice, he severs his personal relationship with Tessa, though he still wants her as his writer.

Hurt by his choosing political expedience over her, Tessa decides to leave town with a trip to Dublin. There she meets kindhearted Star Trek aficionado fisherman Jamie Doyle. He soon falls in love with the American and shows her in many little ways how he feels; so opposite of her David who never showed inner affection towards her. When her vacation ends, Tessa returns to the Big Apple but Jamie follows and crashes on her couch as he seeks employment and ultimately to open a pub. However, as David keeps reappearing and vanishing, Jamie's mother arrives from Ireland to begin a campaign to rid her son of the Jew that holds his heart.

The moving of romance into the political world works quite nicely as heated issues like sexual preference and health make for a fine subplot. When the storyline twists into Tessa running for her former boss' seat, that stretches the believability of the audience as money, support, and preparations do not occur overnight for most people. Still, the romance is top-rate as Jamie constantly shows Tessa that he loves her even when his mom, accompanied by his sister, arrive to bring him home. Readers will enjoy this fine, contemporary romance with its interesting political spin.

Harriet Klausner