Mollie Molay, How to Marry the Boy Next Door

How to Marry the Boy Next Door

Mollie Molay

Harlequin American, Dec 2004, $4.99, 248 pp.

ISBN: 0373750528

In Chicago, Today's World magazine research librarian Rita Rosales is shocked when Texas Ranger Colby Callahan comes to see her. Rita had once dreamed of becoming Mrs. Callahan, but Colby never seemed interested. Colby says her matchmaking mom is back in Sunrise, Texas, and persuaded him to look her up while he is town so that he can talk her into going home for the holidays. He admits seeing her picture actually convinced him to look her up.

Colby hides his reason for originally coming to town as he has followed clues on an illegal immigration scheme that has taken him to Chicago and fears that if Rita knows anything about his investigation she could be hurt. Colby and Rita do the town together and soon they fall in love, at least he does as she never fell out of love with him. However, he likes small-town Texas while she has become big-city, making geography a seemingly insurmountable problem.

This is an enjoyable, police procedural romance with the emphasis being on the love story, though the investigation may be low-keyed but cleverly designed to enhance the prime plot. The lead couple is a delightful pair whom fans will like and hope a solution can bring them together. Contemporary fans, who enjoy some suspense in their love story, will appreciate Mollie Molay's tale and seek out her previous "Sullivan's Rules" novel, MARRIAGE IN SIX EASY LESSONS.

Harriet Klausner