Wednesday, December 14, 2011

You Dropped a Blonde on Me by Dakota Cassidy

She was the perfect party-planning, haute-to-the max trophy wife. Now Maxine Cambridge is broke, unemployable and living with her mother and teenage son in a retirement village, with her self-esteem kicked to the curb.
Until her geeky former classmate Campbell Barker returns, all grown-up- and off-the-scale smokin' hot. Campbell refuses to believe Max isn't that smart, funny girl he's crushed on since high school. The more Max tries to show him he's wrong, the more she rediscovers her long-retired mojo. Now, she's ready to throw down some payback on her ex-life and fight for what she deserves.( Synopsis from Amazon.com)
Penguin, Trade Paperback, 357 pages
Romance level-Spicy
I recently saw a notice for a blog ARC tour featuring a book by Dakota Cassidy.  My little blog doesn’t have enough followers for me to be able to participate so I passed on entering.  However, it made me think about the first book in the series   You Dropped a Blonde on Me.  I remembered reading it and donating the book to RPL after I was finished. I decided to re-read the book and order the second book in the series so I could read that as well.
You Dropped a Blonde on Me is the story of Maxine Cambridge, the onetime trophy wife of Finley Cambridge, a major car dealer.  Maxine was once the face of the dealership commercials but found herself out when she began to show too much mileage. The final crack in the marriage was discovering that her husband was cheating on her again with his secretary who is also the sister of Maxine’s best friend.  Now, Maxine is living with her mother and desperate for a job to support herself and her son.  She runs into Campbell Barker, formerly geeky classmate, on her way out of Cluck-Cluck after she has humiliated herself in her job quest.
If this sounds familiar, it is because it is a tried and true romance novel plotline, but this book is still very enjoyable to read.  Maxine is not the typical spunky soon to be ex wife, full of fight and ready to take on the world.  She has been beaten down by years of putting her needs behind her husband’s and trying to be perfect to keep him happy.  Maxine has so little self worth that she is afraid to fight for what is rightfully hers and her son’s  because she cannot stand up to her bullying ex. Campbell remembers her as a strong, confident girl and can’t understand how she has changed so much.  Campbell has ex issues of his own but he has been able to put his bad experience behind him.  Their romance is full of misunderstandings and hurt feelings but they find that something inside to keep it alive.
There is a secondary plot involving Lenore, Max’s best friend and a mysterious man named Adam.  Lenore went through her own version of losing her trophy wife status and she is just a fearful as Max about relationships.  
It is a testament to Ms. Cassidy’s writing skills that a story that has been told before was still interesting. The characters were well drawn and you cared about their lives.  I am excited to start the second book, which I will also donate to RPL.
RPL NOTE: This book is available in Adult New Fiction.

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