Holly Hicks is
anything but a hick, though growing up in Texas certainly made her feel like one. Holly hates everything about her home state -- the
redneck men, hot, parched dirt and slow lifestyle -- and has no desire to ever return. After all, she's worked hard the last few years,
moving to the Big Apple and taking on jobs that weren't necessarily savory in order to
reach her goal of being a big-shot TV producer.
Holly's had this
dream for a long time, even when she was a kid growing up in a one-horse Texas town –
when wanting to be something other than what you were earned scathing remarks and a worse
reputation than the town tart – she's dreamed of producing something as newsworthy as
60 Minutes. When Holly's boss
finally gets her the chance to produce her very own segment for the VIP network's Hero
Week, Holly finally has her shot. There
are only a couple of catches: Holly really doesn't believe in heroes and she'll have to go
back to Texas.
But, Holly knows an
'in' when she sees it, and soon realizes that going back to Texas is the only way she'll
ever reach her goals. So, after outfitting
herself in true Texas style – jeans and T-shirts – Holly reluctantly boards a
plane and heads out to catch her hero.
Cal Griffin doesn't
feel like much of a hero. His memory lapses,
frequent headaches, and diminished physical performance all make him feel like anything but
a hero. After Cal took the bullet meant
for the President, everything in his life just seemed to drift into a downhill slide
– and his perverse notion to agree to do a segment for Hero Week hasn't stopped the
skid one little bit. Although, when Cal
gets a good gander at the VIP network's tiny, strawberry-blonde producer, his libido does
take a turn for the better. Cal finds
that downing his sorrows in booze doesn't seem quite so appealing when Holly is around.
Fate, or Cupid,
couldn't have thrown together two more unlikely candidates for romance, which is why Mary
McBride's My Hero is such a treat to read.
McBride does a stellar job of showing the journey each of her
characters must take in order to attain that special love reserved for truly lucky
couples. My Hero is a great
example of an excellent contemporary novel, packed with witty dialogue, deeply emotional
main characters, vivid imagery, steamy encounters and enough plot action to keep readers
flipping the pages.
As some may have
noticed, I am usually not a fan of contemporary novels, but My Hero captured my
attention and held it through the entire book, which is, indeed, a great compliment. So many of the recent contemporary novels
sacrifice solid background information for sensationalistic storylines, but McBride has
not relinquished either in My Hero. Her
descriptions of the sleepy town of Honeycomb, Texas, ring so true that readers may think
they can actually taste the cherry Danish served in the local diner and feel the sweat
trickle down their necks in the heat of a Texas summer.
All in all, I'd
give Mary McBride high marks for creating an entertaining and satisfying romance.
Reviewed by Janean
Nusz, AuthorsArt.com, for The Road to Romance
September 5, 2003 |
