Deal of a Lifetime

Barbara Huffert
Ellora's Cave (2007)
ISBN 978149909641
Reviewed by Anne Boling for Reader Views (3/07)

Annette is tired of her sister Candace’s disparaging, sarcastic, rude and cruel remarks concerning her love life.  Candace has gone as far as to call her a whore and slut.  Annette has little time for a love life.  She is a zookeeper and works with large cats.  She trusts her four-legged animals much more than she trusts those with two legs. 

On Candace and Lars’ fifth anniversary they insist that Annette join them.  Annette devises a plan to make the evening more pleasant for everyone.  She makes up a fictitious date.  She sings his praises to her sister and then will say he had a meeting and canceled at the last minute.  How could she know that there really is a Michael Richards and that he really would be at the restaurant that evening, or that his friend overheard the conversation and told Rich?  Annette is giving a glowing report of how successful, good looking, intelligent, strong and kind Rich is when he walks in and pretends he knows her.  How shocking; it wasn’t supposed to happen like that.  She was going to pretend to get a voicemail and say Rick couldn’t join them.  Annette doesn’t know what to make of the handsome, forceful man that not only sits down next to her but also kisses and fondles her in front of her sister.

Rich immediately takes a dislike to Candace and puts her “in her place.”  Privately he demands Annette tell him what game she’s playing.  Annette tells him the truth but he doesn’t believe her thinking his estranged wife Monica, has put a wicked plan in place.

While their meeting originated from a misunderstanding, they soon learn how well their bodies fit together.  “Annette and Rich were strangers thrown together by a slew of bizarre errors.”  “She didn’t understand how it happened but somehow she’d fallen in love with a man she barely knew.”  “She knew he despised her and would never allow himself to trust her.”  Yet she loved him.

“Deal of a Lifetime,” by Barbara Huffert, is a delightful, humorous erotic romance.  The plot drew me in.  I couldn’t put this one down.  The interaction between Candace and Rich was funny.  The thought of mild Lars using a cane on Candace was hilarious.  Candace was a wonderful antagonist, mean, hateful, cruel compared to Annette, sweet, sensual, kind and tender. Annette and Rich were intense and sensuous together. Barbara Huffert is extremely talented. I will be looking for more of her books.  Fans of erotic romance will love this one.

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