Samhain Publishing, $3.50, ISBN 978-1-61923-305-8
Contemporary Romance, 2016
It all started with a little too much alcohol to drink – doesn’t it always? – and when sobriety returns, our fashionista heroine Melinda Mitchell realizes that her sister had pasted an embarrassingly uncool picture of them when they were kids on Facebook. Worse, the photo was tagged with her name. Oops. On the bright, this stunt reconnects her with Nolan Parker, the guy she had a big crush on back in high school. They will meet face to face at the high school reunion, and since both are hot and gorgeous, they have a fabulous time hitting it off, unlike we mere mortals who would shuffle awkwardly around the hall before retreating to a corner to check out Facebook and Twitter.
Romancing the Fashionista isn’t a terribly long story, but it’s not short either. Oh, and the story isn’t exactly something that I haven’t come across before, although the author gets some props for injecting her own style and sass into the whole thing to make it her story rather than just another story, if you know what I mean. But best of all, the characters are funny, generally level-headed, and seem great together.
Melinda’s a single mother, but her broken relationship with the no-good cheating Baby Daddy makes her more determined not to be taken so easily by liars and users rather, rather than to go on a weird rampage about never dating or never even looking at another man ever again. Nolan at the surface may seem like another ex-athlete gone into some other career after failing to make it big – it’s amazing how romance novel jocks always have a Plan B that see them becoming all fabulous and rich anyway – but he has enough personality and character to be more than just another generic urban hero.
While I can’t say that I am bowled over by the story, I do have a great time reading this one, so I’m not complaining. Romancing the Fashionista certainly makes the cut when it comes to being a fun, fine romance.
