Coming Undone by Susan Andersen

Before I start in with the dish I need to take care of some business, or as dee puts it, "housecleaning". I have not yet heard from the winners of the CRAZY IN LOVE contest. Click here to see if you've won, because those two never-been-read copies that are signed are sitting on my entertainment center just waiting to be mailed. If I don't hear from you by Thursday at noon I will be drawing two more names. On Thursday I will also announce the winner of the Michele Bardsley contest for the first two books in her Broken Heart Vampire Books, so click here to enter that one. And why, you may ask, am I putting a deadline of Thursday for these things? Simple, I have yet another contest to announce Thursday! I know I've been doing a lot of those lately, and it won't always be so, it's just that we had a very busy summer and dee & Dee were quiet while we took care of life, and I have some catching up to do. Plus, this is the time of year where a lot of great books start to come out, and we love to share great books! And now, without further ado...


COMING UNDONE by Susan Andersen
(BCC)


On the Steal the Thunder tour,
the real show's offstage

It's supposed to be the biggest summer of Priscilla Jayne Morgan's life. She's on the brink of country music superstardom, yet she had to fire her crooked-manager Mama, and the tabloids are having a field day. Now her record label's hired a watchdog to escort her on her massive summer tour. And not just anyone, either - they sicced Jared Hamilton on her, the guy she once idolized more than anyone in the world.

Well, she doesn't care how hot he is. It's been too many years and too much water under the bridge, and she'll be damned if he gets to tell her what to do now.

Jared remembers exactly how headstrong P.J. can be and he knows she's going to be a handful. Problem is, he'd love to have his hands full of her. But he's cool. He's professional. And he's always in control.

He'd better be. Because for five long weeks he's stuck in close quarters with the wildest girl in show business.

As far as the BCC goes, I really don't think it's too bad. I actually didn't read it until I typed it above. I have been waiting for this book. BUT, had I not been waiting for the book and had never read Andersen before, the BCC would have been enough for me to give it a try.

I was so looking forward to this book. I love Susan Andersen. I've dished her before and sung her praises. But, Ms. Andersen let me down in a big way with this one. Jared and P.J. are introduced in Andersen's book HOT & BOTHERED. Jared is a very rich boy who didn't get along with his father and ran away when he lost his temper with his dear old dad and his father turned up murdered. Jared being the prime suspects hit the streets. P.J. is younger than Jared, and does not come from a family with money. P.J. is kicked out of the house by her mother and her current boyfriend. The two meet on the streets and form a friendship based on survival. They are found by Jared's family, P.J. is taken back into her mother's home, Jared is cleared of all charges and they never speak again.

Until now. Jared and P.J. are all grown up. Jared is working as a P.I. at his brother-in-laws investigation firm. P.J. is tearing up the country music scene. But when P.J. finds out that her mother, who has been acting as her manager, has embezzled funds, she fires her and hires new management. The problem is, P.J. doesn't want the embarrassment of the entire world knowing her mother has never loved her or saw her more than a cash cow.

With the tour coming up and the stress over everything else, P.J. decides she needs a bit of a break and takes off for some alone time. Unfortunately, her record label doesn't like that P.J. seems to be acting unpredictably and so, not knowing the story behind her actions, they hire an investigator to find her and stick close making sure she makes it to all of her tour dates.

The investigation firm they hire is none other than the one Jared happens to work for. Jared is assigned the job and even though he is excited about reuniting with P.J. he knows she won't be happy about the reasons for the reunion and will try and make things as difficult as she can for him. He would be right.

P.J. doesn't want Jared there, does everything she can to get him gone, not only because she doesn't like being babysat, but because the sexual tension is just about to kill her. Just when she gets Jared to see things her way and he is going to leave, P.J. starts to receive threats for a fanatic. Now Jared is staying, but not as a babysitter, but some one who wants to make sure P.J. stays safe from harm. The sparks fly between the two and old feelings of friendship and betrayal come to the surface.

Like I said, I was a disappointed in the book. I loved how P.J. and Jared interacted in H&B, and I thought P.J. was a tough cookie with a heart of gold. In this book however, P.J. was more annoying than tough. She seemed to be very immature and acted just wrong. I think that the line between being strong and being bull-headed can be a very thin one to walk, and P.J. just seemed petty in this one.

There was a nice subplot between two members of P.J.'s tour crew, and I actually liked that a lot better than the romance between Jared and P.J. The adversary in the form of a crazy fanatic also didn't work very well for me. It seemed forced, like there needed to be a reason to keep Jared around and this seemed like the most likely scenario.

I don't know. I think I expected far too much, and if I would have gone into this as a new Andersen reader I probably would have loved it. As it was, I felt Andersen could have done so much better, as she has done in the past. So all in all, not a bad read, jut not par for what I would consider Andersen's course.


Take Care