Quote-Tastic: The Trap Was Set

Planning for Love

Love, California Style, #2
Ellen Butler

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Crimson Romance
Date of Publication: January 26, 2015
Number of pages: 229

Available at the following retailers:
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Poppy Reagan is a Type A personality who runs her professional life with the precision of a Swiss watch. After catching her latest boyfriend cheating, she decides it’s time to take her dating life as seriously as she does her business. She swears off the bad boys and strategically maps out a plan to find an honest, attractive man to become her life partner.

As she works her way through a summer of dates ranging from crazy to plain boring, she begins to wonder if her soulmate’s even on the same coast. Her foolish emotional spirit secretly yearns for the sexy Ohio dermatologist she met on a trip to Hawaii last year. The one who she insists is “just a friend,” because she refused to engage in a long-distance relationship.

Will her heart overrule her head and move this California girl to the Midwest?

Quote: 
The trap was set.

Plastic wrap attached with Scotch Tape to two steel pillars zigzagged across the kitchen entryway. It dripped with honey and two kinds of syrup, the cheap, sticky kind from the grocery store that came in a plastic bottle shaped like a cabin. Richard, the bastard, loved that stuff. I’d slashed open the two pillows and denuded them of their feathers. Their white fluffiness created a small mountain on a side table I’d pulled up just for the occasion. A big box fan that Rich normally kept in the garage sat behind the pile of feathers.

I lit a rolled piece of paper, climbed atop the counter, and waved it below the fire alarm. It took about thirty seconds before the screeching pierced the relative quiet. I dropped the burning paper into the stainless steel sink—after all, I didn’t want to burn the man’s house down—and placed myself next to the fan.

I wonder if he’ll put on a pair of pants. It didn’t take long to answer my question.

My slimy, cheating ex-boyfriend, buck naked and still sporting a woody at half-mast, stumbled into the coated plastic wrap, which detached from its tenuous Scotch-Taped hold and wrapped around him. He pulled the plastic off and his eyes lit on me in shock and confusion.

“Poppy?” He called over the shrill alarm. “What the hell?”

I squinted and allowed a wicked smile to cross my features. With a gentle flick, the fan turned to high. It succeeded much better than expected. A big clump of feathers moved, en masse, to land on his sticky torso and nether regions. The rest of the feathers blew in a willy-nilly whirlwind and attached to his face, shoulders, and legs.

“Damn it!” he shouted, spitting feathers out of his mouth.

I couldn’t help myself; I held up my cell and snapped a photo.

Review: 
Back in August, during a book tour I got the chance to read a new book by a new-to-me author, Ellen Butler. The title of the book was Heart of Design. I really enjoyed the book and gave it a 4 star review. So when the author contacted me about reading/reviewing the next book in the series, I was all over that.

Poppy is Sophie's best friend and runs an event planning company that Sophie occasionally worked at.  Poppy actually introduced Sophie and Ian, so I was excited to see her get her own story. Plus, with her being Sophie's bestie I hoped that we would get to see more Sophie and Ian and their happily ever after.  This right here is why I like series, getting to see a couple enjoy their happily-ever-after.  And Ms. Butler didn't disappoint, but this really was Poppy and Adam's story.

After Poppy finds her long time boyfriend cheating on her, on Valentine's Day no less, she takes a long hard look at what she wants and doesn't want. And the bad boy brigade that she has been dating obviously aren't the answer. So she signs up for some online dating to find a non bad boy, someone who won't let her down.

Adam, a rebound guy that Poppy met in Hawaii, has been biding his time. When he got home to Ohio from their vacation fling, Adam and Poppy continued to correspond. He thought that he had missed his chance for something more with Poppy's last boyfriend, but now that she is looking again, he is ready to push for more.

The ups and downs of their romance was funny and poignant in turns. I really liked how Adam showed Poppy that he was in it for the long haul. And it was refreshing to see a female character that didn't do everything in her power to sabotage her own happiness. If you like smart, mature characters with witty dialogue and entertaining story lines, this is a series for you.  Well worth 4 stars.

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