The Wallflower

Title: The Wallflower
Author: Jan Freed
Copyright: 1999 (Harlequin); 296 pgs.
ISBN: 0-373-70790-8
Series: Harlequin Superromance #790
Sensuality: Warm

Who: Sarah Davidson and Jack Morgan
Where: Houston, Texas

From the back: Sarah Davidson is the lone witness to a brutal murder. After the killer makes an attempt on her life, she’s put under police protection. But one of the cops turns on her, she’s forced to hide in a place no one would ever think to look. Sarah’s solution? Roosevelt High. She’ll masquerade as a high school senior and try to blend in. But no one can ignore the “cool girl from California”. Especially not Jack Morgan, her English teacher. Under ordinary circumstances, he would be the perfect man for her. But he’ll never look at her as a woman unless she reveals her true identity — and if she does that she just might end up dead. What’s a girl to do?

Comments: The best way to describe this book is that it is a cross between Hiding Out and Never Been Kissed. The title refers to Sarah when she originally went through high school. She’d been overweight and shy. Her college roommate, Donna Kaiser, helped her overcome her problems and Sarah is now an image consultant in a public relations firm. Donna is an assistant principle and it is her idea to hide Sarah as a high school senior in her school.

Sarina Davis, as Sarah is now known as, is nothing like the eighteen-year-old, Sarah. Used to speaking her mind and being taking seriously by adults, “Sarina” gets off on the wrong foot with Jack Morgan, her English teacher. He’s strict and Sarah thinks he’s uptight. However, she’s a hit with many of the students, especially the misfits. Sarah decides to befriend and help several of these students as much as she can while waiting for the trial.

One of the students she befriends happens to be Jack’s much younger sister, Kate. Their father died while Jack was still in high school, leaving behind a pregnant wife. Jack stayed with his mother instead of going off to USC — Jack’s dream is to be a screenwriter. He went to night school and became a teacher. Every chance he gets, he works on his screenplays. He likes teaching, but lately, he’s been unhappy with his life. His sister is at a difficult stage (she’s fifteen) and their mother is always critical of Kate, comparing her to Jack, and not being an effective parent. He’s also waiting to hear from his agent about a script he submitted. And if that wasn’t maddening enough, the new female student is having an alarming effect on him.

At first, Sarah isn’t that interested in him. She calls him Moses (he has a set of personal ten commandments on his class room wall) and  is critical of his boring clothing and his aftershave. She’s more than happy to let Donna have him; she’s been interested in him for years. However, the more Sarah gets to know him, her feelings begin to change. She’s forced to reveal her true identity to him.

I really enjoyed this book. There wasn’t instant attraction, and I’m glad the author chose that route. Instead, Sarah feels guilty about her growing feelings for Jack, due to Donna’s long-standing interest in him. Jack fights against it first, because of the inappropriateness of the situation, and later because of his potential career change. I also liked that Jack discusses with Sarah whether leaving Texas for Hollywood (without his sister and mother) is the right thing to do, and Sarah — heart hurting — tells him that he’d eventually regret it and come to resent those who mean the most to him.

This is the second book I’ve read by this author. And like the previous one, there are secondary romances going on in the background. Kate gets her very own knight in shining armor, and even Donna isn’t left heartbroken.

Started: 18 August 2009
Finished: 31 August 2009

Rating:

Enjoyed it!

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to:

Grab your current read.
Let the book fall open to a random page.
Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page. You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

Please avoid spoilers!

The teaser:
The closer she got, the more outrageous her skirt became. Made of some clingy fabric in purple and lime green geometric print, the hem would rise above dress code regulations if she so much as sneezed.

– from page 19, The Wallflower (Jan Freed)

Why I picked this book: Read and enjoyed a previous book by this author.

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I’ve reconstructed the comments as best as I could from the RSS feed. Some of my replies were hard to place, so I’ve left those off. I try to reply to each comment. Most replies are just a thanks for stopping by.

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25 Aug – Natalie – Interesting teaser! What was she doing?? Guess i need to read the book, LOL!!
25 Aug – Me – She’s reporting in to her English class. The story is a cross between Hiding Out (with Jon Cryer) and Never Been Kissed (with Drew Barrymore). The main character is hiding from a murder by pretending to be high school student, and falls for her hunky English teacher. Besides the skirt: her hair’s dyed red-orange, she’s wearing a lime green sweater and carrying a yellow vinyl shoulder bag.

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25 Aug – Bluestocking – Wow! My post is up here

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25 Aug – Susan B. Evans – Wonderful teaser this week! Looks like yet another book to add to my tbr list You can find my teaser here.

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25 Aug – Lizzy – Great teaser! Your description of her outfit made me want to read the book even more. I’ll definitely have to pick it up.
25 Aug – Me – Thanks! I probably should have pointed it out in the post — this is an older (1998) Harlequin SuperRomance.

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25 Aug – Ruby – That is a site I see everyday living here in Korea. Women in Seoul went from being very conservative, to in the last ten years really being able to express themselves with clothing, sometimes for the worse.
26 Aug – Me – From one extreme to the other. Hopefully, they’ll reach a middle ground.

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26 Aug – Carol – Great teaser. And I enjoyed the little bit of explanation in the comments.
26 Aug – Me – Thanks! I thought explaining it a bit would gain more interest in the book.

My Fair Gentleman

Author: Jan Freed
Copyright: 1996 (Harlequin); pgs. 296
Series: Harlequin Superromance #713
Sensuality: Warm

Who: Catherine Eliza Hamilton and Joe Tucker
Where: Texas

Psychologist Catherine Hamilton makes a bet with her fiancé, Carl, that she can pull off a Dr. Henry Higgins (My Fair Lady): coach an ordinary guy and pass him off as a member of a prominent East Coast family.  If she wins, Carl will finance her private counseling practice.  If she doesn’t, she’ll put aside her career to be a society wife, like Carl’s mother.  The ultimate test to prove who wins:  introduce the impostor to Catherine’s snobby father, Dr. Lawrence Hamilton, a man from a sociably — if not financially — prominent Connecticut family.

Joe Tucker, recently released from the Houston Astros as their catcher, can’t seem to find a job that doesn’t involve modeling underwear.  He has a 12-year-old daughter, Allie, to think about.  If he doesn’t find a job soon, he’ll be reduced to working in his hometown’s refinery.  If he goes along with Catherine’s bet, her tutoring will give him the polish he needs to land a job as a sports broadcaster.

Catherine is anxious to succeed.  Having lived her whole life with her critical father, who rarely felt she was good enough and continually reminded her that she was like her working-class mother, she needs this victory to prove a point.  Though victory will mean she’ll have her private practice, and no longer her father’s research assistant, she’s not adverse to starting a family. Catherine, who has grown up without a mother, bonds with Joe’s equally motherless daughter Allie.

For his part, Joe isn’t particularly fond of psychologists.  Catherine turns out to be very perceptive, and he doesn’t want her to start digging too deeply into his issues.  Like the fact he’s a lot smarter than he lets on, and why he’s squashed that particular aspect of himself.  Joe is also pretty observant.  He picks up on the fact that Catherine, good at making people feel better about themselves, seems to be starved for affection.  He doesn’t understand how the men in her life can’t see how special she is, though Carl seems to be noticing a difference in Catherine.  Even knowing that she’s engaged to another man, Joe can’t stop himself from falling in love with her.

There are two other romances in the book.  The first is Allie and her crush on the dreamboat at baseball camp who’s dating Ms. Stuck-Up and Popular.  It’s a cute side-story of a tomboy finally catching the eye of the good-looking boy in class.  The other involves an older woman who fell in love, only to be badly burned, and now is getting a second chance at happiness.

I picked up this book based on the review on All About Romance.  I’m happy to say that I agree with the reviewer.  I liked watching Joe and Catherine fall in love.  I can see myself re-reading this book.  After I finished it, I went on-line to find other books by this author.

Started: 9 August 2008
Finished: 18 August 2008

Rating:

LOVED IT !!