Review: When Lightning Strikes by Brenda Novak

Title: When Lightning Strikes
Author: Brenda Novak
Format: ARC
Publisher: Harlequin Mira
Publish Date: August 28, 2012
Source: I received a copy from the publicist; however, this did not affect my review.

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You're a fiction fan. 
• You're a romance fan.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Simon O'Neal's causing trouble again. And it's up to Gail DeMarco to stop him.Gail DeMarco left Whiskey Creek, California, to make a name for herself in Los Angeles. Her PR firm has accumulated a roster of A-list clients, including the biggest box office hit of all—sexy and unpredictable Simon O'Neal. But Simon, who's just been through a turbulent divorce, is so busy self-destructing he won't listen to anything she says. She drops him from her list—and he retaliates by taking the rest of her clients with him.

Desperate to save her company, Gail has to humble herself by making a deal with Simon. The one thing he wants is custody of his son, but that's going to require a whole new image. He needs to marry some squeaky-clean girl who'll drag him off to some small, obscure place like Whiskey Creek….

Gail's the only one he can trust. She agrees to become his wife—reluctantly. But she isn't reluctant because he's too hard to like. It's because he's too hard not to love!"

My Two Cents: 

"When Lightning Strikes" is a perfect summer book. This is the kind of book where you want a good story that holds your attention but is light and fun. You don't want to think too hard about it. It is a romance but is light on sex scenes for those that don't care for those. There are some but they are few and far between.

I thought that this story was sort of an interesting take on how Hollywood functions. Admittedly, I'm a big fan of gossip rags and they're always a little more interesting when something dramatic is happening. We, the readers, like that drama. We love the messy divorces, the broken friendships, the girls who shave their heads, and the car crashes. The Hollywood stars and their handlers don't like that so much. This book is what could potentially happen with a star's image rehabilitation. A bit of suspension of disbelief is needed here as the situation that Gail and Simon find themselves in is a little bit outlandish and perhaps not realistic but this is a fun book so you can't take it too seriously.

What I really liked this book was the setting. Whiskey Creek seems like the perfect place to go if you've hit a rough patch in your life. This is the first book in a planned trilogy so I have a feeling in the next books that we'll get to know a little bit more about the town and its people. While I found Gail and Simon to be likeable (okay, Simon definitely does not start out likeable but he most definitely grows on you), it would be interesting to know more about some of the other people in Whiskey Creek!

Bottom line: Good romance, great setting!