When Lightning Strikes

I liked the book a lot - a happy and believable story. Will check other books of the author.

This book was very well plotted and written. I was determined early on not to like it, i have a personal distaste for the billionaire hero type books, but this author did a great job of making the bigger-than-life hero relatable. From the Jerry Maguire beginning, to the implausible shot gun wedding premise, this story sucked me in. Kudos to Ms. Novak for drawing a strong female lead that we'd all like to be. She has her vulnerabilities, but she has a strong base to stand on which allows her to be stronger than she could be on her own.

Gail's PR firm will close unless she can do something about ex-client Simon, who's assistant Ian sent all her clients across town. So, Gail finds Simon to apologize, and winds up engineering a fake marriage so he can gain custody of his child from his ex...except his assistant determines that Gail's the best fake wife for him. But Simon decides he wants a real marriage from Gail, and to live in her small town of Whiskey Creek.

A good but predictable romanceOn the cover the man in the picture looks like a manikin.

A not-in-bad-way predictable romance that moved along quickly and the characters were well-developed. I liked how strong Gail was and while she trusts Simon it's not a stupid, blind trust - she's savvy enough to know that he could have done something. I also liked that Simon's main focus was his son even while he lost his way it was because he thought he'd lost his son for good. If you like a romance that's just that this is an enjoyable little diversion.

I really enjoyed this book! the tension between the characters was delicious and the characters themselves were believable and fun. I will definitely read other books by her.

I absolutely loved this book. The moment I picked it up I had to pry it out of my hands.

Loved the characters, the story, and the feel of the small town of whiskey creek :)

Cant wait to get the nxt book in the series

Simon O'Neal was going to the be death of her. Figuratively speaking of course. Gail DeMarco owned a PR business in Hollywood and she had just made one of the worst decisions of her career, and now she was paying for it by alienating the most sought after actor in the business, Simon O'Neal. But how do you humble yourself to someone you believe to be the worst reprobate on the face of the Earth just to save your business and the livelihoods of your employees? By offering to marry them of course. Gail only wants Simon to stop the slander of her company, Simon only wants his son back from his estranged wife and if putting on a show for the gossip mongers of show business will satisfy both their needs, well heck, let's get this thing started. But Simon didn't realize it would be sober and abstinent, neither did he realize he would be required to move back to Gail's hometown and have to meet all her family and friends. Would this change be enough to get his life back in order, or would the Hollywood lifestyle be too much for even Gail to turn him from.

Gail is a Hollywood PR guru. She is so frustrated with Simon's refusal to listen to what she says that she finally drops him as a client. He goes to another firm and takes most of her clients with him, leaving her company in deep trouble. In order to save her company she goes to Sam with a plan to help them both. She'll help him repair his image and he'll come back to her firm. She comes up with a plan for him to marry a squeaky clean girl and behave himself. She doesn't expect to get roped into being that girl. I liked both Gail and Simon. Gail is very good at what she does. Her frustration with Simon is partly because she really believes that he isn't as bad as he appears, but she can't get through to him. When she has to go to him and apologize for her actions it is very hard for her. She and Simon's manager Ian come up with a plan to salvage Simon's reputation so that he has a chance of seeing his son again. She's reluctant to play the part of his wife, but agrees that she is the safest candidate. Her problem is that she's unwillingly attracted to him and spending time as his wife is bound to cause problems. Gail grew up in a small town with her father and brother. Her mother had abandoned them when she was a child and Gail has always felt that she had to be extra good to show her dad that's she's not like her mom. Marrying Simon does not sit well with her family or friends. Gail is determined that she will help Simon and realizes that it won't happen if he stays in Hollywood. So she drags him off to her hometown of Whiskey Creek where she forces him to act like a normal person. She didn't expect to grow to care for the man behind the bad boy attitude. I loved seeing her stand up to Simon when he tried to resist her efforts to help him. She also was able to convince her family and friends that what she and Simon had was real. I liked the way that she and Simon grew closer the more time they spent in Whiskey Creek. My biggest frustration with Gail was her inability to believe that Simon's compliments to her were real and that he really wasn't just pretending. I loved her confidence in his innocence at the end and how they finally worked everything out.Simon was a guy with a bad boy appearance but who was really a softie inside. His problems really started when he and his wife separated and then divorced. His ex was a very manipulative woman and used their son to torment Simon. The cause of the divorce and her subsequent actions sent Simon on a path to self-destruction because he couldn't cope with what was going on. He drank too much, got into fights and was generally obnoxious. He knew he was making things worse but couldn't seem to stop. Gail's directives just made him feel worse and he would behave even more badly. He hadn't been aware of the problems with her company because it was his manager who had caused them, not him. He was willing to work with her again after he hit bottom and admitted that he really did need help. He wasn't thrilled with the marriage idea but didn't have much choice. When Gail laid down the rules, such as no drinking, no infidelity, no fighting, and she wasn't going to sleep with him just because they could, he didn't think it would work. The first week or so was hell on him as he stopped drinking cold turkey and had to put up with the physical effects. As he started to sober up he realized that Gail was a lot more interesting that he had known before and that he was becoming attracted to her. He kept trying to get her to sleep with him and was surprised at her resistance. I loved seeing how his attitude got better the more time he was away from the old temptations. Their trip to Whiskey Creek started out with him miserable about it but he settled in really quickly. I really loved the way he stood up to Gail's father and brother. It was great to see how much he came to care for Gail and how he wanted to make their marriage real. I loved the ending and the way that he finally admitted what he really wanted in his life.

Full Review to be posted soon:

Enjoyable small town setting with a heartfelt romance between a jaded hollywood star and his PR exec. Although there was a few issues with the subplot with Simon's ex-wife and the reason why they broke up - I loved the marriage of convenience story-line with the element of redemption.

When Lightning Strikes is the first full-length novel in Brenda Novak's Whiskey Creek series, following the novella When We Touch. It's a much more satisfying book in terms of the plot and character development—two things it's much easier to do well in a longer piece. There's a lot more shades of grey in this book—characters are more well-rounded and realistic (unlike the distinct good sister/bad sister vibe in When We Touch) , although I do have to admit I'd be really hard pressed to find something nice to say about Simon's ex-wife. For a 400 page book, it still somehow manages to be a fairly quick read. It doesn't really pack many surprises and you do pretty much know what the outcome will be from the beginning, but it was written in such a way that it's just darn hard to put it down. Readers end up caring a lot what will happen to Gail and Simon, and want to get them to their happy ending. It's neither earth-shattering nor life-changing, but is just a really sweet story. It nicely sets up future books: we learn a bit more about the group of friends the series will based on; though it does focus mainly on Gail we see a bit more from Callie, her hometown best friend, and we also learn enough about Cheyenne to set her up as the heroine of the next book, When Snow Falls. I for one can't wait to visit Whiskey Creek again!

When Lightning Strikes – by Brenda NovakThis is a lovely, clever, funny, thoughtful and ultimately romantic novel. It astonishes me that I have not had a lot of experience with this author and I am wondering how the heck I ever missed her. I’m going to make up for it now!Gail Demarco has made one of the biggest mistakes in her career. You can clearly see why she has cut loose Simon O’Neal since he is a drunk trying drink away the pain from the disappointments in his life. Now that Gail has cut him loose, his business manager rallies all of Simon’s friends to boycott (essentially) Gail’s PR business. Now she is going to lose her company.Gail really wants to save her company and keep her employees working. She really does care about those that depend on her. Gail finally decides to try to solve everyone’s problems by cleaning up Simon’s reputation. And how exactly is she going to do that you may ask…by marrying him off to a goody-two-shoes.This really was a great book. It had everything in it that a romance book lover could want. Inner angsting on Simon’s part(but not too much), a hateful but gorgeous ex-wife, and uber smart heroine, a sexy and witty hero, great secondary characters and an ending that will knock your socks off.I truly loved this book –it hit all my romantic buttons, let me shed a few tears and laugh out loud. It did the most important thing I think a book should do---it totally pulled me out of my own real-life problems and let me forget for a while.Thank you Ms Novak.

Well this is the third book this week that I have read of Brenda Novak Whiskey Creek. Iwould enjoy reading more books featuring Whiskey Creek.Gail DeMarco is the owner of her PR firm and she had a fight with Simon O'Neal her biggest star but quit on him. Because he was not listening to her and was out of control. Drinking too much, fighting and he had cheated on his wife a bunch of times now he was divorced trying to get visiting rights to his son Ty.Simon hit back and took all of her clients with him. She was now going to have to let everyone go. She has one more idea to try first. public apology.It was really Simon's manager who did the dirty work but he did not stop him.He accepted her sorry and was going to help her get some clients back.Her top aid decided that if they were going to close go out with a bang. Spread rumors in the paper that Simon attacted her.So to try and help Simon get visiting rights and both of them better images. Gail comes up with a plan. Find Simon a wife, stop his drinking and get positive image for two years. But she did not mean for him to marry her.Before the plan really got started rolling Simon had a accident and almost bled to death. Not sucide but did not get help right away.So he was going to get married right away and get out of hollywood right away to get him in a better state of mind.At first I was not too impressed with Simon but thier was a whole more to the story of his troubles and he was a lot better when he did not drink. He was liking the freedom the town of Whiskey Creek gave him.Gail agreed to marry him not for money but to help make up for her part and her friends part and keep her employees employed.Simon was willing to do everything to be a better father he loves his son and misses not seeing him.I was given this ebook to read in exchange for honest review from Netgalley.Harlequin MIRA (August 28, 2012) 448pages