Half-Hitched

by Isabel Sharpe

In a rut?

Follow Addie Sewell's 10-step plan!

1. Refuse to be the Scary Cat Lady. Don't buy a cat.
2. Step out of your comfort zone.
3. Use a friend's wedding to start your New Spontaneous Life.
4. Prepare to seduce The One Who Got Away (TOWGA).
5. Avoid Derek Bates. Sure, he's hot…but he's not why you're here!
6. Seriously. Stop looking at Derek like he's sex-on-a-stick.
7. Seduce TOWGA by slipping into his bed naked. (You can do it!)
8. Don't panic�you accidentally ended up in Derek's bed instead.
9. Okay, maybe you're enjoying being in Derek's bed a little too much. But he does feel really, really incredible.
10. Abort plan. Just go with it.

Genres: Romance, Harlequin Blaze, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Harlequin, Fiction

221 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Isabel Sharpe began writing in 1994 after leaving her job to raise her son. A former “bored housewife,” she has authored over twenty Harlequin novels and now writes women-focused fiction for Avon/HarperCollins, embracing her unexpected career.

Reviews

[Maggie Tideswell]

How cute! I loved this book! Hot, sexy couple, with all their flaws, trying to make sense of it all. Sun, sea and sex is always a good combination. Very well-written. A story well told. Good job, Isabel!

[Liz Ellyn]

Love is in the air at a friend’s wedding. Two friends each find the person they’re meant to be with. You know it is hot, when after having sex a number of times, one couple realizes that they have never been together in an actual bed. Sometimes loves comes at you quickly and knocks you over the head. Other times it takes years. Both, can be just as real and astounding. All relationships can be risky. If you really love someone, then they are worth the risk.

[Dorel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the 1st book I read by Isabel Sharpe. I'm sorry I stopped reading this story 📖 at chapter 2 because it didn't grab my interest.

[CANDEN333 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty typical of a Harlequin book. There is a lot of sex in the book but the characters come off kind of wooden.
The story itself was well thought out.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is part of Harlequin's The Wrong Bed series.

Half-hitched started out really slow for me. However, once I got into it, I really enjoyed how the story unfolded.

Addie, a single woman living in Manhatten, feels she is stuck in a rut. She's always done what's been expected. Everything in her life is structured. She's on her way to an event wedding in Maine with her best friend, Sarah. Paul, Sarah's twin, is getting married. Addie finds out that her old high school crush, Kevin, is attending the wedding as well. To break out of her rut, Addie makes a to-do list that includes seducing Kevin, "the one that got away." Her plans goes awry when she meets Derek, a friend of Paul's. Derek met Paul during a low point in Paul's life and rescued him. He is the captain of a yacht and lives a pretty much unstructured life.

From the moment he sees Addie, Derek is smitten. He invites her to view the sunset with him. For her part, Addie, too, is smitten, but she has a plan. Addie actually tells Derek her plan to get Kevin. Derek doesn't push.

Kevin finally arrives at the weekend, but now Addie has mixed feelings. Kevin is still good looking, but not quite what she remembers. And, there's that spark with Derek. But she's been in love with Kevin (or the idea of him) for years. So, goaded on by Sarah, she sticks to her plans. However...Addie enters Derek's room by mistake (thus, The Wrong Bed) and they share a couple of "moments" before she explains things to Derek and sets out to correct her mistake.

While Derek and Addie are the main story, the book includes "B" stories, mainly with Sarah and Joe; to a lesser extent, with Paul and Ellen, and extra guests Carrie and Kevin. Paul, Sarah, and Addie were in school together. Kevin was a couple of years ahead of them, but was on the cross-country team with and is still a friend to Paul. Sarah met Joe in college. Carrie has been a friend of Ellen's since grade school. To muddy the waters, Paul was in love with Addie forever to the point of losing himself in alcohol because he couldn't tell her how he felt. Addie lusted after Kevin, though she feels she humiliated herself in front of Kevin one night in high school, thus missing her chances of a future with him. Sarah lusted after both Kevin, who only saw her as Paul's sister, and Derek, who spurned her drunken pass. There's also that little lie Sarah told about Derek attacking her. Joe has been Sarah's best friend since college and has been in love with her all that time. Sarah always chooses the wrong man and can't see that Joe is in love with her. She sees Joe and Carrie sharing laughs and is jealous, but still doesn't see Joe as the man for her. Too nice. Not her type. She always chooses the players who wind up hurting her -- and leaving Joe to pick up the pieces.

With this background of love and lust, the story unfolds. As mentioned, it was a slow start for me, but once I got into it, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it. Addie wants to run wild, but is too entangled in structure to break free. Derek wants to settle down, but cannot break free of his non-structure. Will they be able to work things out?

Will Sarah ever see the man standing in front of her, or will she lose him?

Is Paul really in love with Ellen, or is he still harboring feeling for Addie?

What about Kevin? What about Carrie?

All, well most, questions are answered. Though I was satisfied with the ending, I wish the story had an epilogue to wrap up all the stories in a manner that we knew everyone who deserved it got their happy ending. I'd like to have seen an anniversary party scene one to five years in the future that show the couples and where they were. I don't know Isabel Sharpe's work well enough to know if there were other books that explored each of the couple's stories before or after this work. But, an epilogue would have been good.

[Maura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't explain it, but I enjoyed this one. Addie is at her friend's wedding and finds out that the guy she let get away in high school is going to be there. So she makes a plan to seduce Kevin Ames. When she gets there though, she meets Derek, who is super hot, but is also a womanizer and is only going to get in the way of her plan to seduce Kevin. We the reader know right from the start that Kevin is a creep and Derek is the good guy. It takes Addie a little bit to figure it out. After that, it's all about trying to work out how Derek and Addie can be together, given that he works on a yacht and sails the world and Addie doesn't want to leave Manhattan. Derek is beyond sexy. He's confident and knows what he wants. Addie is something of a neurotic mess and who lives her life in fear of many things. She got on my nerves just a bit, but not so much. I completely understand her dilemma at the end of the book and why she chose as she did. I also like how neither of them just "fell in love" and it took them a little while to really figure it out for what it was. There's also a little love story involving Addie's friend Sarah and her long-term friend Joe. A very engaging, sexy and fun story. I will be looking for more from this author.

That being said, there were several things that bothered me. First was Sarah, Addie's friend. This is the girl who accused Derek of coming on too strong to her (basically attacking her, though not so far as sexual assault) because he'd rejected her. I strongly disliked her. I disliked her even more for pressuring Addie to seduce Kevin after Addie had already decided she didn't want to do it. What kind of friend does that? I also wasn't a fan of the author having SO MANY characters in this story suffering long-term unrequited love. Joe loves Sarah (for 10 years), Paul loved Addie (for nearly as many) before meeting his wife and Sarah lusts after Derek for 5 years or so. Poor Joe and Paul! And so masochistic to stick around and be close friends with the object of your affection (who does not return it at all!). Yikes. Do none of these guys know how to go after what they want?

[Stacey O'Neale · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one really didn't do it for me. Don't read any further if you don't want ***SPOILERS***.

I'm going to summarize what ruined the whole thing for me, but I can't do it without giving away part of the story.

Addie is told by her best friend to stay away from Derek. Addie is told Derek tried to force himself on the best friend years before. We do find out it didn't actually happen that way, but come on. Would Addie ever show Derek any interest if she thought he tried to force himself on her best friend? Also, would Derek be invited to a party where the best friend would be there? This whole thing ruined the book for me because it's so completely unrealistic.

I'm honestly surprised Harlequin would publish this. Harlequin is one of my favorite publishers especially for contemporary romance. I guess that's why I'm surprised what I mentioned above didn't come up during the editing process.

[M.A. Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Half-Hitched was the perfect, fun summer read I'd been looking for. There's plenty of sizzle, but the story has heart and a lovable hero. With secondary stories twisting in and out of the plot, this book struck me as only being of the Blaze line because of the more explicit romantic scenes; if you like small-town stories and don't mind some steam, this would be a good pick.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one - second book in a row set in New England. Two love stories in this one, a favorite thing in a book. Started it yesterday, finished it today - you know it's a good read when I can't put it down.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know a book is amazing when you hit the last page, but you check for more, anyway! I truly didn't want this to end!

[J. Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8 A fast fun read. And it was a library book which equals free. So win, win.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cheesy with predictable ending. But there were few lines I really liked.

[Mem]

B761 Aug 2013

[Harlequin Books]

Miniseries: The Wrong Bed
Category: Passion
Received 4 stars @ RT Book Reviews