Spring Fancy

by Annette Broadrick, Lass Small, Kasey Michaels

Three books in one volume by authors Annette Broadrick, Lass Small, and Kasey Michaels

Genres: Romance, Anthologies

380 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1993

About the author

Annette Broadrick was born on November 26. Her mother read to her until she read to herself. From that time on, books became her closest companions and teachers. She was an only child until the middle of her 16th year when her sister was born.

She married immediately after high school graduation in the middle of her 18th year. Twelve months later she had her first son. She ended up having four sons in seven years. People with children do not need to explain what their life was like for the next 20 years. Those people without children do not want to hear about it. Early on, she became a secretary to supplement the family income. Eventually she became a legal secretary and for 25 years she worked for attorneys in Arizona, Texas, Illinois, and Oregon.

Her love of books followed her throughout her career as a mother and a secretary. By the time her youngest son graduated from high school she decided to write a book of her own. After writing in a spiral notebook for six months, she rented a typewriter and rewrote the book, showed it to a creative writing teacher, who was also a friend, listened to her critique and rewrote her story. Next she showed it to another avid romance reader and carefully listened to her critique. She rewrote her story once again. Next she mailed the manuscript to the Silhouette office in New York. Two months later she received a phone call asking if she'd be willing to do extensive revisions, including cutting one hundred pages. She said yes. This was in January 1984. By the time the book, Circumstantial Evidence, came out in November of that year, she had sold a total of six books.

Since October 1984 Annette has supported herself with her writing. Her career as a published author has also supported her reading habit and in the past five years she has managed to establish a quiet life in the Hill Country of central Texas that soothes as well as stimulates her. She hopes to continue writing the kind of books that readers enjoy.

Reviews

[Maura · Rating 2 out of 5]

This seems like 3 relatively short novels in one book (although they may actually be novellas - it's hard to tell).

Surprise, Surprise - Annette Broadrick - 3/5 - This was pretty enjoyable. Kathryn is Dane's long-time administrative assistant and has been in love with him for years. When he suddenly finds twin babies on the doorstep of the isolated cabin where he's staying, he calls her for help. They come to know their own feelings and get a bit carried away while trapped together...then they have to resolve their professional and personal lives. Their initial love scene felt rather sudden and I wasn't too comfortable with it - I understand where Kathryn was coming from, but for Dane it seemed really out of character. And then their reaction to it was even more unrealistic.

Chance Encounter - Lass Small - 2/5 - This started out great and I was really interested, but it fell apart for me part way through. Darwin is on his way to his friend's house to be "set up" even though he is still devastated by his wife's death 4 years prior. He stops to camp on the beach and meets this wonderful, amazing and witty woman who is stunned, but intrigued when Darwin turns down her proposal of some no-strings attached sex. They spend the next two days getting to know each other (falling in love). This might have been okay except for the characters themselves being too annoying. They were excessively witty and sarcastic with one another and the whole story was the two of them and their "clever banter." A couple of pages I can handle - a whole story gets exhausting and I find myself skipping ahead to see what happens. And I begin to wonder if these two ever take themselves or each other seriously. So yeah. The story is great, the execution not so much.

Simon Says - Kasey Michaels - 2/5 - This could have been a perfectly decent story if I didn't feel like the hero, Simon, was such a sleaze ball. He sort of redeems himself at the end, but all the while he cruises along believing he's smooth and sexy and smug (in a not nice way) about always getting his way. At one point he's likened to a politician kissing babies and I agree with the sentiment. He's not a sympathetic character because of it. He's too sneaky and sly and both he and his mother, who is supposed to be a likeable eccentric are using the heroine to achieve their own ends. So why did she fall in love with Simon? Because he's sexy and there's chemistry. Not my favorite story by this author, that's for sure.