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Holiday Hearts #4
Under His Spell
Bewitched by a sexy man! Sure, Lainie Trask had a crush on JJ Cooper. When she was twelve! But growing up, Lainie had watched the sexy athlete narrow his focus – to international skiing and women, not necessarily in that order. So her...interest in JJ was a thing of the past. Because Lainie of all people knew the dangers of being under someone's spell. But now the playboy was changing with the autumn leaves. Stopped by an injury, JJ had some time to work out his next step...and evidently Lainie was it! With Halloween approaching, he prepared to take off his mask and show her how loving and sensitive the real JJ Cooper could be...
- GenresContemporary Romance
Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2006
1 person is currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
Kristin Hardy
81 books29 followersI've been book crazy my entire life. When my mom would tell me to go to bed, I'd hide in the bathroom just so I could read a few more pages. In the afternoons, I'd play with my dog, Misty, in the backyard and tell her elaborate stories of princesses and Indians, dressing the dog up to play the part.
I grew up in Anaheim, California, home of Disneyland. When I was 12, I started my first novel, about a boy growing up with a race horse. I only managed to get about ten pages into it, but the seed of ambition was planted. I wrote short stories throughout junior high and high school, and entered college as a creative writing major. Unfortunately, the pressure of writing literary short stories weekly for a college course was far different than writing one story a semester in high school and that was the end of that.
Shortly after, now as a geology major, I read about category romance in a Sunday supplement and decided to give it a try. My first effort brought together an aviatrix and a cowboy and had a great scene in which the heroine airlifted a sick ranch owner in the midst of a thunderstorm. Unfortunately, it didn't have much else. A few years later, now as an engineering major, I decided to try again with a book about a lady architectural engineer and the gorgeous owner of a shipping company. This time, I had a cute meet and a great kiss scene, but still no real plot or conflict. I tossed it after three chapters.
The next year, this time as a physics major, I came up with a plot about a firefighter and an engineer. Things were looking good when I thought about plot points and conflict and actually developed a solid story line. A couple of chapters later, though, I moved away to attend grad school in Orlando, Florida, home of Disney World (are we seeing a pattern here?). The manuscript moldered in my closet.
After graduation, I worked in Connecticut on the mirrors for a NASA x-ray telescope now orbiting the Earth. Writing kept calling to me, though. I quit engineering and moved to New Hampshire to join the editorial staff of an engineering trade magazine. There, I met and fell in love with my husband, Stephen. Suddenly all those romance novels made a heck of a lot more sense.
Thus, plot possibilities followed me when I left the editing spot to join a business-to-business dot com (where we were paper millionaires for a heady 30 seconds). Around that time, a publisher tried to recruit me to launch a print magazine for an engineering society. Driven by the conviction that it was time to finally finish one of those danged books, I took the job and negotiated a four-day work week that would allow time to write.
This ambition coincided with the announcement of the Blaze line. Inspired by a presentation at a writers' conference, I plotted out a Blaze novel on the plane home and wrote the draft of Chapter One that night. Ten months later, I typed the words THE END and did victory laps around the living room. My Sexiest Mistake sold to Harlequin's Blaze line in September 2001 for publication in June 2002. My upcoming three book series will be released by Blaze in 2003.
I currently live in New Hampshire with Stephen (he's also a magazine editor), who is my critique partner, copy editor, web master, and master of my heart.
I grew up in Anaheim, California, home of Disneyland. When I was 12, I started my first novel, about a boy growing up with a race horse. I only managed to get about ten pages into it, but the seed of ambition was planted. I wrote short stories throughout junior high and high school, and entered college as a creative writing major. Unfortunately, the pressure of writing literary short stories weekly for a college course was far different than writing one story a semester in high school and that was the end of that.
Shortly after, now as a geology major, I read about category romance in a Sunday supplement and decided to give it a try. My first effort brought together an aviatrix and a cowboy and had a great scene in which the heroine airlifted a sick ranch owner in the midst of a thunderstorm. Unfortunately, it didn't have much else. A few years later, now as an engineering major, I decided to try again with a book about a lady architectural engineer and the gorgeous owner of a shipping company. This time, I had a cute meet and a great kiss scene, but still no real plot or conflict. I tossed it after three chapters.
The next year, this time as a physics major, I came up with a plot about a firefighter and an engineer. Things were looking good when I thought about plot points and conflict and actually developed a solid story line. A couple of chapters later, though, I moved away to attend grad school in Orlando, Florida, home of Disney World (are we seeing a pattern here?). The manuscript moldered in my closet.
After graduation, I worked in Connecticut on the mirrors for a NASA x-ray telescope now orbiting the Earth. Writing kept calling to me, though. I quit engineering and moved to New Hampshire to join the editorial staff of an engineering trade magazine. There, I met and fell in love with my husband, Stephen. Suddenly all those romance novels made a heck of a lot more sense.
Thus, plot possibilities followed me when I left the editing spot to join a business-to-business dot com (where we were paper millionaires for a heady 30 seconds). Around that time, a publisher tried to recruit me to launch a print magazine for an engineering society. Driven by the conviction that it was time to finally finish one of those danged books, I took the job and negotiated a four-day work week that would allow time to write.
This ambition coincided with the announcement of the Blaze line. Inspired by a presentation at a writers' conference, I plotted out a Blaze novel on the plane home and wrote the draft of Chapter One that night. Ten months later, I typed the words THE END and did victory laps around the living room. My Sexiest Mistake sold to Harlequin's Blaze line in September 2001 for publication in June 2002. My upcoming three book series will be released by Blaze in 2003.
I currently live in New Hampshire with Stephen (he's also a magazine editor), who is my critique partner, copy editor, web master, and master of my heart.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 27, 2021
3 stars -- It was going along okay actually. Solid Harlequin. But that ending was utterly unsatisfying for me.
JJ was a bit cocky at times, but it was balanced by his sweetness...course, that was counterbalanced by his naivety.
Lainie could be frustrating, but I did sort of understand where her concerns came from. It just went on so long.
They definitely had great chemistry, no problems there! And there were some fun secondary characters in the background (especially the people of Salem).
My issue comes with the ending. I feel like Lainie did most of the apologizing, and I would liked to see that be more balanced. All along JJ refused to understand her concerns, and I'm not entirely sure he understood them in the end either. I HONESTLY can't see these two making it. It felt like nothing was resolved! And then I turned the page for the epilogue, and it wasn't even about them! Bummer to the max. Definitely can give this one away now.
JJ was a bit cocky at times, but it was balanced by his sweetness...course, that was counterbalanced by his naivety.
Lainie could be frustrating, but I did sort of understand where her concerns came from. It just went on so long.
They definitely had great chemistry, no problems there! And there were some fun secondary characters in the background (especially the people of Salem).
My issue comes with the ending. I feel like Lainie did most of the apologizing, and I would liked to see that be more balanced. All along JJ refused to understand her concerns, and I'm not entirely sure he understood them in the end either. I HONESTLY can't see these two making it. It felt like nothing was resolved! And then I turned the page for the epilogue, and it wasn't even about them! Bummer to the max. Definitely can give this one away now.
November 10, 2025
Romance novels have been more miss than hit for me lately so I decided to revisit one of the first authors I really took to in this genre, I guess in hopes of reminding myself of what I loved about these books. It had been a long time since I first read this novel, and happily, the quality of the writing held up really well, many of the problems I’ve been having with other romances were not an issue here.
Lainie and J.J. genuinely spark, the attraction is immediately there, the falling in love part though, that happens gradually over the course of the novel, through growth and seeing more in each other. And there isn’t some contrived tropey reason for them to spend time together, he starts thinking about her and so he just chooses to be near her, and his persistence with her is more cute than stalkery.
As for the ups and downs in their relationship, that “pattern” that romance novels traditionally follow, it doesn’t feel forced since their reasons when they retreat from one another and their reasons when they take leaps of faith, they make sense.
This is an author who wrote for the Blaze line, but the sex scenes here weren’t way too early in the game nor were they too frequent, the balance between sex and emotion felt just right.
The hero, J.J., is an Olympic skier, his attitude and skiing style are fairly similar to Bode Miller, though if you’re not into the sport don’t worry this doesn’t go overboard with it. I really liked that the pro athlete aspect of this, the level of fame a skier would have in the U.S., the amount of training that goes into being elite, his dealings with his team, how they’re giving him less leeway now that he’s on the other side of his career, etc., all of that stuff had a realism to it that I appreciated.
This one’s part of a series though it reads easily as a standalone with the exception of an epilogue that’s more about the next step for a previous couple.
It’s disappointing that there isn’t more follow-up on Lainie’s career and how she and J.J. ultimately fit into each other’s lives. I would have liked a bit more about her neighbors in the end, too, still, overall, I really enjoyed this reread, and if seasonal reading is your thing, there’s a light sprinkling of Halloween festivities in this one, and Lainie’s museum job very briefly delves into Salem witch history.
Lainie and J.J. genuinely spark, the attraction is immediately there, the falling in love part though, that happens gradually over the course of the novel, through growth and seeing more in each other. And there isn’t some contrived tropey reason for them to spend time together, he starts thinking about her and so he just chooses to be near her, and his persistence with her is more cute than stalkery.
As for the ups and downs in their relationship, that “pattern” that romance novels traditionally follow, it doesn’t feel forced since their reasons when they retreat from one another and their reasons when they take leaps of faith, they make sense.
This is an author who wrote for the Blaze line, but the sex scenes here weren’t way too early in the game nor were they too frequent, the balance between sex and emotion felt just right.
The hero, J.J., is an Olympic skier, his attitude and skiing style are fairly similar to Bode Miller, though if you’re not into the sport don’t worry this doesn’t go overboard with it. I really liked that the pro athlete aspect of this, the level of fame a skier would have in the U.S., the amount of training that goes into being elite, his dealings with his team, how they’re giving him less leeway now that he’s on the other side of his career, etc., all of that stuff had a realism to it that I appreciated.
This one’s part of a series though it reads easily as a standalone with the exception of an epilogue that’s more about the next step for a previous couple.
It’s disappointing that there isn’t more follow-up on Lainie’s career and how she and J.J. ultimately fit into each other’s lives. I would have liked a bit more about her neighbors in the end, too, still, overall, I really enjoyed this reread, and if seasonal reading is your thing, there’s a light sprinkling of Halloween festivities in this one, and Lainie’s museum job very briefly delves into Salem witch history.
March 4, 2022
It was a quick, holiday read. I enjoyed it to a point. Everything was too predictable in essence and JJ was a little too cocky for my liking.
November 4, 2016
4 Stars! ~ JJ Cooper's a hot shot ski pro on the World Cup circuit. But he's now in his 30's, and even though he's still getting the medals and was ranked second in the World's overall the previous year, the younger skiers are ready to take his place. He has a couple of months left to his rehab from a dislocated shoulder before he can return to his training for the new World Cup season, and this puts him in Lainie Trask's vicinity. Lainie had a huge crush on JJ when they were growing up and she used to tag after him and her cousin, Gabe. But as JJ got older and gained celebrity with his skiing, Lainie soon came to realize that she was so far out of JJ's league. Cousin Gabe is getting married and this brings JJ and Lainie back together. JJ finds this all grown up Lainie very interesting and decides to pursue her while he finishes his rehab. Only Lainie thinks that JJ isn't one to stick around for any length of time and she doesn't want to get involved. To her JJ is just a playboy who'll only disappoint her. To JJ's credit, he knows it's time to find direction and perhaps decide on the next career move. Taking up residence near Lainie and getting involved with her neighbours and coworkers, JJ starts to prove to Lainie that he's more than just a pretty boy playboy. And he finds Lainie's life and her friends very appealing.
We were first introduced to Lainie and JJ in Gabe's story, Under the Mistletoe and I've been eagerly waiting for their story to be told. This was a delight to read. I love the banter between JJ and Lainie. It's witty and sharp and full of chemistry I adore Ms. Hardy's characters, esp. her heroes. JJ has always worked very hard to be where he is but he's played hard too. There's alot of positive things to say about a hero who realizes that there's more to life and that contributing to a community has huge rewards. Both JJ and Lainie seem to grow up in this story. JJ's learns to be grounded and Lainie learns that it's okay to let go sometimes and just believe without the proof in front of her.
We were first introduced to Lainie and JJ in Gabe's story, Under the Mistletoe and I've been eagerly waiting for their story to be told. This was a delight to read. I love the banter between JJ and Lainie. It's witty and sharp and full of chemistry I adore Ms. Hardy's characters, esp. her heroes. JJ has always worked very hard to be where he is but he's played hard too. There's alot of positive things to say about a hero who realizes that there's more to life and that contributing to a community has huge rewards. Both JJ and Lainie seem to grow up in this story. JJ's learns to be grounded and Lainie learns that it's okay to let go sometimes and just believe without the proof in front of her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews