Can't Take My Eyes Off of You

D and S Security #1

by Kasey Michaels

Romance

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Chick Lit, Fiction, Humor, Romantic Suspense

323 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2000

About the author

Kasey Michaels is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 100 books (she doesn't count them). Kasey has received three coveted Starred Reviews from Publishers Weekly, two for the historical romances, THE SECRETS OF THE HEART and THE BUTLER DID IT, and a third for contemporary romance LOVE TO LOVE YOU BABY (that shows diversity, you see). She is a recipient of the RITA, a Waldenbooks and Bookrak Bestseller award, and many awards from Romantic Times magazine, including a Career Achievement award for her Regency era historical romances. She is an Honor Roll author in Romance Writers of America, Inc. (RWA)

Kasey has appeared on the TODAY show, and was the subject of a Lifetime Cable TV show "A Better Way," in conjunction with Good Housekeeping magazine, a program devoted to women and how they have achieved career success in the midst of motherhood (short version: "with great difficulty").

A highly praised nonfiction book, written as Kathryn Seidick, "...OR YOU CAN LET HIM GO," details the story of Kasey and her family during the time of her eldest son's first kidney transplant.

Kasey has written Regency romances, Regency historicals, category books including novellas and continuities and a few series "launch" books, and single title contemporaries. She has coped with time travel, ghosts, trilogies, the dark side, the very light side, and just about everything in between. Hers is also the twisted mind behind her ongoing Maggie Kelly mystery series starring a former romance writer turned historical mystery writer whose gorgeous hunk of a fictional hero shows up, live and in color, in her Manhattan living room – to melt her knees, to help her solve murders, and to leave the top off her toothpaste. And, says Kasey, she's just getting started!

Series:
* His Chariot Awaits
* Lion On the Prowl
* Crown Family
* London Friends
* Chandlers Request
* The Trehan Brothers
* Maggie Kelly Mystery
* Romney Marsh
* Sunshine Girls

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I needed something light to read, preferably a romantic suspense, and that's more or less what I got. A bit too cliché for me. Instead of gay, the brother's partner sounded like someone's great-great aunt from a Regency romance.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shelby Taite is an heiress, an heiress worth around thirty million dollars and being a Taite she doesn't work what she does do is marry someone of suitable status and Parker Westbrook the Third or the Thurd as he's known to some, is such a person, her engagement is more a merging of families, her life is set out before her and she's bored, bored and fed up with it all so before she marries a man she doesn't love and produces the heir expected of her she's going to have herself an adventure and create some memories while she can. So she escapes to live a normal life, even if only for a short while.
This is a cute amusing book filled with some great characters, the more I read the more it grew on me, yes it's far fetched and some parts were dragged out a bit and there were places where I just wanted them to get on with it but all in all it's a good lighthearted read which I really enjoyed.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical Kasey Michaels: Everyone is a stereotype. The rich, beautiful, ice maiden heiress. The tall, dark, and handsome ex cop. The short, chubby, friendly waitress. Her nice-but-not-too-bright working class boyfriend. The debonair, entitled uncle who's also a complete lush. The uptight, upscale, prim and proper brother, and his so-flaming-it's-almost-embarrassing boyfriend. The rich, snobby, obnoxious fiance. The nosy, oddball landlady. The tough-on-the-outside, cuddly-on-the-inside boss. A couple of overly dramatic, unnecessarily graphic scenes. Trite dialogue that tries too hard to be amusing.

Come to think of it, it probably doesn't even deserve three stars, but it kept me entertained (after a fashion) so I guess it did its job.

[Diane ~Firefly~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shelby is bored by her life as a heiress and by her too proper fiance so she decides to see how the rest of the world lives and runs away to a small town her chauffeur told her about. Luckily, she is immediately taken in by Brandy, who lets her stay with her and finds her a temporary job as a hostess at the town's only restaurant. Shelby's brother is worried about her and hires Quinn to find her and babysit her. Quinn doesn't like "the rich" but quickly realizes Shelby is different and starts falling for her. Lots of colorful characters make this book fun to read.

[Nikki Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sorry but 1 chapter in and just not my kind of booki. Like my leads to be a bit snarky and I just want to slap shelby already with her "poor me" rich girl attitude . Have read similar plot lines before and enjoyed them but nothing hooked me I'm afraid

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! New favorite author.

[Maggie Shanley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of lame story about a poor little rich girl who decides to run away and live on her own away from her sheltering family and the bodyguard they send after her.

[Linda J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somehow this has been lost in my library and I'm so glad I discovered it. I loved the quirky characters in this story.

The H/h have both kept secrets from each other. The H learns pretty quickly the secret of the h, but not until near the end of the story does the h discover the H's secret. I enjoyed how the story unraveled. Was some of it farfetched, yes! But it's fiction and just what I needed. The banter and antics were hilarious.

The part of the mouse and cat were so vividly written, I felt as the h trying to solve the problem. Then you add the h's uncle into the mix and the humor was entertaining.

Lovemaking outside of marriage, heat level 3 out of 5. I felt a connection to this couple so it was filled with love and passion.

No cheating, no cliffhanger, HEA, romantic, humorous, great main and secondary characters, nasty villain and tad of spice. I can't improve on the blurb, just giving you extra tidbits to decide whether to purchase. (ljb)

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice lighthearted read... not super heavy in plot but the writing style is entertaining and the characters are engaging. Of course it's your standard happy ending. It was great to see how shall be kept landing on her feet with such grace and humor. Now granted most rich people get tossed into a job or not going to be able to do that but that's what makes this fiction. It was also very entertaining and fun. I like Brandy very much. She length and earthy reality to the book. Gary's mama problems went a little humor to the plan and of course Uncle Al was a hoot. If you're looking for a fun lighthearted read for a nice vacation or book to curl up with on the weekend this would be a wonderful choice.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this story about Shelby Tait and Quinn Delaney. She's very rich, a slave to that society but decides to have an adventure in the "Real World" before she marries so she goes off to a small town her driver told her about (he's from there) and pretends to be an ordinary person. Quinn is the man hired to keep an eye on her and make sure she's safe.

Their story was full of challenges, surprises and eventually love and Shelby discovers she can do more than she thought she could, be more than she thought she was. She made friends, fell in love, and learned that money can't buy everything.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty good. Shelby, a rich girl from Philly, decides that she wants to live the “Real” life and be out on her own. She is already promised to an uptight “rich” guy who it turns out isn’t all that rich and needs her $$ to get himself out of trouble. Shelby (or better yet Shelley) makes great news friends & even finds true love that she surely questions. This story has some twists/turns. Well written with great character development throughout. I really enjoyed it. Now excuse while I go read the next in this series. lol.

[Lisa Whitehead · Rating 3 out of 5]

As it was meant to be a quick, light hearted read it answered that. I looked to see if it had bedroom scenes and didnt see that in the write up, so disappointed to see it had some. But apart from that a fun read

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good book

You people should just read this book yourselves and write your own review on this novel yourself and I really enjoyed reading this book very much so. Shelley MA

[Roxann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted a cute, easy read and that's what I got.

[Mitzi Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea

I have discovered that I am partial to romances with more sex and earlier sex. With details. That is all.

[Jolisa Gilchrist Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those "If Hallmark published books" type of book. It was predictable but it was also fun.
Give it a go if that's your thing.

[Katie Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

So Much Fun

Kasey Michaels is one in a million. Her books are on my keep forever shelf. This one is now added to that collection.

[Shelby · Rating 3 out of 5]

My name is Shelby, one of my coworker's names is Shelli. It was weird reading a book with your name as the main character's name. That being said, this book was alright. I felt like Shelby/Shelley started out as a character I could like. She seemed intelligent and bored with her lot in life. I can understand that. However ,over the course of the book I found her vapid and annoying. Gone was the self-confident person who could put people in their place with just a look, and here was this girl who let other people take advantage of her kindness. She didn't know that hostess don't bus tables? That didn't make any sense to me.

I still liked it.

[BarbaraAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review - Shelby is a rich heiress, engaged and totally bored and dissatisfied with her life. She decides to move to a small town in Pennsylvania to learn how "real" people live. Her family sends an investigator to find her and keep her sage until she's ready to come back to her life.

I have a love/hate relationship with humorous books. It's a fine line, at least for me, between funny and over the top silly. My first impression was over the top, but fortunately the characters turned it around and I really liked the book. The side characters were very funny and I liked how it showed Shelby growing in confidence.

[Debby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shelby Taite is an heiress from the Phila. Main Line blue bloods. She's engaged to another blue blood and bored. To get away from it all, she decides to "escape" (an hour away) to East Wapeneken and live like "real" people. Luckily, she fall in with great people, gets a job and a roommate. She's also got a bodyguard without knowing it - Quinn Delaney has been hired by Shelby's brother Somerton (who's gay). Quinn dislikes rich people as a rule, but Shelby challenges him. As they both discover her untapped talents, the attraction blooms, hindered by her fiancé Parker's hit men and their own deceptions to each other. Humorous.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable, quick read, with some really delightful, fun parts. However, I felt much of the character crafting was stereotypical and the story line was very predictable (which probably isn't surprising, given that it is a romance). Overall, I enjoyed the story for a bit of escapist fluff, but I don't have any great urge to read the other books in the series.

Having said that, I am sure committed romance readers will love Can't Take My Eyes Off of You.

Note: The story does have a couple of slightly steamy love scenes which may not suit every reader.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book that I have read in a long time. OMG the jokes, I was dying. Mork, Al (thanks for that), potatoe. Kasey has a great sense of humor with dry wit. The storyline is brilliant, captivating, romantic and entertaining. The characters are charming and funny. Quinn is just adorable, charismatic and amusing. Shelby is strong, independent and charming. Uncle Alfred is a trip. The supporting characters beautifully spread the laughs and drama. This book should go straight to the top of your TBR list.

[Sharyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another phone book, so took awhile to read, but a cute story and a perfect phone book because I never lost track of the story. Loved the hero, a romance with a little mystery that was a little obvious, but the small town setting was very cute. I later found the book on my bookshelf, but not the sequel, so I will search for it.

[Pam Koenig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hysterical

I swear, this story is a combination of "High Society", "It Happened One Night", with "I Love Lucy" thrown in for good measure. Uncle Al, new friends, poor little rich girl and a cast of characters that will have you laughing out loud if not snorting. A truly fun read, can't for the next book.

[Suer1943 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read every time

There are authors I will purchase because everything if have read by them has become one of my keepers. This book is one of those. I couldn't put it down. Funny, entertaining. Happy ending. As good as the two books about the baseball twins KASEY Michaels delivers every time.

[Suzanne Urban · Rating 3 out of 5]

She writes a little bit like Jennifer Cruise, good characters, humor and a little bit of suspense.
This is about a rich girl who is tired of being pampered and wants to live like a normal person.
4.5 out of 5.0

[Peggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it simply loved for yhe first pahe tothe last it was greate and cuteand funny and sweet and just enough spice to say aww.
I love Kasey Michels her books are worth the read.
Awesome Book Loved It.

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a real romantic reader but truly loved this story. Now waiting to get the next book in this series to see what happens next! Fun and easy read. Highly recommended, you will laugh, you will cry and you will love this book!

[Joni · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful read! One of the best romance books I have read in a long time. Ther characters were well developed, the plot delightful, and you found yourself rooting for the individuals and the town.

[Marj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4 stars. while this is a nice novel, it was nothing extraordinary with the plot and the characters. it took me several days to finish this book. i liked quinn but shelby not so much. the brandy’s boyfriend and his mom reminded me of the true blood character.