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It Happened One Week
AMANDA'S ROMANCE RESUMÉ
First Love: Ten years ago, Amanda fell madly in love with Dance, the most handsome man she'd ever seen. They kissed till dawn, whispered sweet nothings about forever. Then suddenly it was over....
Present Love: In the middle of the worst week of her life, guess who she comes face-to-face with Dane - looking more gorgeous than ever...
Forever Love: Now Amanda has only seven days - and nights - for a second chance to say, "I do!"
First Love: Ten years ago, Amanda fell madly in love with Dance, the most handsome man she'd ever seen. They kissed till dawn, whispered sweet nothings about forever. Then suddenly it was over....
Present Love: In the middle of the worst week of her life, guess who she comes face-to-face with Dane - looking more gorgeous than ever...
Forever Love: Now Amanda has only seven days - and nights - for a second chance to say, "I do!"
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 1996
About the author
JoAnn Ross
243 books803 followersNew York Times bestselling author JoAnn Ross has written over a hundred novels for a bunch of publishers. Two of her titles have been excerpted in Cosmo and her books have also been published by the Doubleday, Rhapsody, Literary Guild, and Mystery Guild book clubs.
A member of the Romance Writers of America's Honor Roll of best-selling authors, she's won several awards, including Romantic Times's Career Achievement Awards in both category and contemporary single title.
Currently writing a new Honeymoon Harbor series for HQN set on the Washington peninsula, that will launch in April, 2018, JoAnn lives with her husband (her high school sweetheart, who proposed at the sea wall where her Shelter Bay books are set), in the Pacific Northwest.
A member of the Romance Writers of America's Honor Roll of best-selling authors, she's won several awards, including Romantic Times's Career Achievement Awards in both category and contemporary single title.
Currently writing a new Honeymoon Harbor series for HQN set on the Washington peninsula, that will launch in April, 2018, JoAnn lives with her husband (her high school sweetheart, who proposed at the sea wall where her Shelter Bay books are set), in the Pacific Northwest.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 13, 2014
I received this book as a raffle prize or conference swag, I can't remember.
It Happened One Week
The honest truth is JoAnn Ross lost me at "Satan's Cove", the first two words of the book. Really? A romantic, picturesque little coastal Oregon town is called Satan's Cove. Oh boy.
Strike one.
It didn't get better.
Dane Cutter is a townie boy who escapes to become a powerful, world-traveled, luxury hotel executive. He becomes disenchanted with his wealthy jet set life, abandons it to buy the run-down Smugglers' Inn, where he used to work with his mom. Two weeks later, the girl he had a summer fling with in high school but never got over, shows up with a slew of coworkers for some kind of group challenge weekend. One look at Amanda and Dane gets the hornypants pretty bad. Everything he does after this is calculated to win Amanda back.
Um. Okay. A little creepy, but I'll let it go, see where we're going...
On the other hand, Amanda is a lonely, high-powered advertising exec gunning for a promotion. Cool, I like powerful career women. Only we soon find out Amanda chose this career because her daddy made her, she doesn't really like it. Aw, crap. Why can't she like her job and be good at it?
Strike two.
And when she sees Dane, her teenage heartbreak knocks her for a loop. Okay, that one I believe. Maybe this is gonna turn around...
Oh, but when all the planned challenge activities fall apart, Dane is the one who rescues her every time. Damn. And when Amanda gives in to her attraction to Dane, it blooms quickly into love, and she drops her executive dreams in a heartbeat so she can stay in this tiny town with Dane and go in with some former coworkers to start up a piddly little advertising shop instead of accepting the awesome promotion she's worked so hard to earn. Double damn.
Strike three. You're out.
Maid For The Millionaire
This is a whole sub-genre, apparently: humble, Cinderella-ish gals snagging millionaires (or billionaires now, because those dollars don't go as far as they used to, I suppose). Putting aside the whole gold-digging, whorish aspect of an entire sub-genre of romance novels catering to this, I'll go on...
Surprisingly, I liked a few aspects of this story. Susan Meier's a pretty good writer, I liked her style. I really liked how the heroine, Liz, pulled herself up by the bootstraps after her divorce from Cain Nestor (ugh, the name) by starting a cleaning service. She was raised in an abusive home, so dedicates a portion of her time and money to helping women and children fleeing abusive husbands.
The story stumbled when Liz shows up to clean Cain's mansion. And when she nurses him through a night of fever. I was rolling my eyes a few times there.
But the reason Liz and Cain divorced was nicely handled. And I thought Meier did a good job of guiding them back to each other, through honest conversation, confession, and self-motivated growth/change. I'd probably give her part of this double-book collection 2.5 stars.
It Happened One Week
The honest truth is JoAnn Ross lost me at "Satan's Cove", the first two words of the book. Really? A romantic, picturesque little coastal Oregon town is called Satan's Cove. Oh boy.
Strike one.
It didn't get better.
Dane Cutter is a townie boy who escapes to become a powerful, world-traveled, luxury hotel executive. He becomes disenchanted with his wealthy jet set life, abandons it to buy the run-down Smugglers' Inn, where he used to work with his mom. Two weeks later, the girl he had a summer fling with in high school but never got over, shows up with a slew of coworkers for some kind of group challenge weekend. One look at Amanda and Dane gets the hornypants pretty bad. Everything he does after this is calculated to win Amanda back.
Um. Okay. A little creepy, but I'll let it go, see where we're going...
On the other hand, Amanda is a lonely, high-powered advertising exec gunning for a promotion. Cool, I like powerful career women. Only we soon find out Amanda chose this career because her daddy made her, she doesn't really like it. Aw, crap. Why can't she like her job and be good at it?
Strike two.
And when she sees Dane, her teenage heartbreak knocks her for a loop. Okay, that one I believe. Maybe this is gonna turn around...
Oh, but when all the planned challenge activities fall apart, Dane is the one who rescues her every time. Damn. And when Amanda gives in to her attraction to Dane, it blooms quickly into love, and she drops her executive dreams in a heartbeat so she can stay in this tiny town with Dane and go in with some former coworkers to start up a piddly little advertising shop instead of accepting the awesome promotion she's worked so hard to earn. Double damn.
Strike three. You're out.
Maid For The Millionaire
This is a whole sub-genre, apparently: humble, Cinderella-ish gals snagging millionaires (or billionaires now, because those dollars don't go as far as they used to, I suppose). Putting aside the whole gold-digging, whorish aspect of an entire sub-genre of romance novels catering to this, I'll go on...
Surprisingly, I liked a few aspects of this story. Susan Meier's a pretty good writer, I liked her style. I really liked how the heroine, Liz, pulled herself up by the bootstraps after her divorce from Cain Nestor (ugh, the name) by starting a cleaning service. She was raised in an abusive home, so dedicates a portion of her time and money to helping women and children fleeing abusive husbands.
The story stumbled when Liz shows up to clean Cain's mansion. And when she nurses him through a night of fever. I was rolling my eyes a few times there.
But the reason Liz and Cain divorced was nicely handled. And I thought Meier did a good job of guiding them back to each other, through honest conversation, confession, and self-motivated growth/change. I'd probably give her part of this double-book collection 2.5 stars.
September 26, 2023
September Readathon
Another I found just fine, liked the leads and are glad they got their HEA, but was never fully drawn in or invested. And too bad, because teenage fire turned into mature love is a trope I enjoy.
There's a light touch to the prose and the book but the plot and all the rest stay light too. A bit like the book I read right before this one--yeah they have things to decide before they wind up together in the end, but it's not conflict or true obstacles or even deep emotion. It's only decisions.
Good secondary characters, convenient step-ins when the plot needed it by some, an interesting setting.
-- Ross has all this very careful jailbait 'don't worry guys I didn't really do anything' ground-laying -- which, do not get me wrong, I completely get, even back when this was written but certainly how people react nowadays -- and then our heroine thinks: "Everywhere Dane went, Amanda went there, as well, smiling up at him with a coy Lolita smile overbrimming with sensual invitation." Yikes! lol 1) wtf commas 2) wtf that allusion, did no one between the author and editors know what that book is about?
Another I found just fine, liked the leads and are glad they got their HEA, but was never fully drawn in or invested. And too bad, because teenage fire turned into mature love is a trope I enjoy.
There's a light touch to the prose and the book but the plot and all the rest stay light too. A bit like the book I read right before this one--yeah they have things to decide before they wind up together in the end, but it's not conflict or true obstacles or even deep emotion. It's only decisions.
Good secondary characters, convenient step-ins when the plot needed it by some, an interesting setting.
-- Ross has all this very careful jailbait 'don't worry guys I didn't really do anything' ground-laying -- which, do not get me wrong, I completely get, even back when this was written but certainly how people react nowadays -- and then our heroine thinks: "Everywhere Dane went, Amanda went there, as well, smiling up at him with a coy Lolita smile overbrimming with sensual invitation." Yikes! lol 1) wtf commas 2) wtf that allusion, did no one between the author and editors know what that book is about?
July 30, 2014
Good reunion/second chance romance. Amanda and Dane had had a summer romance as teenagers. At the end of the summer they planned to stay in touch, but outside interference prevented it. Neither one forgot the other, even through the hurt they felt over what they thought was betrayal. Ten years later, Amanda is a high powered advertising executive looking for a place to hold a team building session and ends up back at Smuggler's Inn. There she meets Dane again and they discover that the feelings they'd had are still there, but don't know if they have any better chance of a future together.
I loved Amanda's determination to do the best job she can with the retreat. She has a horrible boss, but if he moves up she has a good chance to get his job. She doesn't need the distraction of seeing Dane again, but her feelings for him are as strong as ever. I did think she was awfully quick to judge him when she thought he had never followed through on his plans. As she got to know him all over again she realized that he was much happier with his choices than she was with hers. Her growing feelings for Dane had her questioning what her goals had been and her motivations for them. I liked seeing her make the decision to take what time she could with him, even though she couldn't see a future for them. She ended up with some interesting choices to make.
Dane had returned to Satan's Cove after ten years away. He had learned a lot about the hotel business, but discovered that he missed home much more than he had ever expected. Though his days are just as long as before, he is much happier bringing Smuggler's Inn back to life. He is stunned to find Amanda and her team booked into the hotel, and not happy about it at first. It doesn't take long for them to discover that neither was to blame for the past. I liked the way that Dane moved on quickly after that discovery and admitted that his feelings for her were still there. He can also see the same signs of stress in her that he had gone through and would like to help her, but knows that she has to see it for herself. I loved seeing everything he did to try to make things easier for her. He really wants her to stay with him, but also feels that he can't stand in the way of her dreams. Dane and Amanda had to look at their feelings, their dreams and where they were now in order to find a way to achieve what they wanted. Both had to be willing to make changes.
One of the things I enjoyed was seeing the way that Amanda used her abilities to bring her coworkers together. The teamwork exercises were well done and went a long way toward showing her strengths. I really enjoyed her interactions with her various coworkers, and loved seeing her deal with her obnoxious boss. There were a couple of interesting twists at the end that made the conclusion even more satisfying.
I loved Amanda's determination to do the best job she can with the retreat. She has a horrible boss, but if he moves up she has a good chance to get his job. She doesn't need the distraction of seeing Dane again, but her feelings for him are as strong as ever. I did think she was awfully quick to judge him when she thought he had never followed through on his plans. As she got to know him all over again she realized that he was much happier with his choices than she was with hers. Her growing feelings for Dane had her questioning what her goals had been and her motivations for them. I liked seeing her make the decision to take what time she could with him, even though she couldn't see a future for them. She ended up with some interesting choices to make.
Dane had returned to Satan's Cove after ten years away. He had learned a lot about the hotel business, but discovered that he missed home much more than he had ever expected. Though his days are just as long as before, he is much happier bringing Smuggler's Inn back to life. He is stunned to find Amanda and her team booked into the hotel, and not happy about it at first. It doesn't take long for them to discover that neither was to blame for the past. I liked the way that Dane moved on quickly after that discovery and admitted that his feelings for her were still there. He can also see the same signs of stress in her that he had gone through and would like to help her, but knows that she has to see it for herself. I loved seeing everything he did to try to make things easier for her. He really wants her to stay with him, but also feels that he can't stand in the way of her dreams. Dane and Amanda had to look at their feelings, their dreams and where they were now in order to find a way to achieve what they wanted. Both had to be willing to make changes.
One of the things I enjoyed was seeing the way that Amanda used her abilities to bring her coworkers together. The teamwork exercises were well done and went a long way toward showing her strengths. I really enjoyed her interactions with her various coworkers, and loved seeing her deal with her obnoxious boss. There were a couple of interesting twists at the end that made the conclusion even more satisfying.
July 1, 2015
This two-story collection should better be rated 3.5; 4 for the JoAnn Ross work and 3 for the Susan Meier work.
Ross captures the reader for her description of Smugglers' Inn on the Oregon coast and Amanda's struggle to succeed in her job while dealing with a real asshat of a competitor. When she arranges for a team-building set of exercises over a week at Smuggler's Inn, she never expects to learn that the young man she crushed on at age 15 is now the owner of the resort. She still feels strongly for him, but how can she allow herself to even consider getting together with Dane when her job depends on how she pulls the team together so that they will actually work together rather than at cross purposes? As you might expect, things work out better than she expected, but also require that she make some hard choices.
Susan Meier's story finds the owner of a cleaning service confronting her ex-husband, the CEO of a corporation in a towel! Not a bad beginning, but he was an unfeeling prick, for reasons that are explained, during their marriage. Now he wants a do-over and decides to show how much he's changed by doing something that Liz would never expect of Cain: helping her in her volunteer work for a group that provides safe housing for women and children who've been abused and are escaping abusive situations. Cain doesn't know Liz harbors a similar past, and this also contributes to her wariness about how he's changed. As the story proceeds, Liz comes to realize that each of them has changed and that maybe they do have a chance to get together again.
Ross captures the reader for her description of Smugglers' Inn on the Oregon coast and Amanda's struggle to succeed in her job while dealing with a real asshat of a competitor. When she arranges for a team-building set of exercises over a week at Smuggler's Inn, she never expects to learn that the young man she crushed on at age 15 is now the owner of the resort. She still feels strongly for him, but how can she allow herself to even consider getting together with Dane when her job depends on how she pulls the team together so that they will actually work together rather than at cross purposes? As you might expect, things work out better than she expected, but also require that she make some hard choices.
Susan Meier's story finds the owner of a cleaning service confronting her ex-husband, the CEO of a corporation in a towel! Not a bad beginning, but he was an unfeeling prick, for reasons that are explained, during their marriage. Now he wants a do-over and decides to show how much he's changed by doing something that Liz would never expect of Cain: helping her in her volunteer work for a group that provides safe housing for women and children who've been abused and are escaping abusive situations. Cain doesn't know Liz harbors a similar past, and this also contributes to her wariness about how he's changed. As the story proceeds, Liz comes to realize that each of them has changed and that maybe they do have a chance to get together again.
December 3, 2015
Both of these stories are a 3.5. In IT HAPPENED ONE WEEK, Amanda Stockenberg returns to Smugglers' Inn for a retreat trying to save her job and work very hard on a promotion. This was where, as a teenager, she found the love of her life, or she thought. Now she is surprised to find out that Dane Cutter had bought the Inn and was trying to make a go of it after it had been closed for awhile. Both of these people needed something and it wasn't hard to realize what that was.
In MAID FOR THE MILLIONAIRE Liz Harper was starting her own cleaning business after her divorce and by just luck, the day she subs for a friends is when she discovers that her new client is her ex-husband. Cain Nestor is shocked to find his ex-wife as his maid but they soon discover that the reason for their marriage and their divorce and who they were then had all changed.
In MAID FOR THE MILLIONAIRE Liz Harper was starting her own cleaning business after her divorce and by just luck, the day she subs for a friends is when she discovers that her new client is her ex-husband. Cain Nestor is shocked to find his ex-wife as his maid but they soon discover that the reason for their marriage and their divorce and who they were then had all changed.
June 7, 2016
Good read. It's early Ross, so with a bit less depth than her later ones, but still well worth reading. Hero and heroine were summer sweethearts ages ago, and now by chance, they're back in the same resort where they first fell in love. She's a high-powered ad agency type and he owns the resort, but she thinks he's just an employee, like he was back when. Makes things interesting when the attraction rekindles between them. I liked it.
September 16, 2016
Both stories give a person faith in second chances. Love gone wrong but still the feelings won't go away. When all parties involved try to overlook their hurt from the past amazing things happen. Both stories are sweet reads and I enjoyed them both.
February 26, 2014
So glad to have another story from JoAnn Ross!! A beautiful love story amidst a corporate games in an old Bed 'n Breakfast - I want to go there!! I am hoping that there will be a sequel!!
Read
August 15, 2014ONE star for the first book. It's perfect if you're looking for a really good (unintentional) belly laugh.
THREE stars for the second book.
THREE stars for the second book.
February 3, 2015
Very good book but it ended to soon.
May 22, 2015
I enjoyed this book....It's the first time I've read either Ms. Ross or Ms Meier's books and both were very good. Great summer read!
May 16, 2018
Good read
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews