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Doucet #1
The Restless Heart
Danielle Hamilton hires dark-eyed, handsome hunk Remy Doucet as a nanny for her sister's children, and he tries to convince her to forget her past and love again
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 1991
4 people are currently reading
1044 people want to read
About the author
Tami Hoag
101 books6,152 followersTami Hoag is the #1 internationally bestselling author of more than thirty books published in more than thirty languages worldwide, including her latest thrillers—BITTER SEASON, COLD COLD HEART and THE 9TH GIRL. Renowned for combining thrilling plots with character-driven suspense, Hoag first hit the New York Times Bestseller list with NIGHT SINS, and each of her books since has been a bestseller.
She leads a double life in Palm Beach County, Florida where she is also known as a top competitive equestrian in the Olympic discipline of dressage. Other interests include the study of psychology, and mixed martial arts fighting.
Visit her at www.tamihoag.com, Facebook.com/TamiHoag and on Twitter @TamiHoag
She leads a double life in Palm Beach County, Florida where she is also known as a top competitive equestrian in the Olympic discipline of dressage. Other interests include the study of psychology, and mixed martial arts fighting.
Visit her at www.tamihoag.com, Facebook.com/TamiHoag and on Twitter @TamiHoag
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
July 17, 2011
Restless Heart was a short sweet book about a world-famous photographer Danielle who comes from a family who have bad luck in love and marriage except her sister who has been married for twelve years and has five kids.
Danielle knows nothing about children and domesticity and a bad experience one year ago has sent her in a shell, her family is worried so they hatch a plan. She is left in charge of the kids and is totally exhausted, so she calls for nanny.
Remy is not a nanny, but he is unemployed and needs a job, so when a call comes in his sister's agency he lies and goes. Remy is 31 and Danielle about to turn 40. Remy was fun, he actually helped Danielle loosen up and fell for her first.
Now, I am off to read Remy's eldest brother's book Lucky's Lady.
Danielle knows nothing about children and domesticity and a bad experience one year ago has sent her in a shell, her family is worried so they hatch a plan. She is left in charge of the kids and is totally exhausted, so she calls for nanny.
Remy is not a nanny, but he is unemployed and needs a job, so when a call comes in his sister's agency he lies and goes. Remy is 31 and Danielle about to turn 40. Remy was fun, he actually helped Danielle loosen up and fell for her first.
Now, I am off to read Remy's eldest brother's book Lucky's Lady.
April 13, 2013
The Restless Heart is a very light romance with a sexy, too-perfect, could-only-be-a-fantasy-type hero (almost saccharine sweet--gag). While it was an enjoyable read with a few memorable steamy scenes, there is not much to draw one in to reading a series. If this had been my first Tami Hoag book, it also would have been the last. Fortunately, that was not the case. I first read #3 in the Doucet series, Cry Wolf, which is a very suspenseful thriller and romance. Lucky's Lady, which is #2 in the series, is also well worth the read and is far better than Restless Heart.
If you are trying to decide whether to read Restless Heart, know that you can skip it without compromising anything you need to know for books #2 and #3, which are so much better. Hoag explained in an author's note at the end of Lucky's Lady that it was while writing this series that she crossed over from being strictly a romance writer and began developing as a writer of suspenseful thrillers. This evolution is very evident in the three books of this series. That is helpful for me to know as I look for more Hoag thrillers to read, since I can note the date first published. Those published prior to 1992 are likely her straight romance books, and after that are the romance-suspense-thrillers that are so much more engaging in my opinion.
July 10, 2010
This was fairly good. A globe hopping photographer comes to New Orleans to babysit her sister's children. She hires a nanny to help out, a cajun hunk named Remy Doucet. They fall in love but she is convinced, because of things that happened in her past, that she is a bad bet for a wife and mother plus she is 9 years older than him. They both eventually decide to change themselves to suit the other. Pretty well written without being too deep as it is a fairly short book, originally published as a Loveswept. A lot of good flavor of cajun New Orleans with lots of cajun words sprinkled in. Pretty good for the couple of hours it took to read.
August 2, 2019
Acţiunea cărţii se desfăşoară în Golful Breaux - Louisiana, un ţinut înconjurat de ape, în vecinătatea mlaştinilor.
Viața în acel ținut, departe de stresul şi aglomeraţia marilor oraşe, se desfășura într-o atmosfera boemă, specifică spiritului cajun, care îşi face simţită din plin prezenţa. E o poveste minunat scrisă, te captivează de la primul până la ultimul rând, suspansul și dramatismul sunt foarte bine gradate, iar acțiunea, deși contemporană, e impregnată de un rafinat parfum de epocă al vechiului sud, cu familii vechi, respectabile, cu educaţie şi maniere alese, unde casele nu erau doar case, ci proprietăţi cu nume pretenţioase ca Belle Riviere. Însă fațadele de multe ori sunt înșelătoare, iar manierele pot ascunde caractere vicioase, defecte.
Este povestea lui Laurel Chandler, o tânără de 30 de ani provenind dintr-o familie de vază, care a lăsat în urmă Georgia, unde își făcuse o carieră ca procuror, pentru a se întoarce acasă, în Golful Breaux, la Belle Riviere, în casa mătuşii Caroline, sora tatălui ei, în încercarea de a repara cioburile sparte ale vieţii şi stabilității sale mentale și emoționale în urma unui eşec dureros în carieră şi a divorţului prin care trecuse de curând.
https://www.delicateseliterare.ro/sar...
Viața în acel ținut, departe de stresul şi aglomeraţia marilor oraşe, se desfășura într-o atmosfera boemă, specifică spiritului cajun, care îşi face simţită din plin prezenţa. E o poveste minunat scrisă, te captivează de la primul până la ultimul rând, suspansul și dramatismul sunt foarte bine gradate, iar acțiunea, deși contemporană, e impregnată de un rafinat parfum de epocă al vechiului sud, cu familii vechi, respectabile, cu educaţie şi maniere alese, unde casele nu erau doar case, ci proprietăţi cu nume pretenţioase ca Belle Riviere. Însă fațadele de multe ori sunt înșelătoare, iar manierele pot ascunde caractere vicioase, defecte.
Este povestea lui Laurel Chandler, o tânără de 30 de ani provenind dintr-o familie de vază, care a lăsat în urmă Georgia, unde își făcuse o carieră ca procuror, pentru a se întoarce acasă, în Golful Breaux, la Belle Riviere, în casa mătuşii Caroline, sora tatălui ei, în încercarea de a repara cioburile sparte ale vieţii şi stabilității sale mentale și emoționale în urma unui eşec dureros în carieră şi a divorţului prin care trecuse de curând.
https://www.delicateseliterare.ro/sar...
December 23, 2010
This is an early work by Tami Hoag the romance writer before she became Tami Hoag, the suspense writer. As long as you know what you're getting, this is an enjoyable way to spend a few hours. It's very different form the related book, Lucky's Lady, which tells the story of Remy's brother, Lucky. Lucky's Lady blends a healthy dose of suspense into the mix, which I suppose was part of Hoag's evolution from romance writing to writing suspense with a few romantic elements. Hoag's writing talent, which comes to the fore in her longer works, is still present here, and makes this older, somewhat dated "Loveswept" romance more entertaining than most.
October 14, 2015
This book was a masterpiece! Cajun romance is a spectacular genre of book and for an Iowan author to have such a mastery of the subject is outstanding. Hamilton and Doucet were very believable characters and the romance they built between each other was good too. The struggles of middle-aged love are very potent in this novel and the common themes between man and woman are explored very well, i.e., Hamilton struggles to fall in love again because of past failed loves and worried about losing her career and the power of being single.
Doucet is your typical Cajun wolf and I love how Hoag paints his masculine physique and demeanor in the novel! Definitely one of my home boys in all of American French fiction. This novel should have sold better than what it did back in 1991 but it got me interested more into the romance genre of fiction.
Hoag does a great job of painting a canvass of the New Acadian bush and the social life of New Acadian culture similar to how James Lee Burke writes his fiction based on Robincheaux. I would love to see Doucet and Robincheaux together in a work of fiction!
The plot was unique and interesting also how a male nanny takes care of a Scottish family of children and struggles to find a place for himself being single in middle age. Hamilton is the travelling photographer struggling with old love and the adventure of being love-sick for far too long. I also loved the Scottish uncle in the novel as he served as the mentor and grandparent allusion in the story and sort of served as a link between the lovers too.
Lastly, the sex in the novel was good it wasn't overly pornographic like you see in novels passed 2000 but at the same time it made you want to read it all the more. This book had great verisimilitude and I could not put it down. I would love to translate this work into French if it has not already been. And truly let the Euro-French and Franco-Canadian audiences see how bisous and tender love and care are shown in the lost colony of the empire.
A must read and very enjoyable book with the literary verve that will make you finish it till the end. Let love abound forever and I will for sure finish the series with high expectations!
Doucet is your typical Cajun wolf and I love how Hoag paints his masculine physique and demeanor in the novel! Definitely one of my home boys in all of American French fiction. This novel should have sold better than what it did back in 1991 but it got me interested more into the romance genre of fiction.
Hoag does a great job of painting a canvass of the New Acadian bush and the social life of New Acadian culture similar to how James Lee Burke writes his fiction based on Robincheaux. I would love to see Doucet and Robincheaux together in a work of fiction!
The plot was unique and interesting also how a male nanny takes care of a Scottish family of children and struggles to find a place for himself being single in middle age. Hamilton is the travelling photographer struggling with old love and the adventure of being love-sick for far too long. I also loved the Scottish uncle in the novel as he served as the mentor and grandparent allusion in the story and sort of served as a link between the lovers too.
Lastly, the sex in the novel was good it wasn't overly pornographic like you see in novels passed 2000 but at the same time it made you want to read it all the more. This book had great verisimilitude and I could not put it down. I would love to translate this work into French if it has not already been. And truly let the Euro-French and Franco-Canadian audiences see how bisous and tender love and care are shown in the lost colony of the empire.
A must read and very enjoyable book with the literary verve that will make you finish it till the end. Let love abound forever and I will for sure finish the series with high expectations!
October 21, 2015
My first Tami Hoag book was Lucky's Lady. I loved it and went on a quest to find the other Doucet series books. This one was near impossible to find and finally I discovered it as an e-book paired with Tempestuous / Restless Heart. I really love the way Tami Hoag makes the Cajun world come alive with this really sweet romance.
Danielle is a wealthy photographer who is running from an experience that has only solidified, in her mind, that she is not marriage and parenthood material. Her sister is taking a 3 week vacation and has guilted her into watching her 5 kids. She needs help, but no nanny agency in New Orleans will send a nanny to that household. They've been blackballed.
Remy, an unemployed geologist, needs a job, desperately. Since he has numerous nieces, nephews and cousins, he figures this is no big deal. His sister also owns the agency, so what could be the harm? When Remy meets Danielle it is instant attraction and they both feel it.
Danielle has all kinds of reasons why it won't work, but Remy is a bulldozer and just mows them all down alone with all of Danielle's defenses.
Danielle is a wealthy photographer who is running from an experience that has only solidified, in her mind, that she is not marriage and parenthood material. Her sister is taking a 3 week vacation and has guilted her into watching her 5 kids. She needs help, but no nanny agency in New Orleans will send a nanny to that household. They've been blackballed.
Remy, an unemployed geologist, needs a job, desperately. Since he has numerous nieces, nephews and cousins, he figures this is no big deal. His sister also owns the agency, so what could be the harm? When Remy meets Danielle it is instant attraction and they both feel it.
Danielle has all kinds of reasons why it won't work, but Remy is a bulldozer and just mows them all down alone with all of Danielle's defenses.
March 9, 2019
Very dated.
September 1, 2025
Love this story. It’s one of the two contemporary series romances I have moved around with me through 7-8 moves. (The other is Dixie Browning’s Twice in a Blue Moon). Somehow Tami Hoag manages to balance the heroine’s deep grief with love and laughter. I re-read this one every few years, even though I can quote some of the lines.
It’s intriguing to learn about the Cajun culture and the bayou setting.
I enjoyed Lucky’s Lady when I read it years ago, as well, even though it’s romantic suspense.
It’s intriguing to learn about the Cajun culture and the bayou setting.
I enjoyed Lucky’s Lady when I read it years ago, as well, even though it’s romantic suspense.
February 5, 2019
Sappy, stupid, love-at-first-sight blather. But I did finish it.
July 16, 2022
This is the first of the romance novels I’ve ever read from Tami i’m so used to her other novels a little darker so this was kind of a ray of sunshine sweet and sultry.
December 20, 2022
The first book in the Doucet series. Cajun setting. Light and fun.
June 6, 2016
2.5 Stars
I don't read many books that are singularly romance novels, though I AM a hopeless romantic--I like my romantic suspense novels and I HAVE indulged in few romantic comedies and like to enjoy other genres if they happen to have a side of romance to accompany them.
I read this book because it is listed as the first book in the Doucet romantic suspense series and introduces to us the first Doucet sibling, Remy, as well as mentioning the protagonist of the second Doucet book, Lucky. I came across the last book in this series A Thin Dark Line at a warehouse sale and had bought it in tandem with several other warehouse sale books (17 books bought for $7, yo!). And so with the interest in the series itself and my OCD-ness for reading book series in their proper order...
This book presents as a pretty traditional, standard romance novel with lots of lusting, lots of emotions being flung around, and some angst to wrap it all up. I'm not going to say that I didn't enjoy it, but it wasn't the best book in the world. The beginning of the book was kind of aggravating, but the story got better as the book progressed, so I'm not complaining too much--I might have taken offense to Remy's whole spiel about how women should know how to cook and clean and take care of children and automatically, naturally have maternal instincts and how it's absurdly ridiculous that Danielle doesn't have any of these qualities.
If fictional characters were tangible, I may have kicked the man in the shins myself, so I took pleasure in watching the kids do it for me.
Speaking of the kids... this is how I know this book is purely fictional and written in an old-fashioned sense geared toward a warm-hearted audience. It utilizes the whole "kids do the darnedest things" cliche in the most comically unbelievable fashion to create endearment towards the book. Because it's fun to watch a bunch a kids wreak havoc in the fictional world so long as some nice guy can come by and fix their behavior without resorting to hiring a drill sergeant. In real life, behavior like that probably wouldn't fly no matter how rich you are.
Overall, this book made for a good few hours of entertainment.
I don't read many books that are singularly romance novels, though I AM a hopeless romantic--I like my romantic suspense novels and I HAVE indulged in few romantic comedies and like to enjoy other genres if they happen to have a side of romance to accompany them.
I read this book because it is listed as the first book in the Doucet romantic suspense series and introduces to us the first Doucet sibling, Remy, as well as mentioning the protagonist of the second Doucet book, Lucky. I came across the last book in this series A Thin Dark Line at a warehouse sale and had bought it in tandem with several other warehouse sale books (17 books bought for $7, yo!). And so with the interest in the series itself and my OCD-ness for reading book series in their proper order...
This book presents as a pretty traditional, standard romance novel with lots of lusting, lots of emotions being flung around, and some angst to wrap it all up. I'm not going to say that I didn't enjoy it, but it wasn't the best book in the world. The beginning of the book was kind of aggravating, but the story got better as the book progressed, so I'm not complaining too much--I might have taken offense to Remy's whole spiel about how women should know how to cook and clean and take care of children and automatically, naturally have maternal instincts and how it's absurdly ridiculous that Danielle doesn't have any of these qualities.
If fictional characters were tangible, I may have kicked the man in the shins myself, so I took pleasure in watching the kids do it for me.
Speaking of the kids... this is how I know this book is purely fictional and written in an old-fashioned sense geared toward a warm-hearted audience. It utilizes the whole "kids do the darnedest things" cliche in the most comically unbelievable fashion to create endearment towards the book. Because it's fun to watch a bunch a kids wreak havoc in the fictional world so long as some nice guy can come by and fix their behavior without resorting to hiring a drill sergeant. In real life, behavior like that probably wouldn't fly no matter how rich you are.
Overall, this book made for a good few hours of entertainment.
March 4, 2017
A good, light romancy read. It's also a decent start to the Bayou stories... They get quite a bit more suspense like and less romance focused in the last two books. In this case, I liked Remy Doucet. He wasn't forceful or arrogant - simply charming and persuasive. Danielle was the tortured heroine and their story was pretty enjoyable. Basically, he hires on as a nanny while she's watching her sister-in-laws kids (this is where her tortured past comes in) and he helps her get over her troubles while romancing her.
The stars on this might have been higher if not for the ending.
The stars on this might have been higher if not for the ending.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 1, 2014
The Restless Heart (Doucet, Bk 1) (Loveswept, No 458)
Author: Tami Hoag
As a disclaimer to this review, you must know that I am a woman who doesn't typically read, prefer or enjoy a romance novel. I find them unrealistic, underdeveloped and uninspiring. Nevertheless, someone gave me this book in a "box of books" with another Hoag novel so I decided to give it a try. I was glad that it was a short book and a quick read. It was exactly as the back cover laid it out to be - a woman falling in love with a male nanny (whom also falls for her) that she hired to care for her five nieces and nephews. If you like romance, this is well written with only a few typoes. The characters don't have multi-levels but there is a little more than meets the eye. If you want an easy beach read, this will suffice. But if you are like me, you might like to take along a book cover so not everyone knows that you are reading a "steamy romance" - LOL.
Author: Tami Hoag
As a disclaimer to this review, you must know that I am a woman who doesn't typically read, prefer or enjoy a romance novel. I find them unrealistic, underdeveloped and uninspiring. Nevertheless, someone gave me this book in a "box of books" with another Hoag novel so I decided to give it a try. I was glad that it was a short book and a quick read. It was exactly as the back cover laid it out to be - a woman falling in love with a male nanny (whom also falls for her) that she hired to care for her five nieces and nephews. If you like romance, this is well written with only a few typoes. The characters don't have multi-levels but there is a little more than meets the eye. If you want an easy beach read, this will suffice. But if you are like me, you might like to take along a book cover so not everyone knows that you are reading a "steamy romance" - LOL.
May 23, 2016
The only reason I read this book was because it is the first of a series that I wanted to read - the other books in the series seem to be a lot more interesting. I'm not normally a romantic book reader and this book reminded me of why. I liked Remy simply because I find the image of a man cuddling a baby to be very sexy. Danielle annoyed me with her incessant harping on the age difference between her and Remy. The way she acts, her family may as well start looking into nursing homes for her as she is so "old". And the way she treated those children just broke my heart. They just wanted a little attention from her and she was so focused on herself that she just couldn't give it to them. I'm hoping the next books in the series have more of a story to them.
December 21, 2011
I was kind of disappointed with this book. I read it after reading Lucky's Lady, which I loved. Remy was almost what I wanted him to be. I was expecting him to be a bit more belligerent, not so docile.
July 7, 2013
Don't have high hopes for this one, but it's the first of a 3 book series and the other 2 sound interesting.
I was right; this one just kind of laid there. I like more story and less sexual tease. This is why I never read romance novels.
I was right; this one just kind of laid there. I like more story and less sexual tease. This is why I never read romance novels.
October 26, 2012
I didn't know Tami Hoag had written romance, so was surprised, but a nice quick easy read
May 9, 2017
I surprised myself by how much I enjoyed this book. I thought it wouldn't be my cup of tea. But I think I smiled throughout the whole thing. Sometimes because it was funny, sometimes so corny I just had to laugh, and sometimes because of the immense sexual chemistry and romance.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews