In the Groove: Pamela Britton
By: 
Pamela Britton has perfectly incorporated humor, romance, and, let's not forget the most important aspect, racing, in her latest released installment in the NASCAR series.
Sarah Tingle is down on her luck after losing her job as a kindergarten teacher in California. Unbeknownst to Sarah, a few pictures that were taken of her in college were photo shopped with someone elses errr...body parts and posted on the Internet. After being tipped off about the lucrative job market in North Carolina, Sarah treks across country only to find that the info she was given is dead wrong. When all else fails, she lands a job as a motor coach driver for one of NASCAR's hottest drivers.
The story starts off as Sarah's car breaks down and, as she's walking to her interview at driver Lance Cooper's house, she is hit by Lance's car as he turns into his driveway. Sarah is obviously not a NASCAR fan and has no clue who the man who hit her actually is. True to his comedian personality that we were given a glimpse of in Dangerous Curves, he decides to have fun with her and tells her that he's actually the pool boy. Sarah quickly finds out the truth and tries to walk out on the job, but Lance convinces her to stay. This starts the whirlwind romance between the two.
We are treated to a fast-paced story which makes the pages fly by from beginning to end. While most romance novels tend to swing conflict in the direction of some type of an assault, kidnapping, or other similar circumstance that finds the hero saving the day for the heroine, the author lends credence to a more realistic accounting some of the conflicts that we tend to see in real life when couples are victim to the media and press coverage in today's age. We witness this when Sarah finds herself subjected to the stares and snide comments of other women when she is seen in the company of Lance. And I admit it: In joking, I have found myself doing the same thing about my favorite driver's wife. (One of these days her blonde hair is going to fall out and she'll be out of the picture and I'm filing for divorce, driving down to North Carolina and kidnapping that man....he he he.) Oops! Did I say that out loud? Oh, well.
It's a rare occurrence when you find that perfect book that you can find no fault with and holds your interest from beginning to end. For me, this is that book. I couldn't put the book down through my first reading of it, and had the same problem the second time around. While the first book in the series revolved around a car owner, In the Groove provides much more excitement in portraying the life of a driver, with media appearances, press coverage, and the plethera of activity that goes on at the track on race weekend. Generally, Pamela has incorporated much more of the racing scene into this book than the first without losing touch with the story line. We see more racing action and the sometimes humorous banter over the radio, which, if you're a die hard NASCAR fan, you've listened to in-car audio. This lends more depth to Lance's character, which I absolutely love.
Bottom line: Read it. Enough Said.
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Publisher: HQN Books (February 1, 2006)
ISBN: 0373770987
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