I’m just not the urban type. Harlequin Blaze, with its hip city dwellers, is not my favorite series romance line, but I have enjoyed Jo Leigh in the past. Although what’s underneath is nothing new in series romance, A Lick and a Promise ended up as a reasonably fun read, with likable characters including a heroine who has one of the more unusual jobs I’ve encountered in a romance novel.

Daniel Houghton III has moved from his Greenwich, Connecticut home to New York City to be nearer his work. He’s found a nice apartment in Chelsea and, upon moving in, is informed that the tenants all have a meal on Sunday. Not wanting to be a spoilsport, Daniel brings a dish over and meets Margot Janowitz.

Margot is a food stylist. Her job is to make sure that the food you see on commercials looks beyond perfect. She’s everything Daniel is not – outgoing, extroverted, breezy and stylish. Pretty soon, Margot has taken Daniel under her wing and, with the help of her gay neighbors, turns Daniel, whose style can be described as straight out of. L.L. Bean, into a metrosexual dandy. They also begin a hot affair. But can these two different people find common ground?

Well it turns out they are not as far apart as they may seem. Margot comes on like one of women on Sex In The City, but she’s far from being that shallow. In her heart, she wants love, commitment and all that, but a bad experience with a former boyfriend has left her questioning her taste in men. She begins her affair with Daniel expecting nothing more than a good time, but it turns into something more.

Daniel is an architect with a stuffy respectable firm. His parents are quintessential stuffy WASPs, and he doesn’t have a good relationship with them. Daniel has secretly been drawing plans for buildings that are more modern than the ones his clients want. Meeting Margot is the catalyst that frees Daniel’s inner wild man.

There are some secondary characters in the book who are mostly there to add some color, and there this is some material about Daniel and Margot’s work problems But most of the book is about them and their relationship. Both of them have past issues, which thankfully have not caused them to lose their brains and act silly. They have disagreements and misunderstandings, but they are not silly ones. They make a good couple; they compliment each other and bring out the best in each other.

The love scenes in the book are hot and steamy. Daniel may be kind of stuffy, but he is not in the least inhibited. Daniel and Margot banter about how she has two rings other than the ones on her toes, and when they finally get into the sack, Daniel finds out she has a pierced navel – something I am uncomfortable with but can stand. But Margot also has a pierced nipple, and that made me squirm every time it was mentioned. Call me old school, but piercing anything other than ears makes me very, very, very, very uncomfortable.

A Lick and a Promise is nothing new when it comes to series romances, but it kept me entertained. I’ll never be a hip urban chick, but I can appreciate good characters wherever they may be found, piercings and all.