The title of this book should be Enduring Lust, since the only thing I could figure out that the hero and heroine had in common was raging physical desire for each other. Mind you, it’s not a particularly bad book. It’s not good, but it’s not bad. It’s just sort of there.

Brand Carendon, star quarterback of an NFL team, discovers by chance (isn’t it always by chance?) that he has an 11-year-old son by his high-school sweetheart Dani. They married when she told him she was pregnant, but his wealthy family drove them apart, and his mother told him that Dani aborted the baby. Brand went on to a glorious football career, first in college and then in the pros, and tried to forget about the girl he’d loved.

Dani has struggled for years as a single mom. She’s shocked to encounter Brand again, and scared that he’ll try to take Dave away. When he suggests that they marry to give Dave a “real family,” she’s wary. But Brand convinces her to go along with the plan; one of his persuasive techniques is to entice her into making love with him again. Well, she figures, at least they’ve got that much still going for them, so she accepts his proposal.

Now she has to contend with his mother, who’s still hostile to her; Brand’s ex-wife, who turns out to be a very decent person; a rapacious press, intent on ferreting out the story of her relationship with Brand; and the sudden rags-to-riches transition she and Dave are going to have to make. Dave, it seems, is so thrilled finally to have a father that he has very few problems adjusting to his new life (no mention is made of how he feels at having to leave the only life and friends he’s ever known).

There’s very little verbal communication between Brand and Dani. Whenever a problem or crisis comes up, their solution is not to discuss it, but to go to bed. The story devolves into a PG-rated boinkfest. They do talk, but they don’t say much. When Brad has to go back home to run the family law firm, he delays telling Dani about it until the last minute, and when she protests, guess what he does? Yep – he carries her off to bed. Sex is the answer to all their problems.

These were not unlikable characters; this was not an unpleasant story. Some of the dialogue was actually pretty good, and the settings were realized fairly well. I even enjoyed the notion of an ex-wife who wasn’t a raving witch. But my overall impression was akin to how I feel after eating a bowl of Jello: it’s there, it’s OK, but it’s hardly memorable. Sometimes you’re in the mood for Jello, and that’s fine. If mental Jello is what you’re after, you could do worse than this book. Just don’t make the mistake of expecting a full meal.