I’m beginning to sound like a broken record. How many reviews have I written this year in which I’ve said that a book’s plot makes no sense? Well, here’s another one. It’s a fun book with a great hero and lots of chemistry, but its plot makes no sense.

Danielle Douglass is in trouble. Her controlling, potentially violent ex-boyfriend Ted changed the locks on their (his) house, took back the car he gave her, and drained all the money from her bank account. Even worse, he took custody of their dog – Sadie, a lovable bullmastiff, who is Danielle’s joy. Knowing that Ted might abuse Sadie, Danielle steals the champion show dog. Now she’s on the run from the police.

Danielle, who is a professional dog handler, goes to a photographer to have a picture of Sadie made. She plans to get Sadie a commercial endorsement, which will make some money. Coincidentally, the photographer she finds is Nick Cooper, whom she knew in high school. Danielle and Nick didn’t hang with the same crowd, but he once rescued her from a bad situation, and she’s always regretted that she never got to know him better. Nick, who had a savage crush on Danielle back then, observes that Danielle is once again in distress and offers to help her. Before long, they’re lovers, working together to find a way out of Danielle’s troubles. Meanwhile, the perfidious Ted wants to get both Sadie and Danielle back.

Imagine that you’re on the run from the police and a creepy ex, with no car, no place to live, and with a very large, distinctive, valuable stolen dog. What do you do? It strikes me that trying to find a way to make a living off said stolen dog isn’t a great idea. I’m not sure exactly what it means to get a “commercial endorsement” for a dog – Sadie’s picture starts appearing on Purina bags? – but it doesn’t take a genius to know that this is not the way to elude the police and the creepy ex. It doesn’t even make sense from Danielle’s point of view. “Stealing a dog, even for a really good reason, would ruin her,” she thinks. “Disappearing, and fast, was her best plan.” So why does she spend half the book not disappearing, staying in town, trying to get a commercial endorsement for Sadie? It’s especially frustrating because this plotline goes exactly nowhere. It could easily have been replaced with a story that makes Danielle seem like she has a brain.

Fortunately, this book has one great thing going for it: Nick. What a terrific hero. He is intelligent, successful, and gorgeous. What’s more, he’s perfectly honest with Danielle from the beginning, about everything. From the minute we meet him, he doesn’t hesitate to tell Danielle what’s going on with him, as when he charmingly confesses that she starred in all his most erotic adolescent dreams. When things get more serious between them, he’s up front about what he wants from this relationship, and refuses to let her pretend that it’s only about sex. He’s totally into Danielle, but he never seems controlling or overwhelming. You always know where you stand with Nick.

Danielle is more of a problem. The silly plot makes her seem like a dumb bunny, and the fact that this is the second time she’s needed Nick to rescue her from an abusive boyfriend gives her that unflattering “doormat” look. As the book progresses, and as we learn more about her relationship with Ted, she gets a little better – who wouldn’t be a bit skittish after going with a guy like that? The fact is, though, that even when she gets a spine, it’s not easy to understand what a great guy like Nick sees in her – beyond all those adolescent fantasies.

This book also suffers a little from its short format; the relationship feels rushed, and the end is wrapped up much too neatly. Back on the plus side, it is very well-written and has some funny moments. I enjoyed the dog, Sadie. Also, the chemistry between Nick and Danielle is compelling and love scenes are downright yummy. Yeah, I like Nick’s style, all the way.

For the Love of Nick teeters on the brink of getting a recommendation; it falls squarely in the realm of “some might like it more than I did.” I thought the heroine was too much of a victim, and the plot – well, you know what I’m going to say about that. Whether its silly premise counters its dreamboat hero and lots of humor is up to you.