Have you ever been distracted while reading a romance because so much of the text has been italicized? After finishing Thea Devine’s first series romance, what mostly sticks in my mind is neither the story nor the characters, but all those damn italics! And, considering her reputation for writing historical romance/historical erotica, I frankly expected a more scorching read. This is not horrible book, but an extremely annoying one!

Thirty-two-year-old Carrie Spencer is back in Paradise, Maine, after having left town at the age of seventeen. When she left, Truck McKelvey couldn’t believe it – they were thisclose to doing it, and thisclose to being in love for a lifetime.

Carrie Spencer has spent the past fifteen years making a name for herself in cut-throat world of Manhattan advertising. When her lover turns competitor and steals her ideas, she loses her job and has no place to go except the town she swore she’d never live in – the small “dead-end” town of Paradise, where she grew up and lived with her long-suffering mother.

The chemistry between Carrie and Truck is apparently so strong it will singe the hair off strangers passing by, but Carrie is determined not to involve herself with Truck – she wants to get back on her feet and get out of town as soon as she can. Truck, on the other hand, has never forgotten his Carrie, and will do whatever it takes to win her heart, even if that means only coming to her in the night as a phantom lover.

As Truck insinuates himself back into Carrie’s life, Carrie slowly gets assimilated back into the town and its inhabitants. She appears to have more of an impact on her friend Jeannie (who becomes self-actualized by buying sexy clothes) than she does on herself. She must really be good in bed for Truck to put up with the nonsense she puts him through.

But Truck, studly plumber that he is, with a vintage Mercedes to boot, will take Carrie any way he can have her – in his car, on her roof (I kid you not!), standing up, from the rear – you name it, that’s where (and how) they do it. The sex is not particularly explicit, and it’s not particularly sexy either. At least, it wasn’t for this reviewer, who needs an emotional connection to find a love scene sexy. And when one of the lead characters in a romance is as much of a mess as Carrie is, I can’t find that connection.

The sub-plot involving Jeannie and her husband devolves into soap-opera-like melodrama, and the part of the story where Carrie actually realizes she has changed is extremely rushed. Had the reader been able to witness Carrie’s epiphany rather than have it pass by in a flash, the book would have been more worthwhile.

That’s not to say the entire book is worthless – Truck’s disabled father, known as “Old Man,” is a touching character, and there is a poignant moment where Truck confronts Carrie about her mother’s selfish selflessness. But, for most of the story, Carrie’s motivations are not fully fleshed, making it difficult to understand her. And, of course, those italics don’t help, don’t help at all.