Taming Ben
Grade : B+

Taming Ben is the last installment of Colleen Faulkner's Bachelor's Inc. series. Zack, Owen and Ben are childhood friends who used to think that girls were gross and recently swore off women. Famous last words, those. You know what happens to eligible bachelors who've sworn to stay that way. Zack and Owen have already succumbed to the wiles of good women, and Ben is the last one to go.

Bennett Gordon is used to being a chick magnet, but realizes his long string of casual relationships have not done him any good. However, he's not stopped being responsive to feminine beauty, and when he stops to help a woman with a flat tire he can't help being attracted to her. Imagine his surprise when she turns out to be none other than Mackenzie Sayers, the owner of a painting business he's got a complaint about.

Ben does not recognize Mackenzie but she remembers Ben very well. Back in high school she was his lab partner and had an unrequited, painful crush on him. Since then she's lost weight and changed her name and her image but the hurt feelings are still somewhere deep inside her. Her traumas may seem trivial but you know how it is - relatively minor slights in adolescence may become serious blows to one's self esteem. She has also had negative experiences with her love life and doesn't want to feel used by men any more. So she has resigned herself to a life of loneliness unless she can find someone worth marrying and spending the rest of her life with.

The two can't deny their mutual attraction to each other and become quite good friends, almost against their will. Then something happens to remind them that life is short, and they have to make important decisions about their life and futures. But the past is still there between them and it's hard to move forward without talking it through.

The plot of Taming Ben is nothing out of the ordinary, but the book has a lot of sweet, sentimental charm. Ben and Mackenzie's behavior is true to character and they don't spoil it all by indulging in fits of ditziness or unnecessary macho garbage. It's really refreshing to have characters whom I can actually like for a change. They can joke, flirt, act goofy and have a good time with their friends. They are willing to support each other in times of worry. They can talk about their feelings and when they fight they actually work to solve their problems. Ben has an easier time with the last part, though; Mackenzie is more reserved. I can't resist those therapeutic Cinderella tales of eradicating high school traumas and raising one's self esteem. Been there, done that - hasn't everybody?

I can't think of anything wrong with this book. Okay, so maybe the crucial conversation solved all their problems rather hurriedly, considering some of the baggage had been carried around for twenty years. And the title is a bit off: Taming Mackenzie would have been closer. But these things aren't essential. The thing is, it was easy to believe these two wonderful people could have a happy ever after, and I wanted them to have it.

If all category romances were like Taming Ben I'd read nothing else. It mixes just the right amounts of light flirtation and tender emotion to warm my jaded old heart and keep a smile on my face.

Hmm, wonder if my ex-lab partner is still single?

Reviewed by Maria K
Grade : B+
Book Type: Series Romance

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : April 3, 2001

Publication Date: 2000/12

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