The Rocky Road to Romance (2004 original; edició 2011)

Steve needs a temporary traffic reporter and Daisy, his dog lady spot, volunteers. She ends up hitting a drug dealer and her life is threatened. Steve never knew how fantastic Daisy was until she volunteered and now he will protect her no matter what.

I enjoyed this story. I can see elements that later went into her Stephanie Plum series. The characters are quirky but fun. The story was good with humor sprinkled in it. Danger was Daisy's middle name.

This is a summer afternoon's beach read. ( )

Synopsis: 'The “Dog Lady” of radio station WZZZ, free-spirited Daisy Adams, figures anything has to beat pushing tasty canine recipes over the airwaves. So when a slot for a roving traffic reporter opens, Daisy jumps at it — despite the fact that she’s already juggling about fifteen other jobs. The new one comes with a raise and more responsibility. It also comes with a hands-on boss, hunky operations manager Steve Crow. When Daisy turns into a media darling after inadvertently foiling a major criminal’s getaway, Steve decides it’s his duty to protect her, bringing him even farther into the tangled web of her maddeningly overextended life. But Daisy’s got far too much going on to get involved in extracurricular activities — like falling in love.'
Review: This was an entertaining book to read. Love that the Elsie was back with her big purse and un. ( )

What Money Can Buy

The Rocky Road to Romance begins with a girl getting a new position as a traffic reporter; which leads her to unintentionally stopping a couple of crimes while being wooed by her boss whom does nothing but spend money to try and impress her. The aspect of money makes the storyline seem as if everything can be fixed with money being thrown at it. This book however is filled with some comedy which makes it hard to put down. ( )

I thought this book was just a riot. It was a quick read and funny. As this is one of Evanovich's first books slightly reworked you can see certain characters that develop into the Stephanie Plum books.
Daisy is trying to finish her dissertation while doing a handful of odd jobs. She runs a paper route, she is a crossing guard, works at nursing home and does a little 5 minute radio slot on cooking for your pooches. When the regular traffic reporter becomes unavailable at the last minute Daisy begs for the job. While driving and reporting she runs over a drug dealer and finds herself in serious danger. So what does she do? Hire a gun toting geriatric grandmother who thinks the nursing home is just too boring of course. ( )

Being a huge fan of the Stephanie Plum series, I thought giving Evanovichs' early, full-blown romance a try seemed to make sense. The typical style of Evanovich is easily recognizable with it's quirky cuteness, yet 'The Rocky Road to Romance' is a much lighter load than her later mystery fare. To the point and simple to read with adequately sized font, bulkyish paragraphs, and a mere 266 page length, it didn't take me long at all to zip through this one.

Her Plum books - the comparison is inevitable - just seemed to contain more weight per word. Here it's almost too light and fluffy, the characters nearly too wide-eyed and innocent. Despite these typical romance-book faults, the haphazardous journey Steve and Daisy traveled to get to joyous bliss was exciting in parts. There was a time I laughed outside my head - loudly - and there's just this quaint adorable vibe going down throughout the novel.

Characters were just fun, with the heroine being the more boring of the bunch. I just loved Steve's direct mind and blunt manner, the kid brother was hilarious, and Elsie...well, I can see where Grandma later came in with the Plum books (too cute). Oh, and of course, BOB, a dog you have to read about to appreciate to his - ahem, *her* - fullest.

Pacing won't be a problem for those who want a quick read, for from day one there's always something going down, whether it's a lucky criminal capture, freaky car incident, or amusing moment. Attraction felt plausible, but lust and sex was strayed away from. It's there, but no details, and I just didn't feel any strong build-up. There's not much mystery on who the assailant is with the side story, and I found myself sadly forgetting about that much of the time. It just didn't seem that urgent. Then again, in a light romance story you know everyone will be all right, so perhaps this is why.

Thankfully Evanovich's knack for writing deliciously enchanting dialogue holds true here, and even though she dished out a rather formulaic tale, it's still fun to sit through, especially for fans who are frustrated waiting for the next installment of her series. It's worth a look back at her earlier works, just don't hold your breath for something unforgettable. ( )