Publisher's Weekly Review
New Yorker Holly Hicks, an aspiring TV producer, has vowed to leave her Texas childhood behind. Then her boss offers her the chance to produce a special on Cal Griffin, a secret service agent who was shot saving the President a year earlier. The catch? Cal is recuperating in sleepy Honeycomb, Tex. Reluctantly, Holly heads to the tiny town to face the memories it evokes. Dubious about his new role as documentary hero and his future as a semi-disabled agent, Cal would rather heal in peace, with a few beers and the town's old dog for company. But Holly's combination of Manhattan spark and Southern sensuality intrigues him, while she in turn is mesmerized by his blue eyes and incisive personality. Cal's soon-to-be-ex-wife, a glitzy blonde with a lust for fame, complicates their romance, as does a spot of counterfeiting in the town's print shop. Such minor conflicts aren't enough to carry the plot, but McBride's (Still Mr. & Mrs., etc.) fine characterizations and fresh, funny voice sweep the reader sweetly along. The protagonists' internal dialogue is especially skillful, offering a snappy, smart-alecky counterpoint to the earnestness of smalltown life. This book is as warm and relaxed as its Southern setting-a world in which readers will be happy to sit, kick off their shoes and stay awhile. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
As a certain Whitney Houston film illustrates, bodyguards make good romantic heroes: strong, silent, self-sacrificing, possibly with intriguing scars. In this novel, Cal Griffin is the ultimate bodyguard--a Secret Service agent--whose self-sacrifice resumeincludes taking a bullet in the head to save the president. His stoic (and alcoholic) recovery in Honeycomb, Texas, may be in danger, however, from diminutive, young television producer Holly Hicks. Perhaps the only person skeptical of his heroism, Holly (an ex-Texan herself) is just doing her job by coming to Texas to interview Cal. Little does she know that his normally sunglassed eyes prove irresistible, and that his head injury prevents him from keeping his powerful emotions in check. Holly's professionalism proves as fleeting as Cal's short-term memory, and it takes some kissing before Holly finds the right angle for her interview--only to have to choose between her career in New York and her newfound hero-worship in the desert. McBride's charming and often sexy tale may well leave readers believing in heroes themselves. --Brendan Driscoll
