Plan B: Boyfriend

With Plan B: Boyfriend, a fun read with fully developed, real-life characters, Ellen Hartman moves onto my series romance auto-buy list.

Sarah and Charlie have known each other since high school, but have never been more than acquaintances. Suddenly, they’re thrown together under unusual circumstances, when Sarah goes wild at the financial firm where Charlie works, breaking china and glassware and demanding to know the whereabouts of her ex-husband. This might lead you to believe that Sarah is a temperamental, flighty woman, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Sarah is normally the cheerful, perky, dependable woman who makes all kinds of organizations and activities work. But nothing is working correctly in Sarah’s life right now. Her children have gotten into serious trouble at school. She’s tried desperately to get her ex-husband to go with her to the school, but can’t reach him because he’s off on a romantic rendezvous with a coworker. Sarah intended to ask for his number from someone at the firm, but snapped and began trashing the office.

Charlie hates messes of any kind, and is reluctant to get involved with Sarah. He hoped to get her to stop destroying the office, and nothing more. Soon, under pressure from relatives and his boss (Sarah’s ex-husband), he’s spending more time with her. The ex is despicable, expecting Charlie to smooth things over for his children, so that he doesn’t have to spend any time doing so. And Charlie, desperate to become a partner in the firm, will do just about anything.

There are sparks between Charlie and Sarah almost from the first, but each struggles to decide what to do about those sparks, a fact I really appreciated. Charlie realizes that getting involved with his boss’s ex-wife could ruin his chances for promotion. Meanwhile Sarah struggles to balance the needs of her children, her feelings from her failed marriage, and her attraction to Charlie.

Charlie and Sarah are interesting characters. I know people like them, men who focus totally on their careers, women who have settled for a marriage that didn’t really make them happy. They are both nice people, struggling to figure out what they want from life. Neither is perfect, but both show growth throughout the book.

There are some funny scenes, including a very sexy strip-poker game between Sarah and Charlie.

If you don’t like children in your romances, you should avoid this book since Sarah’s children play a prominent role . I enjoyed them, and felt that the author brought depth not only to the Charlie and Sarah, but also to Sarah’s children.

I’m not a fan of over-the-top romances, and was a bit worried when Sarah trashed her husband’s office. My fears were quickly put to rest, and I can recommend this to fans of series romances featuring regular people.

-- LinnieGayl Kimmel

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