Smooth-Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas

By Kate Phillips

 

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I’m recommending Lisa Kleypas’ series about the Travis family: Sugar Daddy, Blue-Eyed Devil, Smooth-Talking Stranger, and the yet-to-be-released Brown-Eyed Girl. (It has now been released and Brown-Eyed Girl is NOT worth reading--a disappointing end to an enjoyable series.)

The head of this wealthy dynasty is self-made successful businessman Churchill Travis who has four children: Gage, Jack, Joe, and Haven. He demands a lot from his sons—hard work, successful careers, and business ownership. He leaves the raising of their daughter to her mother even as Haven tries to compete with her brothers.

I always recommend reading books in order to see the growth in characters and relationships. It's important in this series as a crucial character from book one plays a big part in book two.

Also, while the end of Sugar Daddy is especially romantic, I preferred the more in-depth plots in books two and three. Ella, the lead female character in Smooth-Talking Stranger, is a writer so this is my favorite book in the series. Jack was introduced in Sugar Daddy and readers got to know him much better in Blue-Eyed Devil.

          In Smooth-Talking Stranger, Jack Travis lives the good life: he works hard at the property management company he owns and plays hard—sports, hunting, and dating beautiful women who know the score.

          Ella Varner, bespectacled, cute, and petite, is not one of those women; however, her estranged younger sister, Tara, is model-beautiful and the mother of Luke, a newborn she claims was fathered by Jack. Tara, unable to cope with the baby, abandons him at her mother’s house. The mother in turn calls Ella, the responsible one in the family, to deal with the situation. If she doesn’t, her mother threatens to call the authorities—which is how Ella ended up four hours from home waiting for Jack Travis in his company’s reception area with a fussy baby.

          Jack knows he is not the father, but he admires Ella’s loyalty to her sister and nephew. He appreciates her humor and intelligence. And while she does not look like his usual girlfriends, she still captures all of his attention. He has finally met his match, but knows his usual moves won’t impress Ella.

          Ella is a bright, witty columnist who writes an explicit and hilarious relationship column for a national magazine. (See examples on pages 104 & 164.) She lives with her boyfriend, Dane, who owns a green energy company. They have a comfortable relationship, but he wants nothing to do with babies even on a temporary basis. Now Ella needs to relocate her life until all the details can be worked out with whoever is Luke’s father.

          Ella’s life has not been easy. “To my mother, Candy Varner, everything was an emergency. She was a shock-and-awe parent, the ultimate drama queen. But she had covered it up so adeptly that few people suspected what went on behind closed doors.” (page 2)

Tired of his wife’s tirades, her father left a few years after Tara’s birth, never to return, leaving a gap filled by Candy’s parade of new boyfriends and then a stepfather who tried to molest Ella and Tara. Candy didn’t believe that and blamed her daughters when he left. With a shared background of abuse and continued demeaning comments from their mother, the sisters grew up and went their separate ways to break free from this destructive cycle.

          “Neither of us seemed able to be close to anyone. Not even each other. Closeness meant the one you loved the most would cause you the most damage. How did you unlearn that?” (page 68)

          As an adult, Ella became independent and self-supporting. Then Luke appeared in her life. “I had never been so wanted or needed by anyone on earth. Babies were dangerous…they made you fall in love before you knew what was happening. This small solemn creature couldn’t even say my name, and he depended on me for everything. Everything. I’d known him for little more than a day. But I would have thrown myself in front of a bus for him. I was shattered by him.” (page 81)

How much of an effect will Luke have on her relationships when he becomes the center of her life—especially after her sister returns?

To Jack, Luke is part of Ella’s life. Used to caring for his niece and nephew, Jack is adept at caring for a baby. Jack is also thoughtful and funny. He's determined to have Ella in his life and Dane out of hers.

Ella knows Jack is serious about her. “…I was aware of a new kind of power, a seductive power, over someone who was stronger, worldlier, more unpredictable, more testosterone-fueled than any man I’d ever known before. It was like sitting behind the wheel to test a race car. Scary and exhilarating all at once, especially for someone who had never liked to travel fast.” (page 216)  

The book ends with a twist on Ella’s relationship column and a beautiful tribute to a marriage license—the power of words leads to a happy ending.

 

Historical Fiction by Lisa Kleypas

By Kate Phillips

 

As a reader, I always love finding books that appeal to me. As a writer, I am twice as pleased when the authors also provide masterclasses within their books. 

Masterclasses take place when performance artists and musicians work one-on-one with students. Writers don’t generally have this option, but I have found some books to be masterclasses for characters, backstories, plots, settings, voice, and/or creativity.

 
Before summer comes to an end, I'm recommending several more beach books—historical fiction this time.

        Lisa Kleypas writes both historical and contemporary novels with detailed love scenes. Historicals are not usually my favorite, but Kleypas has a way with words, characters, settings, and plots. Her female leads are not wallflowers although this highlighted four-book series follows four women labeled as such by a society that has deemed them unworthy of suitors from the upper class.

        The first in the series is Secrets of a Summer Night. Annabelle Peyton's family has sunk into poverty since her father's death years ago. Her brother's education is given first priority when bills are paid, but there isn't enough money for both food and shelter. Several Lords are waiting for her desperation to force her to become a mistress, but self-made Simon Hunt offers her marriage. However, she wants to marry an aristocrat, not the son of a butcher turned businessman.

        At balls and social events, Annabelle is left sitting with the same wallflowers—Lillian and Daisy Bowman, American sisters whose father has made millions in manufacturing soap, and Evangeline Jenner, daughter of a wealthy father who runs a gaming establishment. Eventually they begin to talk and then become friends. Together they devise a husband-hunting plan.

        The three rich debutants are invited to a month-long house party at the Westcliff estate and inveigle an invitation for Annabelle who is the first one to benefit from the husband-hunting plan. There is a happy ending, but complications, misunderstandings, and a near-death experience must be overcome first. (Very romantic.)

        Lillian Bowman is feisty, outspoken, amusing, and infuriating  which catches the attention of Lord Marcus Westcliff, the most eligible bachelor in England, in It Happened One Autumn. She wins a bet with Westcliff so his mother must help Lillian and Daisy enter into high society. His mother wants him to marry a woman with the bluest blood, but an American upstart may upset her plans. Lord Westcliff is torn. Will family expectations triumph over love? Lillian's mother just wants her daughters to marry well. Will another aristocrat win Lillian's hand in marriage by any means necessary? (Very romantic and amusing.)

        Next up is Devil in Winter, Evangeline Jenner's story. She turns to the Viscount Sebastian St. Vincent, a man desperate for funds as his father has squandered the family fortune, to save her from a horrible marriage to her cruel cousin who only wants control of her money. Without great expectations, will this relationship become romantic?

The series concludes with Scandal in Spring. Daisy Bowman's father has sworn to marry her to a man she does not like. She dreams of marrying for love as her sister did. With the help of her husband-hunting friends, she does.

 

Especially for writers, I also recommend Suddenly You as the lead character is Amanda Briars, a novelist who, with the help of her publisher, becomes a celebrated editor of a quarterly review journal.

 

While I wish this novel had a less Chick Lit name, Lady Sophia's Lover is the story of tragedy, revenge, and true love. Sophia's brother died in jail and she blames the man who put him there. She works her way into Sir Ross Cannon's office and home. Becoming indispensable and intriguing are part of her plan to ruin his reputation and break his heart. Will it work? (Very romantic.)