Review: On Any Given Sundae by Marilyn Brant

This week, I read On Any Given Sundae by Marilyn Brant.

Though I read this romance novel on my Kindle, it's available on other ebook platforms so visit your favorite ebook retailer to pick it up.

Book Details

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 405 KB
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Marilyn Brant (May 31, 2011)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English
ASIN: B0053QI4I6
Lending: Enabled

Product Description

Nothing tops the sweetness of an unexpected love...

When Elizabeth's uncle Siegfried and Rob's uncle Pauly rush off to Europe for a month, they temporarily relinquish the reins of their ice cream shop to their respective niece and nephew -- two people who may have grown up practically next door to each other but who have next to nothing in common.

Elizabeth "Please Don't Call Me Lizzy" Daniels is a small-town Wisconsin girl at heart. Shy and inexperienced at love, the frizzy-haired dessert cookbook writer still resides in her quaint hometown of Wilmington Bay, stutters painfully when nervous and is only comfortable with her laptop and her tiny circle of cooking pals. She must come out of hiding over the summer to help her uncle, but she's convinced her childhood crush, Rob, barely knows she exists.

Roberto "You'd Better Call Me Rob, or Else" Gabinarri is the town's golden boy and former football star who left home after high school, made a splash in the big city and never looked back. He has to return to Wilmington Bay to uphold a promise to his uncle, but he's counting the minutes until he can escape to the relative anonymity of his fast-paced, commitment-free city life and the sports-themed restaurant he owns in Chicago. Despite his chattiness and charm, Rob was always intimidated by quiet, brainy girls like "Frizzy Lizzy," and he isn't pleased to be back in the place where people like her still see him as that popular but dumb jock -- an image he worked for almost a decade to shed.

The unlikely pair tries to make the best of being stuck together, but Elizabeth has a pressing publication deadline, and Rob has an Italian mother bent on lining up potential hometown brides for him. Rob comes up with an idea -- something that might help them both -- but it involves just a bit of family deception. With time running out to finish her cookbook and her friends already stretched to the max trying to assist them, Elizabeth reluctantly agrees.

Neither Rob nor Elizabeth are used to playing games of pretense, but can love, hot summer nights and, maybe, some chocolate sauce, caramel and whipped cream...turn their farce into reality?

My Opinion

First, let me give you fair warning: do not start a diet while reading this book!

The desserts mentioned will have you salivating. This is like the novel version of one of those Food Network dessert shows. Everything is described in mouth-watering detail, and all the luscious sweets sound almost as mouth-watering as the book's hero Rob, once a high school football star and now a successful restaurateur.

Of course, every high school hero has a girl who carried a torch for him, and Rob has Lizzy, once a frizzy-haired, awkward teen, but now, a lovely young woman who's made peace with her liabilities and capitalized on her assets. Until Rob comes back to town.

On Any Given Sundae is a delightful concoction containing the elements I love and often write in my own romance novels: small towns; a handsome hero who wants to be loved for himself and his brain, not just for his awesome body; a heroine who's loving and giving and who now has a lovely exterior that matches her interior; and a secondary cast of characters (including an Italian mom) to help spread the love and humor around.

Takeaway Truth

Everyone knows that romance novels have happy endings, but the journey to that happy ending is why we read romance novels. Rob and Lizzy will delight you in this gentle, sweet love story as they take that journey.