Review: Not Another New Year's...

Not Another New Year's
Christie Ridgway
Contemporary Romance
Sequel to Must Have Mistletoe
Avon/January 2007

From Goodreads ~

After all, this year brought Hannah Davis nothing but the memory of her wandering fiance marrying someone else behind her back. Now, sitting alone at a bar in Coronado, California, on December 31, she decides to do something radical . . . and lets a brooding good-looker take her to bed. But when a hysterical woman bursts into their room much too early on New Year's Day, Hannah realizes this guy's more complicated than she thought . . .

Ex-Secret Service Agent Tanner Hart screwed up, big-time! Hoping to temporarily boot some of the ghosts from his life, he hooked up with this sexy stranger for a hot one-night stand—only to discover she's the woman he's agreed to protect... from men just like him!

But a new year is a time for fresh beginnings. Despite the danger, the hoopla, and the hangovers, if Hannah's brave enough to risk her heart again—and Tanner's wise enough to realize he deserves it—maybe this one will be different.

What's a girl to do to get over her ex on New Year's? Go to bed with a bar pick-up! And if she doesn't remember what happened the next morning, all the better! This is an amusing romance with some action and suspense added to the mix.

Hannah Davis is searching for some answers. She's come to Coronado, California hoping to find those answers. But first she stops off at a local bar, has one too many Mojitos and wakes up in a stranger's bed. Then things get even weirder. Hannah is likable enough but she did have a few "I Love Lucy" moments. I'm a little surprised she made it to the end of the book without major trauma.

Tanner Hart is feeling sorry for himself. He made headlines during an attempted assassination, left his job as a Secret Service agent and is now passing the time in his brother's bar. He has a chance to get his job back - all he has to do is play tour guide. Tanner played Desi to Hannah's Lucy, using his Secret Service training to keep her (mostly) out of trouble. Tanner's a good guy but he really wallowed in the self pity a little too long.

The secondary romance is a delicious little side venture that I found sweet, tender and funny. Unfortunately, I liked the secondary characters and their romance more than the hero and heroine. I wish it had been their story in the spotlight.

The situations Hannah and Tanner found themselves in are a little too far fetched to take seriously. It's as if the story couldn't decide if it was a romantic comedy or a romantic suspense. I certainly would have preferred one or the other but by trying to be both, neither felt complete.

Not Another New Year's has it's good points, the sex scenes were smoking hot. Too bad the secondary romance out shown the main romance.

Rating: C+