What She Wants by Sheila Roberts

WHAT SHE WANTS (Life in Icicle Falls series) is the first of Sheila Roberts’ books that I’ve read. At first I had a little difficulty getting into the book, it seemed to start slowly, but that quickly turned around and I found myself caught up in the lives of a group of poker playing buddies. Jonathan Templar is the computer geek who fell in love with his childhood next door neighbor, the beautiful Lissa Castle, and is trying to get her to take a romantic interest in him. Lissa is a magnet for all the gorgeous guys and is “just friends” with Jonathan. His close friend Kyle Long is in love with the company receptionist Jillian who only has eyes for the bosses while his cube mate Missy Wright has set her sights on Kyle. Then there is Adam Edwards whose wife Chelsea kicked out of the house because he took her for granted. How are these guys going to win over the loves of their lives?

Is the answer in the books women read about romance and getting Mr. Right to fall in love with them? Jonathan decides to read some of the books that his sister and her friends are reading. When his friends discover the books, Jonathan tells them he is researching what the women in the novels want in their men because they were written by women. Before long they are all reading the novels, especially those by the popular romance author Vanessa Valentine.

Will Jonathan and his friends each win his heart’s desire? To what lengths will each go to seduce the woman of his dreams? Dance lessons? Going to the gym to get buff? Flowers or chocolates? Will they succeed in the end? Who really is Vanessa Valentine?

I loved that this book was about romance with a different twist. So often romance books are written from the woman’s point of view with the female character trying to capture the interest of the man of her dreams. It was fun watching the men bumbling through courtship in this laugh out loud story. I heartily recommend this to anyone looking for a book that has lots of humor with a romantic theme.