Suddenly Single

Morelli Sisters #2

by Millie Criswell

Wedded, bedded...and suddenly separated

Unable to cope with her dangerously seductive new husband's uptight family (how did he get to be so hot coming from that bunch?), Lisa Morelli is back home. Too bad there's no peace there, either!

Lisa vows to stick to her newly single life, despite every female relative's despair at letting a catch slip away (after all, she's hitting spinsterhood -- at 27!). But there's one small detail she hasn't counted on. Alex Mackenzie likes being married to Lisa. And he's wooing his runaway bride with everything from tight T-shirts and torn jeans, to motorcycle rides and tattoos!

With this kind of temptation, how will Lisa resist returning to wedded bliss?

224 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2004

About the author

National bestselling author Millie Criswell didn't start out to be a writer. Instead, she had aspirations of joining the Rockettes as a toe-tapping member of their dancetroop, or tapping her heart away in one of those big, corny MGM musicals. Of course she was only ten at the time, had absolutely no talent as a dancer, and cannot be blamed for her failure to succeed.

To date, Ms. Criswell has written twenty-one historical, category, and contemporary romances. She has won numerous awards, including the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award, the Reviewers' Choice Award, the National Reader's Choice Award, and the coveted MAGGIE Award from Georgia Romance Writers.

Ms. Criswell resides in Virginia with her husband of thirty-two years. She has two grown children, both lawyers, and one neurotic Boston terrier

Reviews

[ceecee · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry to say, but this story wasn't nearly as good as what I hopped it would be. The book was a quick read and lacked many things, like back story or character development. The book gave very little detail about the main characters, Lisa and Alex, or back story. The back story on some of the other characters were lacking too. It's frustrating because how can a reader love the characters when the author doesn't write enough about them to get us to love them.

Still I gave this book one star because the story line was good and their were even instances in the book that made me laugh.

"Suddenly Single" is a story about what happens after two people get married. Lisa and Alex get married after only knowing one another for just a few weeks. They move in with Alex's parents and that's when things went wrong. Their's not a lot of information about what was said, but it's known that Alex's parents used every opportunity they could to let their opinion be known, that Lisa wasn't what they would have wished for a daughter in law. This was horrible and made even worse by Alex no defending her and always keeping silent. To Lisa his silence said it all.

Lisa leaves him in the middle of the night and goes to stay with her sister. Her sister having just been married is off with her husband looking at houses and wasn't expected to return for a few days. Her sister's neighbor, Leo, a very gay man, let's her stay with him. Leo decides to let Lisa stay indefinitely while she figures her life out. After many failed attempts at finding a job Leo gives her a job at his Design Firm. She does well but feels like designing isn't her calling. Then she meet's Sol a man who own's a bakery shop across from Leo's business. She loves his place and his food. Sol is contemplating closing his doors. He can't compete with the larger chains. After a small talk Sol hires Lisa to work for him. He's old and the help is welcomed. Lisa even gives Sol some ideas on how to bring in more customers.

During this time Alex decides that if Lisa is attracted to the more dangerous men then maybe he can play the part. He buys a motorcycle, he purchases new clothes and visits her. She thinks his new look makes him look hotter, but she can't forgive him and let's him know he's wasting his time. Alex leaves but is determined to win his wife back.

While Sol and Lisa work at updating the store's look Alex comes by and lends a hand. In fact he comes every day to help and this is when Lisa comes to realize her error. Alex was more likely keeping silent not because he agreed with his parents but because he was trying to keep the peace. He didn't know what to say to the parents he loved and he couldn't give excuses for his parents behavior to Lisa. He was in a no win situation.

After a few dates and some long over due conversations they reconcile and get back together. All in all the book was okay. It just had some areas that needed some improvements. Their conversations didn't feel believable and the two sex scenes were at the end of the book and were skimmed over. The back story was lacking and the character development was too.......

[Shirlene]

Lisa Morelli only dated Alex three weeks before running off to Vegas and marrying him. They went to Florida to live with his parents. His parents were upper crust and made sure to let Lisa know that she was not good enough for their son. They tried to get her to dress like them and get involved in activities with his mother. She couldn't take their comments to and about her any more so she packed up and went back home. Now she was worried that she was pregnant.
Lisa's parents were also upset because she had married an a non-Italian, non-Catholic, mortgage banker. She couldn't stay another day with her parents whining about her selfish, thoughtless ways. Her parents didn't agree with her marriage but they didn't agree with divorce either. Her mother, Josephine told Lisa that marriage was work. She must have loved him to marry him and she didn't think she would be happy divorcing him either. Lisa went to see her sister who had recently gotten married but she was out of town. She ran into her sister's business partner and former gay roommate, Leo Bergmann. He told her that she could stay with him for a few days. Lisa was looking to make it last a bit longer. She needed to find a job before she could afford to live on her own. She had a hard time holding down a job.
In the meantime, Alex Mackenzie packed his clothes while listening to his protesting mother, Miriam. He told her that he was leaving to win Lisa back. He loved her more than he loved his position in the family business. His father told him that he would regret leaving and Alex told him that he would regret staying more.
Alex watched Lisa for about a month before he let her know he was in Philadelphia. Lisa had gotten a job at a restaurant and while she was there she broke a dish almost every day. A potholder caught fire on the stovetop and she got fired. She tried walking dogs and made a comment about one of the dogs owners locking up the dog everyday and he had come back home for his forgotten briefcase, overheard the comment and was fired. She then saw an ad for an exotic dancer and tried that for a couple of weeks. A college friend that Alex was staying with took him to the club where he saw Lisa working. He quickly left the club before Lisa saw him and drug his roommate with him. Lisa's sister and Leo came to the club and saw her dancing mostly nude too. Her sister, Francie, then asked Lisa to come work with her and Leo at their interior design company.
After about a month, Alex finally contacted Lisa by sending her flowers. He showed up at her door a few days later. Lisa made a comment that let Alex know that she had left him due to his parents treatment of her. His visit made Lisa late to her first day at work with her sister.
Alex had made contacts where Lisa lived and was close to opening a company of his own in town. Alex also went to see Lisa's mother to ask for her help. Alex told her that he should have stood up to his parents when they began attacking Lisa but he didn't realize the extent of their nastiness. She told Alex that Lisa was stubborn and he needed to sweep her off her feet and that Lisa still loved him. She could tell from listening to her talk about him.
After being separated from Alex and back home for over a month, Lisa decided to go out with one of her friends. They went to a club and Alex was there. He was drunk and started to cause problems when he saw Lisa dancing with someone. He got kicked out and Lisa drove him home. She knew herself that she was still in love with him. She didn't stay because he had kissed her and she didn't want to end up in bed with him.
She had a discussion with her sister and found out that Francie was down because she wanted a baby and her husband wanted to wait. She had stopped taking her birth control without her husband's knowledge. She wasn't pregnant and Lisa still didn't know for sure that she wasn't. Lisa suggested having a discussion with her husband and Francie did. She told Lisa later that her husband agreed to have a child sooner rather than later. Francie was so happy now.
Lisa told Francie that she didn't really enjoy working for her and that she wanted to try something else. Francie asked Lisa to go to Smollensky's Bakery and pick up a crumb cake to cheer her up. She talked to Sol while she was there and was surprised to notice his lack of customers. Sol told her that maybe he was ready to retire. He had lost interest in working since he had lost his wife, Olivia, to cancer the previous year. He suggested to Lisa that he teach her to take over his business. Lisa was enthusiastic about it and agreed to let him teach her what he knew.
Josephine called Miriam and Miriam was at first not upset about the fact that he son and Lisa might be divorcing. She admitting to disliking Lisa and that they were trying to separate the two of them. Josephine told her that Lisa might be pregnant and she and her husband, Rupert, needed to beg for their sons forgiveness. They also needed to apologize to Lisa or they would not be a part of their grandchild's life. Miriam was shocked and reluctantly agreed.
Lisa went to work with Sol full time. Alex went to see Lisa and the bakery and asked her out on a date. Lisa agreed to go. The friend that Alex was staying with told him that his girlfriend was moving in so Alex needed to find a new place to stay. Alex and Lisa had dinner and went to a club. Alex got into a fight with someone dancing too close to Lisa and they ended up getting arrested. Lisa had to call her parents to come bail them out. Her parents told the two of them that they needed to move in with them. Alex moved in with Lisa's parents but Lisa refused. Alex found out that Josephine had spoken to his mother about getting them back together. Alex told them that they needed no more interference. Josephine also told Alex that Lisa might be pregnant.
Lisa had been working with Sol for a month now and suggested changing the name of the bakery to 'Rolling in the Dough' and remodeling the interior. She also suggested adding the sale of coffee and tea to the bakery to draw in a younger crowd. She was surprised when Sol agreed. She was further surprised when Alex's parents showed up at her apartment that evening to apologize about their behavior towards her when she was living with them. They had called and left messages but Lisa hadn't returned any of them. She felt they were sincere.
They also paid a visit to Alex. They went to the movies the next evening and Alex didn't mention that the visit may have been prompted by Lisa's parents. Alex talked to Lisa about his plans to start his own mortgage company in Philadelphia. Alex also told Lisa he wanted to get back together with her and make their marriage work. Lisa told him that she needed to think it over.
Lisa found out from her sister that her mother, Josephine, had told the Mackenzie's and Alex that she might be pregnant. Lisa told Francie that the home pregnancy test had come back negative. Lisa asked Francie if she was pregnant. Francie told her that 2 of the pregnancy tests were positive and 2 were false so she had made a doctor appointment. The phone rang and it was Josephine. Lisa told her to stop interfering and to stop telling everyone that she was pregnant. Josephine told her that Alex had told her the same thing. Lisa was glad to hear it.
Lisa went to work during the time of the bakery remodel and was surprised that Alex showed up to help. She decided then that he deserved a second chance. She set up a date night when Leo was out of town and told Alex that she was willing to give their marriage a second chance. She had her period so she knew she wasn't pregnant and told Alex. She told him that she wanted to get married again, in a church this time. She thought it would take some of the sting out of the fact that she wasn't pregnant as both of their parents thought. She also thought they might be more accepting of the marriage if they were married in a church.
Lisa and Francie went to see Josephine and her that Lisa and Alex were back together. They also had to tell her that she wasn't pregnant. Lisa was worried about her mother's reaction but Francie told them both that she was pregnant. That took some of the upset away from Lisa not being pregnant but Josephine still fainted into a plate of chocolate chip cookies.
Alex and Lisa were married a short time later and they also decided to try and have a child sooner rather than later!

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Morelli Sisters
Harlequin Flipside - 21
.
2.5 stars

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 Stars! ~ After watching Francie go through the nightmare of four weddings planned by their mother, Lisa decides when it's her time she's going to elope. And she does; exactly when Francie finally makes it to the alter, Lisa is on her way to Vegas to marry the love of her life of three weeks, Alex. But when Alex takes her to Florida to live with his snobby parents, Lisa isn't prepared to suddenly become the Stepford wife that seems to be expected of her. So she runs home determined to get a divorce. But Alex likes being married to Lisa, and he follows her, and when she won't speak to him, he has to recruit Momma Morelli to his cause.

It was fun to read more of the Morelli family and friends from Ms. Criswell's earlier book. I liked the fact that even though Lisa was right to feel hurt by Alex's parents treatment of her, she did grow up and understand that they truly thought they were looking after Alex's best interests. Alex is a hoot as he tries to woo his "runaway bride" back into his arms.

[Rachel Yuska · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first HQ novel that I want to finish.
And yes, I did finish it in 1 day.

It's a light reading, chick litish, and not HQish, because usually I couldn't have the syrength to finish any HQ novel.

Some parts made me raise my eyebrows, but I could tolerate it. It's fiction and the writer's aim is to entertain the readers.

I will read the first book.

[Tin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. Enough said.