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Old School Ties
Old School Ties by Leigh Michaels released on Jan 24, 1992 is available now for purchase.
When arson threatens an abandoned school building in the center of a small retail district, cookie merchant Heather DeMarco is determined to save the building and turn it into an anchor to preserve the neighborhood. But the property’s owner, tycoon Cole Dennison, plans to demolish the structure, and Heather's efforts to persuade him otherwise just keep making things worse – until Cole offers her a deal and Heather has little choice but to agree.
When arson threatens an abandoned school building in the center of a small retail district, cookie merchant Heather DeMarco is determined to save the building and turn it into an anchor to preserve the neighborhood. But the property’s owner, tycoon Cole Dennison, plans to demolish the structure, and Heather's efforts to persuade him otherwise just keep making things worse – until Cole offers her a deal and Heather has little choice but to agree.
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 1992
About the author
Leigh Michaels
352 books175 followersLeigh Michaels is the pseudonym used by LeAnn Lemberger (b. July 27 in Iowa, United States), a popular United States writer of over 85 romance novels. She has published with Harlequin, Sourcebooks, Montlake Romance, Writers Digest Books, and Arcadia Publishing. She teaches romance writing at Gotham Writers' Workshop (www.writingclasses.com) She is the author of On Writing Romance.
When Leigh was fifteen she wrote her first romance novel and burned it. She burned five more complete manuscripts before submitting to a publisher. The first submission was accepted by Harlequin, the only publisher to look at it, and was published in 1984.
Michaels was born in Iowa, United States. She received a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, after three years of study and maintained a 3.93 grade-point average. She received the Robert Bliss Award as top-ranking senior in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and won a national William Randolph Hearst Award for feature-writing as an undergraduate.
She is married to Michael W. Lemberger, an artist-photographer.
When Leigh was fifteen she wrote her first romance novel and burned it. She burned five more complete manuscripts before submitting to a publisher. The first submission was accepted by Harlequin, the only publisher to look at it, and was published in 1984.
Michaels was born in Iowa, United States. She received a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, after three years of study and maintained a 3.93 grade-point average. She received the Robert Bliss Award as top-ranking senior in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and won a national William Randolph Hearst Award for feature-writing as an undergraduate.
She is married to Michael W. Lemberger, an artist-photographer.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 29, 2023
Way better and funnier than the blurb implies. Great ship. Shout out to Leigh Michaels for digitalizing every single backlist title, even the obscure ones that no one cares about. If only other authors and publishers (cough Harlequin cough) could follow her example.
July 7, 2011
This is a 5 star read for me. These are the factors that I love in my HQNs:
-Humor
-Independent heroine
-good dialog between H/h
-hero not a jerk
-preferably no angst
This book fulfills all of the above - at some points I just snorted out loud.
-Humor
-Independent heroine
-good dialog between H/h
-hero not a jerk
-preferably no angst
This book fulfills all of the above - at some points I just snorted out loud.
July 29, 2011
There are so many puns imaginable with this wickedly cute story from Leigh Michaels about a cookie chef-turned-crusader taking on a developer.
The heroine lived up to her reputation as a tough cookie. One of the amusing scenarios was how she gatecrashed his party and then got his attention (as well as the other guests) with a rhetorical firebomb. But far from appearing like an obnoxious rabble-rouser, her antics were especially endearing given her lack of architectural background and her fear of heights. Equally endearing was how the hero yielded to her architectural advice and dealt with her phobia in the end.
Given the unexpected plot twists, it wasn’t easy to predict how the cookie’d crumble. There was instant attraction between the H/h and the general mood was flirtatious. She provoked him and he responded at first in exasperation then growing bemusement then finally, loving indulgence. But since the story was told from her perspective and she was such an unreliable observer, her speculations and observations were often wrong. The ending was so satisfying because the hero gave a clearer and more romantic interpretation to her misguided anxieties.
One thing I do search for in Leigh Michaels’ books is the romantic touches between the H/h. In many of the Harlequins nowadays, the hero is always pictured grappling the heroine in lust, molded in a passionate lip-lock or shredding off clothes as if these were contaminated hazard suits. Oftentimes, the physical interaction is so banal that heroes and positions could be interchanged without affecting the plot at all.
But in LM, the physical contact conveys more finesse and a different meaning each time. For instance, one time the he kissed her in the elevator as diversionary tactic so she would forget feeling queasy in the ascent. Another time, after baiting her, he captured her hand to kiss it in a gesture of apology. Then another instance, she accidently splashed sunscreen lotion on her sleeves and he scooped up the blob and caressed her forehead and cheeks to smooth it in. He was constantly reaching out, stroking and cradling her. All these displays of affection were uniquely his own and since they were non-cookie-cutter, his character -- and that of of the girl's -- became memorable.
Noncaloric, all-natural sweetness.
The heroine lived up to her reputation as a tough cookie. One of the amusing scenarios was how she gatecrashed his party and then got his attention (as well as the other guests) with a rhetorical firebomb. But far from appearing like an obnoxious rabble-rouser, her antics were especially endearing given her lack of architectural background and her fear of heights. Equally endearing was how the hero yielded to her architectural advice and dealt with her phobia in the end.
Given the unexpected plot twists, it wasn’t easy to predict how the cookie’d crumble. There was instant attraction between the H/h and the general mood was flirtatious. She provoked him and he responded at first in exasperation then growing bemusement then finally, loving indulgence. But since the story was told from her perspective and she was such an unreliable observer, her speculations and observations were often wrong. The ending was so satisfying because the hero gave a clearer and more romantic interpretation to her misguided anxieties.
One thing I do search for in Leigh Michaels’ books is the romantic touches between the H/h. In many of the Harlequins nowadays, the hero is always pictured grappling the heroine in lust, molded in a passionate lip-lock or shredding off clothes as if these were contaminated hazard suits. Oftentimes, the physical interaction is so banal that heroes and positions could be interchanged without affecting the plot at all.
But in LM, the physical contact conveys more finesse and a different meaning each time. For instance, one time the he kissed her in the elevator as diversionary tactic so she would forget feeling queasy in the ascent. Another time, after baiting her, he captured her hand to kiss it in a gesture of apology. Then another instance, she accidently splashed sunscreen lotion on her sleeves and he scooped up the blob and caressed her forehead and cheeks to smooth it in. He was constantly reaching out, stroking and cradling her. All these displays of affection were uniquely his own and since they were non-cookie-cutter, his character -- and that of of the girl's -- became memorable.
Noncaloric, all-natural sweetness.
March 29, 2015
This book was so cute and a reason I enjoy Harlequin Romances. The hero is a dream and not conventional, he's awesome. The heroine is not whiny or silly but realistic and cute. There's a lot of humor in this book that works without being too cutesy. Very little sex in the book and the chemistry is more realistic between the two characters rather than unbelievably "magical." Fun stuff that kept me entertained.
March 30, 2024
3.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews