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One of the Boys
Colonel Jake McAllister doesn't doubt that Maura Phillips has the qualifications and the know-how to handle a spot on his all-male, high-tech team at Elgin Air Force Base. As the test pilot in charge of top secret stealth weapons development, he's more worried about what's going to happen when her "free spirit" is introduced into the project's touchy pressure-cooker environment.
He'd been expecting to meet a buttoned-down engineer in a severe blue suit, which is why he's not exactly sure what to make of the leggy California girl with the funky clothes and clunky jewelry who comes flying through his door. He soon concludes the lady is deadly serious about her job--and a deadly threat to his self-control.
He'd been expecting to meet a buttoned-down engineer in a severe blue suit, which is why he's not exactly sure what to make of the leggy California girl with the funky clothes and clunky jewelry who comes flying through his door. He soon concludes the lady is deadly serious about her job--and a deadly threat to his self-control.
336 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
About the author
Merline Lovelace
417 books144 followersAfter a 23-year AF career, Colonel Merline Lovelace launched a second career as a writer, basing many of her tales on her own experiences in uniform and on her travels all around the globe.
The USA Today best-selling author now has more than 11 million copies of her books in print. Her works have won numerous awards, including the Romance Writers of America's prestigious RITA. Merline is especially proud to have been named the University of Oklahoma's Writer of the Year and the Oklahoma Female Veteran of the Year.
The USA Today best-selling author now has more than 11 million copies of her books in print. Her works have won numerous awards, including the Romance Writers of America's prestigious RITA. Merline is especially proud to have been named the University of Oklahoma's Writer of the Year and the Oklahoma Female Veteran of the Year.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 15, 2010
3 stars for BITS AND PIECES. 2 stars for MAGGIE AND HER COLONEL.
This book was published in 2005. It reprints two stories originally published in 1993 and 1994.
3 stars for BITS AND PIECES.
Formulaic romance from the early 90s. It’s ok. It’s pleasant and nice.
STORY BRIEF:
Colonel Jake is a test pilot at Eglin Air Force Base. Maura has a Ph.D. in engineering and was recently hired to help with aircraft and weapon delivery designs. Jake is quiet and commanding with nerves of steel. Maura is his free-spirited opposite. Her home is cluttered. She wears eccentric and colorful clothing. Jake is impressed with her engineering abilities, and they begin a relationship. Jake was divorced 3 years earlier. Jake’s 15 year-old daughter Lisa walks the beaches looking for “bits and pieces” of pottery and arrowheads left by Indians a few hundred years earlier. Maura sees Lisa on the beach one day and helps her. They become buddies and continue their hobby together. Someone is sabotaging test flights. Everyone is a suspect including Maura.
REVIEWER’S OPINION:
Not bad. I believe this was the author’s first published story. It was pleasant and nice. It had a decent plot with nice characters. I would not recommend buying it, but it’s fine as a library read. I had no problems other than it’s nothing new or different. It’s a little on the short side.
DATA:
Story length: 206 pages. Swearing language: moderate. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: 4. Approximate number of sex scene pages: 7. Setting: 1993 Eglin Air Force Base, Florida gulf coast. Copyright: 1993. Genre: contemporary military romance.
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2 stars for MAGGIE AND HER COLONEL.
Conflicts were contrived. Plot, characters, and romantic development could have been better.
STORY BRIEF:
Colonel MacRae (Mac) is the lab commander at Eglin Air force Base. Dr. Maggie Wescott was recently hired as chief of environmental engineering. She has delayed the lab’s testing of a new fuel until environmental safeguards are put in place. Mac’s wife died 6 years earlier in a car accident. He is raising his 9-year-old twin sons. He and Maggie are drawn to each other.
REVIEWER’S OPINION:
This is what I expect for early 90s romance writing. It’s not as good as what’s being written today. Guy meets girl. She gets mad at him. He apologizes and they get back together. I did not like the reasons she got mad at him. They felt contrived to fit the formula. For example, when he first kisses her, she likes it. Then he stops because he wants to be a gentleman. But she is mad that he stopped, supposedly because she’s embarrassed that she showed pleasure. I don’t find that kind of conflict interesting. It could have used more story.
DATA:
Story length: 105 pages. Swearing language: none. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: 2. Total number of sex scene pages: 6. Setting: 1994 Eglin Air Force Base, Florida gulf coast. Copyright: 1994. Genre: contemporary military romance.
This book was published in 2005. It reprints two stories originally published in 1993 and 1994.
3 stars for BITS AND PIECES.
Formulaic romance from the early 90s. It’s ok. It’s pleasant and nice.
STORY BRIEF:
Colonel Jake is a test pilot at Eglin Air Force Base. Maura has a Ph.D. in engineering and was recently hired to help with aircraft and weapon delivery designs. Jake is quiet and commanding with nerves of steel. Maura is his free-spirited opposite. Her home is cluttered. She wears eccentric and colorful clothing. Jake is impressed with her engineering abilities, and they begin a relationship. Jake was divorced 3 years earlier. Jake’s 15 year-old daughter Lisa walks the beaches looking for “bits and pieces” of pottery and arrowheads left by Indians a few hundred years earlier. Maura sees Lisa on the beach one day and helps her. They become buddies and continue their hobby together. Someone is sabotaging test flights. Everyone is a suspect including Maura.
REVIEWER’S OPINION:
Not bad. I believe this was the author’s first published story. It was pleasant and nice. It had a decent plot with nice characters. I would not recommend buying it, but it’s fine as a library read. I had no problems other than it’s nothing new or different. It’s a little on the short side.
DATA:
Story length: 206 pages. Swearing language: moderate. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: 4. Approximate number of sex scene pages: 7. Setting: 1993 Eglin Air Force Base, Florida gulf coast. Copyright: 1993. Genre: contemporary military romance.
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2 stars for MAGGIE AND HER COLONEL.
Conflicts were contrived. Plot, characters, and romantic development could have been better.
STORY BRIEF:
Colonel MacRae (Mac) is the lab commander at Eglin Air force Base. Dr. Maggie Wescott was recently hired as chief of environmental engineering. She has delayed the lab’s testing of a new fuel until environmental safeguards are put in place. Mac’s wife died 6 years earlier in a car accident. He is raising his 9-year-old twin sons. He and Maggie are drawn to each other.
REVIEWER’S OPINION:
This is what I expect for early 90s romance writing. It’s not as good as what’s being written today. Guy meets girl. She gets mad at him. He apologizes and they get back together. I did not like the reasons she got mad at him. They felt contrived to fit the formula. For example, when he first kisses her, she likes it. Then he stops because he wants to be a gentleman. But she is mad that he stopped, supposedly because she’s embarrassed that she showed pleasure. I don’t find that kind of conflict interesting. It could have used more story.
DATA:
Story length: 105 pages. Swearing language: none. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: 2. Total number of sex scene pages: 6. Setting: 1994 Eglin Air Force Base, Florida gulf coast. Copyright: 1994. Genre: contemporary military romance.
August 15, 2022
Start is good. Nice cover.
Combo.
Enjoyed Eglin AF base in FL panhandle. Both heroines lived in Destin.
Author was military equivalent of mayor of that small city.
Some humor. Nice plotting.
Combo.
Enjoyed Eglin AF base in FL panhandle. Both heroines lived in Destin.
Author was military equivalent of mayor of that small city.
Some humor. Nice plotting.
April 10, 2014
Just Love a Great Lovelace book !
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews