You did it! We figured this one out! It is a truth universally acknowledged (by me for certain) that the Bitchery pretty much knows everything, and really, it's true. Scroll down to see the solution for this HaBO - and many thanks!
This HaBO is from Dianna, who is looking for a category romance about some dueling TV reviewers.
I’ve been meaning to write to you for help for a while finding a book I loved and lost sometime in the mid to late 90s. It was most likely a Harlequin Temptation, from the era when they had the borderless front cover art and yellowy back cover.
The story is about two TV movie reviewers falling in love. The hero has a very successful movie show on a local TV network. His producer wants to vary it up a little, so they introduce the heroine so they can have a he said/she said format. The hero is not happy, he’s this cool, laid back, sexy guy, and the heroine is all buttoned up and proper. They hate almost everything about each other, and the hero is kind of a jerk to the heroine. After some particularly jerky triggering event, the heroine decides to get revenge. Her revenge is to send the hero anonymous sexy fantasy fan mail – and these letters elevate the book from kind of nice to mind-blowingly awesome.
The fantasies I remember are ‘college girl visits neighbour boy for sexy times on a ladder in his library’ and ‘lady falls asleep on a train in the wild west and dreams the sexy bank robber handcuffed to some bounty hunters is feeling her up, and then wakes up to learn that he probably was.’ The fantasies are cinematic, I think at least one is based on ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ – or that movie somehow features in the plot. They do at least one segment of their TV show where they talk about favourite movies.
With the first letter, the hero is all ‘why am I so cold when that was so hot? Oh that’s right, I’m standing in front of my open fridge.’ He starts hoping/suspecting that the letters are from the heroine. She starts teasing him that maybe they are …
I remember the ending, but maybe I shouldn’t spoil it in case someone can remember this book, and SB readers want to track it down? It’s also possible that the hero’s name is Kyle. It’s also possible that the hero’s name is not Kyle, and I only think that because I still had a huge crush on Kyle MacLachlan at the time, and some other romance hero in a book I read around the same time was called Kyle, and I was still all ‘mmm, Kyle’.
Finally, thanks so much for this site, I love coming here and reading your funny, over the top reviews, and credit you guys with rekindling my obsession with category romances.
Ah, category romance – so much awesome in a smaller, portable format – now, possibly, with bonus Mmmm, Kyle! Do you recognize this book?
Open Invitation by Tiffany White (Harlequin Temptation No. 74)
YES I’m so proud I know this! And you were right about the Kyle…
Blurb from Goodreads:
“HE WAS EVERY WOMAN’S FANTASY
And to her annoyance, Amanda Butterworth found herself drooling over Kyle Fox, too. Not that she’d let him see that. They were cohosting a TV show — she didn’t intend to partner him in any other activity. Especially not when the man considered her a prude, both on and off the air. Amanda considered him dangerous, with his lean, mean body, his sexy slouch and his lustful looks. But uptight she wasn’t and she was ready to prove it.
What better way than with naughty suggestions by mail, naughty enough to drive him wild? No doubt he was used to making all the moves with women, but even the great Kyle Fox might appreciate being outrageously seduced himself …”
psst. Open Invitation is available on Scribd.
Laura is so right. I have the print version in a box somewhere. The book is available in digital from Diversion.
Omg I am sooooooo going to track down and read this book! If I’m LOL’ing just reading the summary then the book itself must be worth it. Thanks for another good suggestion!
This book sounds awesome. I can just see an updated version where the reviewers work on a successful podcast together and instead of writing letters the heroine spoofs her IP and creates a dummy email address.
That was so fast, thank you! Now off to get this one, and see what other Tiffany Whites I can find.
And not only have
I found it on scribe, it’s not blocked for Australia! So happy.
It’s $2.99 US on Amazon. I also found it on Overdrive for my library. 🙂
@Dianna
All of her romances are available in digital except Sleepless in St Louis (her novella from the Valentine Bachelors anthology)
She also has three books written as Anna Eberhardt.
I remember this one. It’s a lot of fun to read but will probably be outdated. The author made a lot of references in the book. However that doesn’t prevent me from hopping over to scribd. Big Hair Ahoy!