Cheri on Top

When you hit rock bottom is there anywhere else to go but up?

Cheri Newberry thought leaving the one horse town she grew up in, walking away from the love of her love, and changing her name to Cherise would fix everything that ailed her. It was tough living with a horrid younger sister, trying to recover from the loss of your parents as a child, and finding out your boyfriend who swore to love you forever got your sister pregnant.

Setting out with her best friend Candy, Cherise built a new life in Florida as a real estate genius, which made her a millionaire several times over. Then the market crashed and took everything back and then wanted more. Cherise lost their home, lavish life style and even designer shoes - seriously, what could be worse than that? Well apparently answering the phone and saying yes to your grandfather who asks you to come back and run the family newspaper. Not sure what she was thinking but Cherise goes back to Cheri and starts her first day off at the newspaper with a decades old unsolved murder mystery come back to life.

To add to the delight of that mishap there stands J.J. DeCourcy the man who broke her heart. He can still stir her fire as well as heat up her temper with his oh so charming ways but Cheri is here on serious business and then packing up her bags to get back out of town. Cheri's grandfather and her great-aunt have other ideas and make sure that more than the murder mystery is going to keep her in town, mostly with the intention of feeding her to death.

As Cheri untangles the newspaper's finances she is also trying to figure out what an editor does besides pick out what color paint they want for their office. However, the murder of the young woman so many years ago is a huge ghost that will not go away and all the pieces of one puzzle seem to be fitting into another. There are so many questions about how she wound up in the lake and just how deep does the list of suspects run?

Cheri needs to find out what kind of an editor she is and how she can best serve the needs of J.J. - ah wait she meant the newspaper, no she is pretty sure that it is J.J. she is in a lip lock with and the years and heartache seems to have disappeared, dang that man is fine.

This book is a romance at the core with a mystery on the side, which is as it should be with contemporary romance. The mystery is not hard to figure out but the reader is never disappointed since you are focused on the interaction between Cheri and J.J. This relationship makes up for all the other slower spots. The family dynamics are phenomenal because they are so typical of everyone's family, which is what makes them so fun to read.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

highly recommend

good read

Highly Recommended

I thought this was a great book. It was my first from Susan Donovan, and I have already started reading her other books also.

Wickedly Funny and Sexy

Cheri On Top is another wickedly funny and sexy story by Susan Donovan.

Cherise Newberry thought she had the world by its tail. She was brokering high risk real estate deals with her BFF Candy and enjoying the good life. Then the market went belly up and so did all their money. When her grandfather offers her a job running the families newspaper it seems to be the answer to her prayers. The only glitch in the plan is she will be the boss of her former high school crush and ex brother in law.

J.J. DeCourcy never forgot the girl that got away. He doesn¿t even mind that she will be calling the shots. He will do anything to get Cheri to realize that her place is back home with him and those that love her. But a life long town secret is putting them both in danger. Can they solve the mystery of the lady of the lake and find their own happiness?

Cheri and J.J. are delightful to watch bicker and fight their attraction to each other. The secondary characters add such richness to an already sensational story. You are drawn into the feel of a small town and all its layers. Cheri and J.J. are funny and sexy and you find yourself routing for them to win it all. Looking forward to Cheri¿s BFF Candy to get her own story soon.

6 out of 10 stars

Cheri on Top by Susan Donovan
Release Date: August 30th, 2011
Publisher: St. Martin's Press (Macmillan)
Page Count: 308
Source: ARC from Carolyn at Romance Novel News

SHE'S GOT EVERYTHING SHE WANTS
Sun-drenched beaches, designer-label clothes, drop-dead-gorgeous boy-toys... all paid for with a series of high-risk real estate deals. That's the lifestyle Cherise Newberry and her BFF Candy enjoy after leaving rural North Carolina for Tampa-until the market tanks and they lose everything. Cheri is surviving on Ramen Noodles and temp jobs when she gets a call from home to come back and run the family's small-town newspaper. Just one catch: She'll become the boss of her high school crush-and former brother-in-law-who might have the power to crush her all over again...

BUT HE'S WHAT SHE NEEDS
But Cheri is surprised to see how "bad boy" J.J. DeCourcy has grown into the hard-working and principled managing editor of The Bigler Bugle. Still, according to Cheri's bitter sister, he's not to be trusted. If Cheri's going to co-exist at the with this sexier-than-ever man from her past, she needs to stay professional -- and keep her distance -- even though he sets her on fire. When they're handed the biggest news story in the town's history, Cheri must trust J.J., even it means putting her life in danger... and her heart on the line.

What Stephanie Thinks: I'm normally a fan of contemporary romances, especially the ones with twisted plots: once-shy, past-heartbroken heroine kicks back into town with intentions of leaving a bruise and a seemingly unstoppable ferocity in her heart. Of course her childhood heartthrob is going to see her and think "Wow, I missed out...". Of course.

Because essentially, that's really all that happens. I wish there could have been more plot, more structure and depth, to this story, but there certainly isn't. While Donovan does a great job of describing JJ as the ultimate sexy hero (drool drool), and while Cheri herself is pretty likable of a character, their so-called "romance" really doesn't do anything for me.

I hesitate to even call this one a romance. It mostly evolves around a long-term dispute over Cheri's family's newspaper business, The Bigler Bugle. Someone's been snatching funds from it, which has slowly been leading to its decline over the years. Maybe this book could have made for a good sexy mystery, but considering a) the perpetrator is revealed at the very beginning, and b) the romance isn't sexy in the least, I can't find myself thinking it too special.

Stephanie Loves: "'I laughed so hard once, I fell out of the boat.'
'I think the twelve-pack of Bud Light probably had something to do with that, Cheri.'"

Radical Rating: 6 hearts-Satisfying for a first read, but I'm not going back.

A fun read.

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a fast-paced romantic suspense

BFFs Cheri and Candy left Bigler, North Carolina for. Tampa. There Cheri made a fortune, but currently is broke. Her grandfather asks her to become publisher of the family-owned newspaper the Bigler Bugle. She wants to say no, but instead comes home to face the same family issues that sent her running away from her home town.

Adding to her dismay is that her former brother-in-law and high school unrequited secret love, J.J. DeCourcy is the editor. A forensic accountant, Cheri looks at the books and knows something fails to add up. She continues to dig into the finances even as a body found in a nearby lake takes over the newsroom. As her acrimonious sister warns her that J.J. is a SOB, Cheri knows she still loves him, but distrusts him with her heart and her family newspaper.

Cheri on Top is a fast-paced romantic suspense starring a quirky cast of small-town rural Tar Heels. The journalistic investigations are entertaining while the triangular relationship detracts from the romantic mysteries. Still fans will enjoy Cheri finds her groove in this exciting regional thriller.

Harriet Klausner

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