Title: A Black Tie Affair
Author: Sherrill Bodine
Publisher: Forever
Publication Date: January 1, 2010
Paperback: 240 pages
ISBN: 978-0446618595
Genre: Romance

About the Novel:

SUITED FOR SEDUCTION

Fashion curator Athena Smith will do anything to get her perfectly manicured hands on the Clayworth family’s celebrated couture collection for her exhibit. So when she’s called in to make sure the gowns are the real deal, she’s ecstatic…until a dress she’s examining turns out to be loaded with toxins (talk about killer threads!) and Athena faints, only to wake up face-to-face with the One That Got Away, notorious Chicago bachelor Drew Clayworth.

Drew still believes Athena betrayed him all those years ago, and he’s sure he can’t trust her. But when the priceless gowns go missing, she offers to help track them down. Reluctantly allied in the quest, Drew and Athena are soon stunned by the barely restrained passion still sizzling between them…and memories both bitter and sweet. Is their new partnership just a business arrangement? Or is this something more than…

A BLACK TIE AFFAIR

My Review:

The Black Tie Affair takes the reader inside the fashion world of Chicago through this light and flirty romance novel. We meet Athena Smith, a fashion curator, as she attempts to procure the Clayworth’s gowns for her own museum exhibit. Athena falls ill during the viewing of the gowns and viola Drew Clayworth appears at her bedside side, albeit not trusting Athena, due to an unpleasant history between the two, yet needs her help to find the missing Clayworth gowns. The more Athena and Drew work together to unravel the mystery and locate the gowns, the greater the romantic tension builds and their old feelings for each other resurface.
The Black Tie Affair was novel I did not enjoy as much as I had hoped. While it should have been a quick and delightful read, I found myself trudging through the book. I was rather uninterested in the lives of either of the main characters, although the plot twists added a delightful diversion from the almost too predictable steamy romance that was inevitable. I was most intrigued with the secrecy surrounding Athena’s father, which was never resolved. For that matter, several questions remained unanswered, I presume to leave room for sequels, which I am certain Bodine fans will enjoy. Bodine’s novel is a quick read and one that is certain to delight those who enjoy a well-written steamy romance novel.

About the Author:

Sherrill Bodine has been writing stories since junior high, when she won a pair of silver skates in a state-wide essay contest. While moving twenty-two times back and forth across America and rearing her four children, she published fifteen award-winning novels under two pseudoynyms (Lynn Leslie/Leslie Lynn). Now she’s decided to be herself and write about the people, parties, and high-life in the city she knows best: Chicago. When she’s not in the Windy City with her husband, family, and Newfoundland and pug dogs, she’s fulfilling her passion to travel to exotic locales around the world.

Author Website: SherrillBodine.com

Follow @SherrillBodine on Twitter.

I received a free copy of A Black Tie Affair by Sherrill Bodinefrom Hachette as part of the tour. Receiving a free copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.