Title: Picture This
Series: A Marsden Novel #2
Author: Jayne Denker
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Blurb: It’s where everyone knows your business—and remembers everything you’d rather forget. But somehow the little Catskills town of Marsden draws the most unlikely people back home, turns their lives every which way, and helps them finally figure out what—and who—they want most…
As a celebrity photographer’s assistant, Celia Marshall is used to seeing all kinds of weird antics. But subbing as the model in irrepressible movie star Niall Crenshaw’s latest endorsement ad—while wearing his silk boxers, no less—is definitely not in her job description. Neither is falling for him, especially since he’s dating his latest co-star. To complicate things further, Celia is returning to Marsden to keep an eye on her eccentric grandmother—and Niall is driving her there, then staying to judge a talent contest…
Soon Celia is pulled in a dozen different directions, trying to get her grandmother to act her age, placating her frantic former boss who’s organizing the contest—and attempting to stay away from funny, sexy Niall. Celia’s always been level headed, but suddenly she’s wishing she could get reckless right along with him. Has the time come for sensible Celia to cut loose?…
Thoughts: Celia Marshall is a 30-something photography assistant, but everything changes when the model gets an allergic reaction at a photo shoot. Celia has to step in and model with the sexy (and hilarious) movie star, Niall Crenshaw. Niall has always played the funny characters, but his good looks and personality could have landed him the leading man gig any day. He makes Celia feel at ease in a situation where she feels anything but by making her laugh and giving her his emergency boxers to wear. The way he’s flirting and goofing around are making Celia think he’s interested in more, but she’s deflated when his girlfriend, Tiffany, shows up and he leaves with her. Celia shows up at Niall’s to return his boxers and finds a full blown party taking place and it’s exactly what you would imagine for the Hollywood scene. When Celia tries to escape, she ends up in a closet and Niall finds her in there. They share a very sweet and sensual kiss before Niall has to break up a chick fight at the party. Regardless of all of the wondering things said when they’re alone, Celia can’t ignore that Niall has a girlfriend.
Niall was completely drawn to Celia, but he’s currently playing a pretty big publicity role with Tiffany. He needs to do this for the money it’s bringing in regardless of how much she irritates him. After his kiss with Celia, though, he isn’t giving up. He meets at her house and convinces her to go out with him the next day. When he shows up the next day, though, she’s leaving. Her parents had called to let her know they needed their help and she needed to come home to Marsden. Celia has always been close to her grandmother and they believe she can convince her that it’s time to move into an assisted living facility. Niall has already signed up for a celebrity event in Marsden in a few extra weeks, so he can take her and spend a few weeks there with her.
Once in Marsden, Celia is staying with her grandma and trying to figure out if she really does need to move to an assisted living facility. She tries to stay away from the sexy and funny Niall and help out the town by photographing the singing competition.
The feelings grow between Celia and Niall while in Marsden, but what will Niall do about Tiffany? When Celia figures out what’s going on with her grandma, will she be able to move back to New York and go back to her normal life?
I am not sure what exactly I was expecting…maybe the super famous moving star that sweeps the innocent girl off her feet storyline….but what I got was so much better. Niall wasn’t your typical leading man. He wasn’t perfect, but his personality made him so great. He knew he wanted Celia from the start and went after her. He was funny and I loved that curve. Celia’s grandma, Holly, was too funny too. I laughed out loud reading this one way more than I anticipated. Celia had to come into her own and it got pretty annoying to see how long that took. I had to really kick myself to realize that the decisions she made in the book are what most people would do in real life…..just not what I WANTED her to do in the make believe literary world.
This is book 2 in the Marsden series and I have not read the first. This book can definitely be read as a standalone in the series, but reading this one makes me want to check the others out too.
Grade: A
