Reviewed for queuemyreview.com; book release Oct08

“Marriage Manhattan Style” is Barbara Dunlop’s latest Silhouette Desire release and the fourth book in the miniseries ‘Park Avenue Scandals’. Each story limns the tale of a resident of 721 Park Avenue in Manhattan. Other authors participating in this sexy contemporary series are: Maureen Child, Laura Wright, Jennifer Lewis, Emilie Rose and Anna DePaolo.

Elizabeth has everything a gal could want…a fabulously sexy, multi-millionaire husband, an unlimited spending account, and a gorgeous Park Avenue penthouse. What she doesn’t have is a baby and the more they try, the more tense their relationship becomes. When he begins keeping secrets, she begins to suspect the worst.

Reed is head over heels in love with his wife. When they have trouble conceiving, he’s determined to do everything he can to fulfill her dreams. So when trouble rears its ugly head in the form of blackmail and an SEC investigation, he tries to keep it from his wife. He’ll have to learn that marriages with secrets and lies aren’t marriages for long!

Although the concept and plot are hardly new, Dunlop does manage to give this tale an updated look by drawing inspiration from all the recent high finance fiascoes! Elizabeth tends to jump to conclusions, but the author did provide her a sensible best friend to provide a voice of reason. There’s a background secondary romance that provided a bit of comic relief and I’m still giggling at the thought of a bruising bodyguard on diaper duty. Reed easily slips into the character of a man forced to delegate to save his marriage—something every spouse of an overworked mate can relate to. I was especially glad to see Dunlop didn’t try to overwhelm the story with fashion and society name dropping which for some reason always seems to put my back up.

I enjoy reading the shorter category romance stories as a break from longer novels. They only take one and ½ to two hours to read, they always end happy, and they’re much cheaper than a movie! If this sounds good to you, give “Marriage: Manhattan Style” by Barbara Dunlop a try and see if a little New York romance isn’t just what you were looking for. ( )