Another Tailspin review

Tailspin
By Michele Dunaway
September 2008
Harlequin NASCAR
ISBN: 978-0-373-21794-6

Reviewed by Christy Janisse

Irony is a funny thing. When I received Michele’s newest release, Tailspin, I was dealing with my husband’s truck accident.

What does that have to do with this new book? That is exactly how Michele opens the book and brings the main protagonists together. Immediate connection. Brilliant! Something that almost everyone has had to deal with at one point or another.

Terri Whalen lives, breathes and loves NASCAR. Almost as much as she loved her beloved truck – which she built with her dad. When the vehicle is destroyed by a construction crew at her friend’s wedding, her life takes a new course – in the way of Max Harper.

Max Harper is a divorce working his way up on the fast track of his company and raising his young daughter. While learning the ropes in each department of his company, he encounters a furious Terri. The image he forms of her over the phone is immediately shattered when he meets her to give her the check for her totaled vehicle.

But it doesn’t end with the check. Max’s company sponsors a NASCAR driver, and as fate would have it, the two cross paths on neutral ground – and the chemistry is a flammable as the pit row fuel canisters.

However, neither Max nor Terri want a relationship. Max because of being stung by a narcissistic ex-wife, and Terri because of the thought of a ready made family.
So they agree to keep it light and take things one day at a time. That is until the ex-wife shows up with plans to reunite her family.

Michele has written a wonderful story full of family, friends, in-depth NASCAR experiences and characters you will love. This is a can’t put it down until the last page read! Don’t miss out on the action and the love!

Review Time

Tailspin-Michele Dunaway
Tailspin
Michele Dunaway
Harlequin NASCAR, Sep 2008
ISBN: 9780373217946

The asphalt company was at fault for wrecking her truck. Rocksolid Insurance offers to provide Charlotte based personal trainer Terri Whelan with the market value of her vehicle; she rejects their offer; demanding they fix her customized special NASCAR race fan truck that she and her dad upgraded. A beleaguered customer service employee forwards Terri’s call to Max Harper, a Rising Stars program trainee; he accepts the call because he believes a real customer complaint would prove more beneficial in his training than the tapes he has been given. He agrees to look into her demands.

Terri meets Max and his twelve year old daughter Mandy over a commercial the adults are both indirectly involved in. Terri and Max are attracted to one another, but his first interest remains rightfully so his tweener. Besides Mandy’s mom, Los Angeles drama queen Lola knows that what Lola wants Lola gets and she wants Terri gone; not that she wants Max back.

This entertaining contemporary romance stars two likable lead protagonists, a strong positive support cast, and a mom who offers no redeeming values. The lead couple is a wonderful pairing from their first telephonic encounter. However his ex-wife trying to destroy their relationship fails to come out of the starting gate let alone make it around the oval to the finish line. Still overall TAILSPIN is a fun second chance at love for him and first time for her tale.

Harriet Klausner