Reviewer: Lori Graham
Title: The Marriage Campaign
Author: Michele Dunaway
Publisher: Harlequin
ISBN: 0-373-75131-0
Release Date: August 2006
Genre/Sub-genre: Contemporary Romance/Harlequin American
Year/Setting: Current/Missouri
Overall Rating: 4.5
Sexual Content Rating: Sexual
Language (Profanity) Rating: None
Violent Content Rating: None
Michele's Website: www.micheledunaway.com
Lisa Meyer has a great group of friends from college. Each one has pursued a different road in life but they still remain close and in constant contact. Lisa has moved into a position where one of those friendships is going to cross into her professional realm. Lisa graduated college to go on and become a campaign fundraiser and she has finally advanced in her current campaign enough that she is pretty well running the fundraising on her own. One of her biggest events for Herb Usher’s campaign is being held near the home of her best friend’s parents. They have agreed to help her lead off some of the fundraising among their friends.
However, the night of the actual dinner, the man Lisa thought to be there was taken ill and sent his son in his stead – Mark Smith. Lisa is very good at her job and gets through the evening in though she is shaking in her boots internally. Lisa had a crush long ago on Mark and there was almost a time she thought it was going to go further than that crush but ended only in humiliation for her when Mark left with another woman.
For Mark, the memories from that long ago evening are very different. He too thought he and the pretty young co-ed were finally going to move beyond casualness. However, after helping a sick female friend out to her boyfriend, he came back to discover Lisa gone. Needless to say, there are a few bad memories on his side as well. So, just maybe, he can use this campaign to iron some of those out.
One thing I really liked about the way Michele Dunaway presented The Marriage Campaign is that this book really illustrated both sides of the story. All too often, the reader will only get one side of event and form a belief that meshes solely with the lead character. Michele did a great job though of showing that things aren’t always as they appear. Even as a reader sometimes we need to with hold judgment and try just a bit of reading between the lines.
Both Lisa and Mark are strong individuals and are aware deep down that they have a problem trusting in the opposite sex because of that night. For Lisa that means she shies away from all men and is a work-aholic and for Mark he tends to date a lot (but doesn’t let them get too close). Again, a great way of showing two ways the same situation manifests itself.
Very clever turns throughout the story as the characters become closer and closer to their heart’s desire.
Lori
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