Wild Nights

By: Mary Ellen Courtney
Publisher: PorterChance Books 
Publication Date: March 2013
ISBN: 978-0-9889536-9-7
Reviewed by: Amy Lignor 
Review Date: July 23, 2013

Although men are always said to be having a ‘mid-life crises,’ for the female the questions about love and life come sooner. It’s approximately the age of 32-34 when we really take a tally on things and begin to wonder what the next steps are going to be. The career may be going great but the romance is not - or vice versa. We may wish for the picket fence and 2.3 children, or we may wish for open-road adventures that never end. But whatever the complexities may be, it’s a fact that females are very simple creatures; and for Hannah Spring, her biggest challenge is to find someone on the planet who can understand that.

The Spring family is more than a little over the top. Hannah’s mother can transform from a woman who likes to spread the guilt to a wanna-be hottie with a man on her arm and her body parts not exactly covered by her fashion choices.

Hannah is heading to see Mom, meeting up with her and a few others to set up her grandmother’s funeral. Hannah loved her grandmother - she was a woman who had quirks as well as passion and determination to work hard and raise her kids, after being widowed at a young age.

On the way to the funeral in San Diego Hannah has to deal with a car that simply conks out, which makes her mother more than a little disgruntled on the other end of the phone. In other areas of her life, Hannah is dating a ‘good’ man by the name of Steve, and she is a production designer who works in Hollywood setting up all the locations that play home to the stars.

But when her car dies, she’s amazed to find herself drawn to the truck driver named Stroud who befriends her and helps her get to where she needs to go. (Stroud is the masculine type with the big heart who makes wrong decisions, that every woman always seems to want in their house.)

As the story progresses other men appear in various capacities and through them, friends, her family, and her own brain working out what she wants and who she really is - Hannah’s adventures really hit home.

The author has done a great job with everything from location descriptions to the differences in the characters. She never goes too far into stereotyping, allowing for surprises, and by the time the story is over, the reader will be dying to know who Hannah will end up giving her heart to.

Quill says: Not just a romance; this is a story filled with the full spectrum of emotions that female readers will sink their teeth into.

For more information on Wild Nights, please visit the publisher's website at: www.porterchancebooks.com