#Do Not Disturb

by Christie Ridgway

Book Overview

You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family.

Investigative reporter Angel Buchanan dug up a whopping surprise: The late "Artist of the Heart" Stephen Whitney -- famous for his family values -- was the father who'd abandoned her when she was four. And there's nothing like the reading of a will to bring people out of the woodwork, especially relatives you never knew you had...

...Such as the grieving widow and her sexpot...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 006009348X
• ISBN13: 9780060093488
• Release Date: December 2003
• Publisher: Avon Books
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Loved it!

But then I love everything Christie Ridgway writes. "Do Not Disturb" is in keeping with all her stories, funny but with lots of emotion, too. Her characters always make me smile and always leave me feeling good. And her California settings make me want to book a vacation to the west coast ASAP. Can't recommend this author, or this book, enough.

What a Wonderful Story!

This is the first time I've ever read Christie Ridgway and boy was I impressed! Her use of language was wonderful. And Angel, the heroine of the story was endearing. I felt like I was rooting for her from the very beginning. Cooper was a delight; I saw him in my dreams a couple of times!! I read the book over the weekend, and would highly recommend it to all of my friends.

A good 4 1/2 stars book...

While I have a few quibbles about undeveloped secondary plots/characters, I have to say that I absolutely loved the hero and heroine of this contemporary romance. The setting and premise were unusual and the author's use of humor showed through. The heroine, Angel, was tough but not one of the "kick-a@$" heroines I have grown to loathe. She's had a difficult past but it doesn't keep her from following her dreams and goals. She doesn't wallow in self-pity. And the hero, Cooper, was sexy, sweet, and a guy who loves his family - a real keeper. I read this book in just two sittings and very much enjoyed it.

Sexy, witty and so much more than a �romp�!

What an appropriate title for a story of people who have been existing in a safe sort of half-life that they do not want disrupted but that must be if they are to ever live a full life. And the death of artist Stephen Whitney not only disturbs their equilibrium; it turns their lives upside down. Stephen Whitney was an enigmatic, magnetic, self-absorbed and popular Norman Rockwell-esque artist known for his family and traditions oriented paintings. Well Angel Buchanan, the daughter he abandoned at the age of four, knows a hypocrite when she sees one and on his death she decides to expose the ?Artist of the Heart? for what he really was. She?s a writer for West Coast magazine and she sets out for the family compound in Big Sur to interview family and friends. But she?s not prepared for what she finds there - Stephen?s second family: his widow Lainey, her sister Beth, their extremely protective and suspicious (not to mention hot!) brother Cooper and most disturbing of all a half-sister, teenaged Katie. Cooper is not wild about the idea of a reporter poking around but Stephen did not leave the family in great financial shape and they all decide (all except Beth) that a little good publicity would help keep the artist and his work hot. As Angel gets to know these people she is shocked to find herself liking them and losing some of her fire, not to mention objectivity. There?s the devastated but hopeful Lainey, the mysterious Beth and the fragile Katie whom Angel feels an unwanted kinship with. But her biggest problem is the handsome, sexy and too smart Cooper who (unlike most men) sees right through her innocent baby blues and angelic blond curls. She just can?t seem to resist him though she knows she can never let him get close. Her father taught her never to depend on a man and she never, ever will. Besides, Cooper is not Mr. Right, he?s simply Mr. Right Now ? right?Cooper Jones has essentially been hiding out in Big Sur since having a health crisis two years before. He had been a hotshot attorney in San Francisco living hard and fast fueled by caffeine and nicotine and work. But now he helps to run the family retreat Tranquility House with family friend Judd Sterling. He had thought that living this slower, scaled-down life would help him find peace, but fears he?s really just marking time. When he meets Angel with her vibrant determination, her city-girl clothes, shoes and scent he begins to miss his old life in SF. But he can never go back to that life. Though he cannot keep his hands off the luscious Angel, neither can he offer her anything more than a brief affair, for she?s headed back to the city and his life is in the Sur. Then there?s Judd and his silent devotion to Beth. This secondary romance had me in tears more than once as we watch Judd?s struggle to maintain his hard won inner calm in the face of his feelings for Beth and her seeming inability to deal with Stephen?s death. All the meditation and eastern religions

An Unexpected Pleasure

This book took me by surprise. I was perusing the book shelves, desperate for a good read, when I saw the cover and decided to take a chance on an author who was unknown to me. I'm glad I did. I really enjoyed the budding relationship between Connor and Angel. The humour was refreshing, the plot was well-developed, the characters were charming and the novel was well written. I'll be looking for more from Ms. Ridgeway