Smooth Moves

by Carrie Alexander

Book Overview

ZACK IS BACK... Legendary bad-boy Zack Brody comes home and the women of Quimby are on the warpath. The charming rogue has broken every heart in town...except one. Newcomer Cathy Timmerman is just the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0373259395
• ISBN13: 9780373259397
• Release Date: July 2001
• Publisher: Harlequin Books
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.2" x 6.6"

Customer Reviews

SMOOTH MOVES is packed with all the right ones!

Zack Brody's back in town! After a year's absence, Zack's back in Quimby, and it's got all his former girlfriends (who've dubbed themselves The Heartbroken), in a dither. Cathy Timmerman has just recently made her home there too, and by opening her shop for Wedneday night meetings of The Heartbroken, has become a member of the group my default, and privy to information about of Zack's legendary finesse. He loves `em and leaves `em, but seems to manage to stay on good terms with each one he's dumped. Even the one he left standing at the alter a year before? The ladies want to give Zack a taste of his own medicine, feel the pain of rejection, and enlist Cathy's help in their sting operation. One of the heartbroken has her own agenda, but then, so does Cathy. Cathy knows Zack very well, but even as they meet, she can tell his memory of their acquaintance isn't as far reaching as hers. And she can't help getting tangled in the web of deceit that her friends have pulled her into. They dress her up, and send her out to bait him, and oh! Does she ever! Can Cathy pull it off? Can she break Zack's heart, like all the Heartbroken expect her to? Or will she find a way to salvage her friendships, AND get her man? Carrie Alexander pens characters that are both fun and sexy. Their depth in dealing with personal strife makes the reader privy to what drives them. Cathy is at once timid and shy, hiding herself from a life that brought nothing but grief The Heartbroken coax her out of her cocoon, and she becomes the lovely butterfly. Zack has always shown kindness to others; has even shouldered the blame for things not his fault. He is handsome as all get out, a true charmer, but sees Cathy for what she is: a beautiful woman. Whether she wears frumpy clothes or a hot number aimed at enticing him, he sees beneath the surface. To him, what's underneath is her appeal. I really enjoyed Smooth Moves. Zack has that Good Boy quality that rings true for the heroine, and Cathy has that something that Zack is helpless to resist. Ms. Alexander blends humor and serious issues that make it easy to relate to the characters, and understand their motives. Smooth Moves is faced paced and will have you not only wanting to see what moves Zack puts on Cathy, but also, what moves she puts on him! My advice is to grab Smooth Moves...while you still can!

Vivid and memorable! Very highly recommended

Cathy Beachball, they had called her all those years ago. Even though she discovered the gym and a dietician while in college, Cathy's wounds regarding her weight never entirely healed. Only one boy, her first crush in fifth grade, had looked beyond the exterior to see the beauty of the girl within. Cathy never forgot him.When she moves back to Quimby to own and operate the craft store, Cathy encounters the legend surrounding the boy she remembers. Now called Heartbreak Brody, Zach dated every eligible woman in town at some point, leaving each heart broken but still friends; that is, except for Laurel. Zach supposedly left her standing at the altar, and she's vowed revenge. Now Zach's also returned to town, and Laurel has a plan. Laurel convinces Zach's former flames to unite in an effort to help Cathy break his heart. Though she never really plans to cause him harm, Cathy can't resist the impetus that results in her transformation from dowdy to sensational. Nor can she resist the sexy Zach, with whom she almost immediately falls in love. As the past comes unraveled, to reveal a number of undermining and manipulative threads, author Carrie Alexander turns up the Heat in SMOOTH MOVES. Zach's reputation as a "smooth operator" provides a marvelous bed of conflict, giving the plot a lively theme. With a vivid cast of characters and intense conflict, SMOOTH MOVES comes very highly recommended.

bewitching and amusing small town charmer

The female population of Quimby dubbed Zachary "Heartbreak" Brody a smooth operator as Zack broke many a heart. However, most of his ladies remains fond of the rogue. Once a week, five of his former women meet to attend a craft class at Cathy Timmerman's craft shop and to compare notes as card carrying members of the Heartbroken centering on the town's legendary bad boy, who has just come home after being away for awhile. The group agrees to teach Mr. Heartbreaker a lesson and choose newcomer Cathy as the enticement to break Zack's heart. Cathy agrees to the scheme because she remembers Zack as her champion at school when everyone taunted her for being different. She knows she loved him then and she believes she loves him now even if he fails to recognize her. However, she wonders if he will return her feelings after sampling the town's entire buffet? SMOOTH MOVES is a bewitching and amusing small town charmer that provides plenty of entertainment due to the antics of the entire cast. The lead couple is a delight, but the secondary characters furnish depth (through gossip and other not so subtle means) that propels the enticing plot forward. Carrie Alexander smoothly moves her tale to a warm conclusion that will lead the audience to wanting more stories focusing on the residents of Quimby.Harriet Klausner

Whew, hot stuff!!

Zachary "Heartbreak" Brody, small town bad boy, is home after a year's absence. He is also unwittingly stirring up mixed feelings in the small group of women known as the Heartbroken; Quimby's small circle of Zachary's supposedly spurned ex-girlfriends. One in particular is especially malicious and coerces the whole group into using relative newcomer, Cathy Bell Timmerman, as bait to lure Zack into his own heartbreak. Zack falls hook, line and sinker. But...even the best laid schemes sometimes go awry.Cathy isn't quite the newcomer that the circle of Quimby gals thinks she is. Even though, as a young, insecure girl, she only spent a year in the small town, Cathy has never forgotten the boy who championed her. Now divorced with a completely different appearance, Cathy has her own agenda for rising to the challenge of seducing Zachary Brody. The start of Zack's romantic comeuppance turns into something else entirely.SMOOTH MOVES in an enticing read of revenge, secrets and small town gossip. Carrie Alexander creates a fast-paced, tightly written story reminiscent of Peyton Place, with healthy doses of humor and witty, alluring dialogue. Cathy and Zack embark on a believable, heated romance and all of the secondary characters add flavor and nuance to a small town with character of its own. Here's hoping Ms. Alexander has many more stories up her sleeve for other characters in Quimby. I highly recommend you put the chaise lounge in your favorite shady spot, grab a tall glass of iced tea, then sit back and enjoy the fireworks in SMOOTH MOVES!

He's back and he's [still] bad.

Zack [Smooth Operator] Brody is back and the town's womenfolk are all atwitter because in his 'glory days' Zack had a penchant for romancing and then bailing out. Unfortunately, the last woman to fall victim was his bride, Laurel, who never forgave and never forgot and vows to seek revenge for the humiliation Zack put her through. She enlists the help of the town's women, who unanimously elect town newcomer & shop owner, Cathy Timmerman as the revenge tool of choice. To aid in the seduction, the women give Cathy a complete makeover. Gone are the glasses and shapeless apron dresses she wears for work. In their place are contacts and totally "glam" clothes. But she has a secret. She may be new in town, but she's no stranger to Zack and something tells her that something's wrong with the picture Laurel is painting of Zack. And despite the new look, she's still the same woman as before, one whose doubts about Laurel's story continue to deepen as the story unfolds. On top of all this, she's had a crush on Zack since he'd rescued her years before while swimming. And so she agrees to the routine the women outlined, neglecting to tell them she has her own agenda: She has no intention of dumping Zack after the seduction. Poor Zack has no premonition of what is about to hit him. As the story unfolds, we learn more about the disastrous wedding-day-that-wasn't, about Zack's family [especially his brother Adam & the role he played] and about Cathy's sense of justice. It's been too long a wait for a Carrie Alexander book, but SMOOTH MOVES was well worth it. The conversations flowed fast and furiously and got more than one laugh out of me. The love scenes, in true Alexander fashion, sizzle. The hero and heroine are sympathetic characters, and the 'woman scorned' was, I felt, quite deliciously diabolical. I feel the author should make Laurel the subject of her own book and perhaps learn the true meaning of love. A bit of groveling wouldn't hurt either.