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Summer reading from two Tampa Bay area writers: a comic romance about ex-beauty queens and a spicy crime story starring a sexy Latina bounty hunter.

By COLETTE BANCROFT and SUZANNE PALMER
Published July 10, 2005

THE TIARA CLUB

By Beverly Brandt

St. Martin's Press, $12.95, 358 pp

Reviewed by COLETTE BANCROFT

The Miss America pageant had to go begging for a television venue this year, but beauty queens still rule in Ocean Sands, Miss.

The fictional gulf shore town is the setting for The Tiara Club, the fifth romance novel by St. Petersburg author Beverly Brandt. (Brandt has also published three chick-lit thrillers under the nom de plume Jacey Ford.)

The club of the title is a close-knit group of girlfriends, all but one former pageant competitors. They're old enough to spend more time juggling jobs, kids and second husbands, or maybe third ones, than trading tips on using duct tape to enhance cleavage, but their shared experience on the runway sticks them together as surely as the glue they used around the rims of their swimsuits.

The big tiara is Georgia Elliot, a second-generation beauty queen, divorced from the town's mayor and living a not very exciting life. She works in the local gift shop and spends a lot of time catering to her imperious mama, Vivian.

But all that gets turned on its ear by Georgia's best friend. It's not that Callie is marrying Georgia's ex, which hardly causes Georgia to turn a curly blond hair. It's the letter Callie wrote to the television show Epicurean Explorer touting a product called the Miracle Chef.

It seems the Miracle Chef brought Callie's fractious family together by allowing her to cook a full meal and dessert in one pot in a half-hour flat. But Georgia invented the Miracle Chef, although she has never told Callie or anyone else. And that's not her only secret.

Georgia starts to panic when a crew comes to town to film a cookoff between local Miracle Chef fans and the Epicurean Explorer himself, Daniel Rogers, who's single, gorgeous, charming, wealthy, respectful of women and somehow not full of himself. Did we mention he's gorgeous?

He's also smart enough to have done a patent search and found out who invented the Miracle Chef. (Apparently no one in Ocean Sands has heard of Google.)

This is a romance, and if you can't figure out in the first 20 pages that Georgia and Daniel will end up in each other's arms, you're just not paying attention.

But this is not your grandma's romance novel, unless your grandma went in for steamily explicit sex scenes (for which Georgia doffs her always perfectly matched lingerie) and plot twists that turn on such sober topics as child abuse, suicide and murder.

Despite a few dark moments, though, The Tiara Club is a comic romance. The plot meanders at times, especially in the first half, and some of its turns are so out-of-the-blue they're hard to believe.

But Brandt has a knack for funny details - who knew you could pick a handcuff lock with a silver cocktail fork? - and she populates Ocean Sands with enough entertaining eccentrics and secret loves to make The Tiara Club a sassy beach read.

- Colette Bancroft is a Floridian staff writer.

DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS

By Julie Leto

Downtown Press, $12, 315 pp

Reviewed by SUZANNE PALMER

Meet Marisela Morales. Strong, sultry and street-smart, Marisela is also searching. She needs to make a living, but because of a past with Tampa's Latina gangs, a turn in juvie and a run as a bail bondsman who can no longer carry a gun, Marisela finds her options limited. Add to that her overt sexuality, in-your-face style and passion for adventure, and her resume is a little thin.

Marisela may be tough, but that doesn't mean she's devoid of compassion or a certain morality. One of her soft spots is for former boyfriend Frankie Vega. When Vega's parents run the risk of losing their home if he jumps bail, Marisela seduces him into handcuffs to make sure that doesn't happen. This sets in motion a chain of events that could change Marisela's life.

Julie Leto crafts action sequences that keep the pages turning as Marisela is hired by Titan International, a covert investigation firm. Recommended for the job by Vega, Marisela has special talents that make her perfect for this case. Her sense of adventure and need for a paycheck make it impossible for her to say no. That Vega is set to be her partner for the mission only makes the opportunity more thrilling.

As the title indicates, all the characters have secrets. Titan boss Ian Blake is handsome, charming and demanding. Titan's reputation is pristine, but what of its finances? And what about Max, Blake's impressive and stealthy right-hand man? Who's really in control here?

The intrigue deepens as Marisela and Frankie take on roles as professional assassins to infiltrate the compound of arms dealer Javier Perez. Their mission is to kidnap Perez's daughter and return her to her mother. When Marisela's maternal instincts kick in, she and Frankie risk blowing the mission and losing their lives.

Leto began as a romance writer in 1998, eventually contributing to Harlequin's Blaze series. So you might expect a softer hand in the sex scenes here, but the sex, like Secrets' characters, is graphic and, unfortunately, slows down the pace of this adventure.

The characters are fun, but stereotypical. Why not do something unexpected and keep the reader guessing? Hispanics are portrayed as lower-class, uneducated, drug-dealing thugs or sultry lovers. Sure, their family ties are strong and mamacita makes great cafe con leche, but it would be nice to see a Latina with less booty and more brains. One could also imagine a Brit who isn't impeccably dressed and impossibly polished or a society heiress who wasn't blond and icy.

Dirty Little Secrets, published by Pocket's Downtown Press, where "nice girls go the heaven" and "naughty girls go downtown," is the first book to star agent Marisela Morales. If Leto, who lives in Tampa, gives her Tampa heroine the same tough moral decisions and interesting conflicts as she has in Dirty Little Secrets, future installments may make the series a guilty little pleasure.

- Suzanne Palmer is a Times staff writer.

[Last modified July 9, 2005, 09:08:02]