A Black Tie Affair by Sherrill Bodine (Book Review)

Title: A Black Tie Affair
Author: Sherrill Bodine
Publisher: Forever/Hachette Books

My synopsis: The first dilemma that comes to light is that four Bertha Palmer dresses have become infected with a "truth serum" type toxin. This toxin was created as the materials in the dresses started breaking down over the years. Athena Smith has the misfortune of discovering this after laying down under one to study it. She had been observing the dresses in the Clayworth's Secret Closet in hopes of acquiring them for her Founding Families Exhibit at the museum. An exhibit that would help cement the scholarship fund for her assistant, Makayla.

The second dilemma occurs after Athena is rushed to the emergency room under the effects of the toxin. The Clayworths rush to the hospital to make sure that Athena is going to be okay, and to try and discover what has caused this episode. When they go to recover the dresses from the Closet, an unknown thief has gotten to the dresses first, not knowing that they can infect innocent people.

Athena practically throws herself at Drew Clayworth while under the effects of the truth serum toxin, which creates the third dilemma. They both have unresolved feelings from a relationship that had ended 15 years earlier, when Athena was only 17 and Drew was 19. How will her "revelations" affect their relationship now, and will they be able to work together to try to find the missing dresses?

Underlying all of this is the fact that Athena's father, Alistair, has been "forced" into retirement from John Clayworth and Company's stores. He has retreated to Florida without telling his daughters the details of his dismissal. What part did Drew play in this dismissal and how will it affect his possible second chance with Athena?

Throw in the other two Smith sisters, Venus and Diana, along with Connor, Drew's cousin and another eligible bachelor and Bridget, the Clayworth boys' aunt, and you have two very loyal families who will stand up against all to protect their own.

My thoughts: I really enjoyed reading this book. It started out on such an original note with the toxic dresses and I found that refreshing. Having all the subplots really helped the book to move along and made me want to know how everything would play out in the end. I was cheering for the unrequited love of Athena and Drew and wanted this couple to be able to work things out. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys contemporary romance.

You can connect with the author on her website: SherillBodine.com or follow @SherrillBodine on twitter.

~I was provided this book for review by Hachette Books.~

A Black Tie Affair
Publisher/Publication Date: Forever, Jan 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-61859-5
240 pages

Blog Tour: A Black Tie Affair (Jan 18 - 29)

Fashion curator Athena Smith will do anything to get her hands on the Clayworth family's couture collection for her exhibit. So she's thrilled when she's called in to authenticate the gowns...until she falls ill while examining them and wakes up face-to-face with notorious Chicago bachelor Drew Clayworth. Drew doesn't trust Athena one bit. He still believes she betrayed him years ago. So when his family's gowns go missing and Athena offers her help in exchange for the dresses, he reluctantly accepts. But they're both taken off guard by the barely restrained passion that's still between them...and the memories that are both bitter and sweet. As they work together to find the dresses, can they resist the sparks between them?

About the author (from her website): I’m sure growing up in my grandmother’s house, taking care of my developmentally disabled mother, forged who I am, but I don’t believe any one thing defines me. My philosophy of life is that we are all in this together—and we need to embrace one another with as much grace, humor and compassion as we can muster. I see life as big, bigger, biggest, and I want to take everyone along with me on the journey. I not only attend black-tie affairs and work on charity board projects, but I am also just as likely to be taking a grandchild to lunch and a movie. I’m happily married to John, with whom I eloped when I was an 18-year-old freshman in college. It was quite the scandal. We have four beautiful children and 11 grandchildren.

I won my first writing award in the seventh grade in a statewide essay contest about a television broadcast of Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates. Instead of Silver Skates, they sent real skates, which I enjoyed immensely. I’m only sorry I don’t still have them so they could hang in my office.

While moving 22 times across the country and rearing our children, I sold stories to Fate Magazine, Home Life Magazine and True Confessions. In 1988, I sold my first novel and a week later received a two-book contract from Fawcett. Sixteen novels later, I’ve seen The Other Amanda win the Wisconsin Romance Writers of America Write Touch Readers’ Award and Talk of the Town chosen by Cosmopolitan magazine as its “Red Hot Read” for February 2009.

Author Website: SherrillBodine.com

Follow @SherrillBodine on Twitter.

Blog Tour Participants:
http://thecajunbooklady.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway, Q&A 1/18/2010
http://stacievaughansblog.blogspot.com/ Giveaway 1/18/2010
http://juniperrbreeeze.blogspot.com/ Review 1/18/2010
http://brokenteepee.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 1/18/2010
http://www.masoncanyon.blogspot.com Giveaway, Guest Post 1/18/2010
www.bookwormygirl.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 1/18/2010
http://jensbooktalk.blogspot.com/ Review 1/18/2010
http://myoverstuffedbookshelf.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway 1/18/2010
www.mgpblog.com Review, Giveaway 1/18/2010
http://frugalplus.com/ Review, Giveaway 1/18/2010
http://www.stephthebookworm.blogspot.com/ Review 1/18/2010
http://www.mybookaddictionandmore.wordpress.com Review, Giveaway, Q&A 1/19/2010
http://www.saveyspender.com Review, Giveaway 1/20/2010
www.bellasnovella.com Review 1/20/2010
http://justanothernewblog.blogspot.com/ Giveaway, Guest post 1/20/2010
http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway 1/21/2010
www.cherylsbooknook.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 1/21/2010
www.thebookgirl.net Review, Giveaway 1/22/2010
http://bridget3420.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 1/22/2010
my-book-views.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 1/22/2010
http://therempels4.blogspot Review, Givewaway 1/22/2010
http://www.betweenthelinesandmore.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway 1/23/2010
http://myreadingroom-crystal.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 1/25/2010
http://www.eclecticbooklover.com Review, Giveaway 1/25/2010
http://abookbloggersdiary.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway, Guest post 1/26/2010
www.luxuryreading.com Review, Giveaway 1/27/2010
http://dreyslibrary.blogspot.com/ Guest post and giveaway 1/27/2010
www.bibliophilicbookblog.com Review, Giveaway 1/27/2010
http://www.kballard87.blogspot.com Review, Giveaway 1/28/2010
http://www.renees-reads.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway 1/29/2010
http://www.renees-reads.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway 1/29/2010
http://startingfresh-gaby317.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway 1/29/2010
http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/ Review, Giveaway 1/29/2010
http://maryinhb.blogspot.com/ Review, Giveaway 1/29/2010

Win A Black Tie Affair by Sherrill Bodine CLOSED

A Black Tie Affair by Sherrill Bodine

Fashion curator Athena Smith will do anything to get her hands on the Clayworth family's couture collection for her exhibit. So she's thrilled when she's called in to authenticate the gowns...until she falls ill while examining them and wakes up face-to-face with notorious Chicago bachelor Drew Clayworth.

Drew doesn't trust Athena one bit. He still believes she betrayed him years ago. So when his family's gowns go missing and Athena offers her help in exchange for the dresses, he reluctantly accepts. But they're both taken off guard by the barely restrained passion that's still between them...and the memories that are both bitter and sweet. As they work together to find the dresses, can they resist the sparks between them?

Five Fun Facts

1. I had the great honor of being allowed down into the Costume Collection Vault of The Chicago History Museum to examine the Bertha Palmer dresses I write about in A BLACK TIE AFFAIR—but, of course, I couldn't touch them—which was truly difficult for someone who "talks with her hands" like me!

2. My friend, the Curator of the Costume Collection, was poisoned by a black Dior evening gown, and the story was born.

3. There truly is an old underground Fallout Shelter—a real time capsule of the 1950's—and it was too fascinating not to write about it.

4. Pandora's Box is really Lulu's at the Belle Kay, Chicago's finest vintage store, owned by my dear friend, Laurie. I added the "hat room" because it has always been Laurie's dream to do it so I hope I inspire her to go for it.

5. I met the designer Carolina Herrera at a party and she was so lovely and charming I decided to name the cats in her honor—plus I love her clothes.

Visit SherrillBodine.com
Follow @SherrillBodine on Twitter.

GIVEAWAY

I have five copies of this paperback to giveaway courtesy of Hachette Books. For your first entry (MUST DO THIS ONE FOR ANY OTHER ENTRIES TO COUNT) What are you doing/or what did you do for New Year's Eve? Also leave your email address.

For additional entries you can sign up to follow (old followers let me know), Twitter or post it on your blog. Each entry must have it's own comment. (Four entries total.)

This giveaway if for U.S./Canada only - no PO boxes and will end Jan 26th! Good luck!

Mailbox Monday/In My Mailbox 12-14-2009

Mailbox Monday is hosted at The Printed Page or In Your Mailbox at The Story Siren. Please stop by those posts and take a look at what packages everybody else got this week!

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With no one to turn to, Christy yearns for her younger sister she left behind fifteen years ago. May's Triple Cross ranch could be the safe haven Christy is searching for, but will the sisters realize that each possesses what the other desperately needs before it's too late?

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He Meets His Match.
She Meets Her Master.

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A Black Tie Affair by Sherrill Bodine

Suited For Seduction

Fashion curator Athena Smith will do anything to get her perfectly manicured hands on the Clayworth family's celebrated couture collection for her exhibit. So when she's called in to make sure the gowns are the real deal, she's ecstatic. . . until a dress she's examining turns out to be loaded with toxins (talk about killer threads!) and Athena faints, only to wake up face-to-face with the One That Got Away, notorious Chicago bachelor Drew Clayworth.

Drew still believes Athena betrayed him all those years ago, and he's sure he can't trust her. But when the priceless gowns go missing, she offers to help track them down. Reluctantly allied in the quest, Drew and Athena are soon stunned by the barely restrained passion still sizzling between them. . . and memories both bitter and sweet. Is their new partnership just a business arrangement? Or is this something more than. . . A Black Tie Affair

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Flaxen-haired and beautiful, Lady Mairi Dunwythie is heiress apparent to the wealthy nobleman blocking Clan Maxwell's attempt to control much of southwest Scotland. Her first meeting with handsome Robert Maxwell ignites an attraction that is immediate, intense, and almost irresistible -- until she learns he is asking her father to submit to the Maxwell demands.

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