Rhayne’s Review – Kane and Mable by Sharon DeVita

Description
When a new business partner appears in Kati’s diner, it’s not just the broccoli that’s steamed.

Kati Rose Ryan lives in the small town of Libertyville, Missouri, taking care of the diner her irresponsible brother left her to run. When a “friend” of her brother shows up at the diner, Kati is immediately suspicious. Her brother Patrick’s friends are nothing but thieves and freeloaders and she’s had her fill of them.

She fully intends to throw no-good Lucas Kane out on his ear. Until Lucas tells her that her brother lost his half of the diner to him in a poker game, and Lucas is her new partner.

Furious that her brother could be so reckless and irresponsible to gamble his half of the diner away, Kati does everything in her power to get rid of Lucas. But, Lucas isn’t budging. In fact, he intends to stay in Libertyville until he can prove to Kati that he doesn’t just want to be her partner in the diner, but in life, as well.

This book was originally printed in November, 1987 by Silhouette Books.

Rhayne’s Thoughts
This is a story with a great plot and lots of sub characters that give it a little extra spark.

Kati has been responsible for her care free brother, Patrick since their parent’s death. She is the owner of a diner and is struggling financially to make ends meet. She is not prepared for Patrick’s friend Lucas to show up claiming to be her new business partner.

She is attracted to him, but she knows that any friend of her brothers is bad news. She has been burned by them in the past and vows to stay far away from them in the future.

Lucas does not make it easy for her to push him out of the diner or out of her life. He has had a rough up-bringing and has never really felt wanted or needed by anyone. He is determined to make Kati see that he is there for her and she can rely on him to take care of her.

Conflict arises as Patrick returns home and finds that Lucas is there. He assumes he is there waiting for him to come back and give him the money he owes him. Kati feels like Lucas used her and her diner just as a way to get to Patrick.

There is quite a bit of humor in this book, most if it brought on by the diner patrons. They added a lot to the story line.

I love Lucas. He is caring and genuine. He is a problem solver by nature and always ready to jump in with both feet to help anyone out.

I honestly struggled a bit with Kati’s character. During the first part of the book, after Lucas showed up she was just mean. He stepped up and paid her back mortgage with the bank, and she was angry with him. He bought her a new stove, and she was angry with him. He continued to make improvement and help her out and she continued to be angry and bitter. There is one scene where the health inspector is threatening Kati to sleep with him or he is going to shut her down. Lucas steps in and saves the day and Kati is angry, because she could have handled the situation on her own. I just didn’t connect well with those scenarios. She was never appreciative or said thank you, just ranted on that she didn’t need his help. I felt better about her as the book progressed though. She seemed to loosen up and lose that bitterness. But it was a little hard to connect with all her resentment and hatred at first.

Overall this is a quick light enjoyable love story.

 

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