2.5 stars

This has two characters that are different and a bit quirky, refreshingly different from the usually hero and heroine. The hero is a horse trainer but really no scenes involving that, you get some of the hoopla surrounding the Kentucky Derby a little. The heroine is a glass artist, you get more artsy stuff/tone involving her.
The author did a great job introducing her characters, maybe too good a job because it feels like 60-70% of the book is introducing our characters and slowing bringing them together. We then get a rushed bottom heavy ending of them coming together and having a very quick romance. I really enjoyed these characters separately but did not get near enough time of them together to feel their romance.
There was also a secondary romance that came close to stealing the show.
Definitely a different beat contemporary if you're looking to break out of the usual contemporary fare but the rushed romance ending killed all the lengthy character ground work the author had done. ( )

Fast & Loose is about the complex lives of four individuals. The book brings together an artist, two bartenders and a racehorse trainer on the eve of the Kentucky Derby. Through a series of events the artist and trainer fall in love. The artist a hippie type does not want to have a relationship with a rich man, her best friend the bartender does though. The other two character, the bartenders realize that they love each other also. I don't care for their story as much as the main characters. They could have been left out more. Otherwise a great book. ( )

Fabulous! Great H/H, sensual exciting sex, and sensitive relationship growth.

Against a backdrop of the beauty and pageantry of the Kentucky Derby, Elizabeth Bevarly has penned a run-away winner.

Lulu agreed to rent out her small, comfortable house for two weeks during the Derby. Lulu is a quiet, publicity-shy artist who saves all her passion for her blown glass creations.

Cole is a horse-trainer whose luck has been golden during the last several years. Now he's the media-sensation "King Cole" and spends as much time 'on' during racing season as his beloved thoroughbreds. He becomes fascinated with the mysterious, enticing, anonymous woman who lives in the house he's rented for the Derby.

These two are clearly all wrong for each other. So when Cole needs a 'buffer' girlfriend, he chooses Lulu, who clearly doesn't long for his fame, riches, or body. But the more time they spend together, the more he realizes that maybe, just maybe, his lucky streak will reward him with the ultimate prize...Lulu.

After reading this book, I want to go to the races. I want to find a man who sees that beauty is enhanced by what's inside a woman...a man willing to take the time to draw out the inner passions that translate to sensual excitement. A winner all the way around. ( )