Scientist meets novelist in a modern romance

o about it would be to suspend your disbelief. This, apart from the author’s talent, would more or less guarantee a good laugh, if not a good read. Now, the plot: Twenty-five-year-old successful romance novelist Mallory Ginelli, a.k.a. Zoe Wilde, has a huge problem – her teenage sister owes an Italian gangster named Bruno $20,000 in gambling debts. Their mother, who raised her daughters solo and has enough problems controlling her 17-year-old, could not come up with the money, so Mallory takes it upon herself to raise the cash. Luckily, her agent informs her that her reputation as romance novelist Zoe Wilde has caught the interest of an English scientist, who is offering a huge fee for her to come to England to help him with his research. He needs feminine input, she is told, and who best to get it from than a woman who can come up with the steamiest love scenes and the most intoxicating romances? It takes but a reminder of her sister’s debt for Mallory to give the go-ahead.

Dexter Harrington, Ph.D. turns out to be a devastatingly handsome, unbelievably wealthy aristocrat (an earl) who has a genius-level IQ. He is also a human sexuality specialist rumored to be developing a pill that’s akin to Viagra for women. This rumor, coupled with the project’s professional gloss, sets the backdrop for secrecy and mystery between the two – until they begin to heat up rooms with their own chemistry and the secrets just have to be let out of the bag. Mallory’s Zoe Wilde notwithstanding, her sexual experiences are limited to those in between the covers of a book. Despite looking good on paper (with his brains, money, title and all), Dexter has had no luck with women, and his research is really for him to learn how to please a woman on the emotional level because he’s hiding a fiancée somewhere.

The basic plot is spiced up by supporting characters, who argue like Will and Grace’s Jack and Karen, minus the gay factor and plus some real sexual tension: Dexter’s handsome best friend and secretary Jonathan Cummings, and Mallory’s best friend Freida Feldman or just Freddie, who at the pretense of being Mallory’s assistant, is just in for the ride. It takes two and two to make four, after all.

The Mating Game’s author Melanie George has a reputation for historical romances with humorous touches and engaging characters, from the main cast to those who play supporting roles. This contemporary romance proves to be no different. The plot undeniably borders on the unbelievable, but George definitely pulls it off with aplomb, drawing readers into her fictional world for some good entertainment and heady laughter.

If the book has one disadvantage, however, it is that Freddie and Cummings are more interesting than the main characters. Truth be told, the two have more chemistry than Mallory and Dexter, and the ride would most certainly be dull without them – needless to say, George definitely had a reason to put them in the book.

Historical romance author Melanie George’s first try in writing romantic comedy surely does not disappoint. – Althea Lauren Ricardo