Title: Peak Performance
Author: Helen Brenna
Sub-Genre: Contemporary
Series: Harlequin NASCAR series
Ratings:

Go ahead, now. Ask a bunch of folks who ain't as sophisticated as me and you what a NASCAR Library Collection is. Bet you they'll say it's a carton full of paperbacks like the ones ol' Uncle Zeke and his buds used to sneak ganders at over behind the woodshed.

Since you and I possess the refined tastes of romance-reading chicks who buy more than a quarter of all fiction sold in the United States — and have heard our share of stupid-to-kind-of-funny jokes about our novels of choice — we know better than to judge any kind of book by its cover.

Which is why you should know that Harlequin's line of romances set in the high-energy world of NASCAR auto racing — America's #1 spectator sport — is sheer brilliance. No two "niche" markets are more similar than romance and NASCAR. Fans are both are exceptionally enthusiastic, "brand loyal," and way misunderstood — except by the companies that keep them in entertainment.

And the women fans of both short-length Harlequin romances and NASCAR like to be kept in entertainment that's compelling, action-packed, stud, um, studded and all tied up with full-throttle happily ever after.

This year, the real NASCAR Library Collection boasts 16 novels from Harlequin's NASCAR series. Each book tells its own separate love story, and all the books are connected a little like a soap opera featuring fictional NASCAR families and the people in their lives. And the best part? You don't have to know anything about NASCAR to dig the reads big time.

Sometimes the heroes don't even know much about NASCAR, which can hinder a guy like Peyton Reese, leading man in Helen Brenna's fun and fantastic new NASCAR novel, "Peak Performance."

Peyton's a hot-shot TV sports reporter chasing the story that'll springboard him to a big-time cable sports network. That story is the final interview in his series on NASCAR "royal" families, a coveted one-on-one with notoriously camera-shy expert mechanic Rachel Murphy.

Rachel's got no time for reporters, especially gorgeous, athletic-looking ones trying to earn their celebrity by digging into hers and her famous racing family's private lives. She'd much rather spend her time building the custom engine that'll earn her brother race-track victory.

But once Rachel starts spending a little time around Peyton — who's managed to charm just about everybody at the track, including her traitor brother! — she realizes the reporter's not the pretty-boy type she expected. Rather, he's a man who's faced down obstacles as great as the mountains he once scaled professionally. He's also a guy who's willing to help her conquer a few mountain-sized challenges of her own — if only she can decide to trust a guy who might tell the world her deepest secrets.

"Peak Performance" is a sweet little treat for readers who like an all-American love story. Brenna creates characters and a setting that are down-home, yet complex in a ways that make the novel as satisfying a tale of challenges met and trust earned, as it is a super-modern love story.

While the NASCAR folks prefer Harlequin authors to conjure a kind of "behind closed doors" sensuality in the officially licensed romances, Brenna still packs an emotionally charged one-two with the sexual tension. Her talent for linking her characters' developing emotional attachment to a dance of sexy desire is a nice, warm way to enjoy a read — and a fun way to muse on what happens after the "fade-to-black."

The NASCAR series of romances is great fun for women who dig romance in the fast lane. Check out the line, but please, start with Helen Brenna's "Peak Performance."

Buy the book.

http://www.HelenBrenna.com/