The Bentleys Buy a Buick

by Pamela Morsi

"Think you can trust your husband? Think again! That's what the gossipy types at Erica Bentley's new job say. Even her (multi-divorced) mom agrees. But Erica's sure she knows her husband, Tom, better than that. He says he loves her, and shows it in a million ways. Except ... he has been working extra-late these days. And he's been kinda quiet. Even secretive. Happily married Tom Bentley never thought his head could be turned - until he saw Clara. Her sleek body has him longing, and he can't get her 127" wheelbase out of his mind. That's right. Erica's "competition" is ... a car. The beautiful Buick has Tom completely car-crazy. And Erica's sleuthing is making her just plain crazy. One of them needs to come clean with their newest obsessions, before Clara drives their happy marriage into a ditch! "-- Cover verso.

• ISBN10: 0778329852
• ISBN13: 9780778329855
• Publish Date: 30 August 2011 (first published 1 January 2011)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Imprint: Mira Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[Cocktails and Books]

If you ever needed a clear cut case of how idle speculation and lunchroom gossip can spiral a situation out of control, this story proves that point.

Erica Bentley has gone back to work as a coder in the Medical Records department of the local hospital after spending the past six years at home raising her son. She enjoys being back in a work environment and tries to fit in with the rest of the staff in her office. The only trouble, they seem to gossip about everyone at the hospital. Erica never thought that the gossiping would include her, but when she replaces one of her co-workers on a training project the ousted co-worker stokes the fires of the gossip mill to include Erica. While Erica can handle when they were saying outlandish things about her and a certain pharmacist at the hospital, it's the speculation that a certain co-worker is after her husband that sends her over the edge. Especially since Tom's been spending a lot of time working late at his classic car garage.

Tom Bentley loves classic cars and when he's asked to help restore and sell a 1957 Buick for an elderly woman, he feels like he's died and gone to heaven. He's not sure what the car's draw is, but he knows he can't just let the car go to anyone. So he takes it upon himself to lovingly restore the car and ensure just the right person buys it. He even drives to his elderly clients house to talk to her about prospective buyers. He figures it's all part of making sure his client is happy and he ends up with a big fat commission check for his family. He never considered his late night meetings and dinners with Guffy would cause his wife several night of heartache. Or that the secret he's been keeping for his best friend Cliff would cause problems too.

This was a clear cut case of neither person in this relationship being upfront about the small stuff. Instead, the small stuff turned into other lies and half truths that tore at the two of them.

It was an enjoyable read, but there were often times where I wanted to shake Erica for not just asking Tom a simply question. For a couple that prided themselves on being honest, it seemed like they had a heard time just asking a question that would have dispensed with all the misunderstandings that were going on.

[Leah]

Recently I’ve been reading a few more novels more located in the contemporary romance genre (yeah, I know, there are so many genres to keep up on) and I’ve found them to be such pleasant, quick reads. The Bentleys Buy A Buick is my most recent read on my Kindle and although it wasn’t a very taxing read, it was a quite enjoyable one. There aren’t many novels that focus on cars, at least not many novels I read, so I found The Bentleys Buy A Buick to be a welcome change. It’s refreshing to learn a bit more about something you only know the vaguest of things about. (In actual fact, my knowledge of Buick’s rests solely on the fact Stephanie Plum’s father has one and Stephanie regularly uses it when her own car blows up, even though it’s big and bulky and she hates it.) I really like the story of Clara, the Buick, and I loved how Tom was so in love with the car, that he wanted the best for the car and that it really affected him.

I did think that the whole marriage falling apart was rather cliched, obviously the synopsis gives a lot away about what’s going to happen: That Tom Bentley falls in love with a car called Clara and that his wife Erica ends up believing he’s having an affair! Thankfully, though, the whole affair thing doesn’t take up as much of the book as you might expect. It doesn’t overshadow the book in any way and I thought the main story was that of the love between Erica and Tom and their happy little family with their son Quint. That it showed that people being a gossip isn’t always a good thing and that small rumours, small pieces of irrelevant information can put seeds of doubt in people’s mind.

I really liked the characters, I loved just how committed Tom and Erica were, how despite the seeds in Erica’s mind, she did somewhere deep down know Tom wouldn’t cheat, despite her detective search. It was a really quick, cute read with a brilliant ending. Honestly, I’m really pleased I read the book, it was so sweet. I know my review is relatively short, but not much does happen in the book is all. There isn’t lots to talk about, isn’t many other characters to talk about other than Erica, Tom and Quint because the men who worked with Tom and the women who worked with Erica just weren’t very friendly people, they were just there to provide padding, really and for me the story was all about Erica, Tom and Quint and their happy little family remaining in tact. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on any more novels from Pamela Morsi, she isn’t an author I’d heard of until I saw this novel on Kindle and The Bentleys Buy A Buick was a nice read, and I’m glad I read it.