Full House

Janet Evanovich wrote Full House in 1989. Her fans wanted to see what some of her earlier work was like and so she asked Charlotte Hughes to help her enlarge and enhance the book. They published the revised copy in 2002.

Evanovich claims that her writing has changed over the years and now has more intricate plots and less kissing between the characters. She also states, however, that humour has continued throughout her works as she enjoys a good laugh herself.

In Full House, one of the main characters, Billie Pearce, is a divorced mother with two children. She is very stable and domestic in her choices but not athletic. When her children go to visit with their father, she decides that perhaps she should try to learn a new sport so that they can be as proud of her as they are of their father. Because of this, she signs up for polo classes. The problem is that she doesn't know anything about horses and is actually afraid of them.

The course instructor, Nick Kaharchek, is the very opposite of Billie. In fact, he is a rich playboy-type who does not have any relationship commitments and few demands in his life. When he meets Billie, he is fascinated. And so is she. Both of them, however, make inaccurate assumptions about the other and seem to always be involved in situations that prevent them from moving closer to each other on a long-term basis.

So the plot involves twists and turns that accompany times when Billie and Nick recognize their compatibility interspersed by times when they each think that there isn't any possible hope for their future together.

When the children, Christie and Joel return from the visit with their father, there are surprises for everyone. First of all, they describe circumstances where their father wasn't the athlete that Billie had thought he was. Her surprises for them included the fact that she had been taking polo lessons but also had become close to a man who she had no even met before they had left for their holiday. So, there were adjustments for everyone!

But these aren't the only characters in the book. Nick has a sister who has been in numerous relationships and now is planning yet another marriage - this time with a wrestler. Nick tricks Billie into letting Deedee live with Billie until the wedding day. This situation brings a number of unusual events and people into Billie's otherwise ordered life.

Besides navigating all the changes, Billie is trying to kill the spiders and bugs that have suddenly invaded her home. A neighbor, who likes to help others in the community, at first appears to be helping her with this problem but later causes Billie and her friends to become very afraid when his true motives surface.

I have been a fan of Janet Evanovich to the point of having read all of the books in her Stephanie Plum series. I found that this book that was one of her earlier works, was just as fun and interesting. A good light read!