Heaven, Texas

I really enjoyed this book, Phillips writing is fantastic. I think she could weave any story she wanted to... easily and smoothly. These two characters worked well together. I had a couple chuckles and it kept me up reading late a few times. I had picked up this book and read the back cover a few times and wasn't that intrigued. It was much better than I expected. Looking forward to more from this author.

Laugh out loud incredibly sweet romance with an awesome cast of characters. I laughed and cried while listening to this audiobook.

What a ride! At the beginning of the story I thought to myself: 'relax, this story is going to get better at some point in the freaking near future'. Thank God it did! At first I thought that Bobbie Tom was this really sweet and no strings attached man and I didn't really care that much for Gracie because I thought she was just there. But then halfway through the book things started to get interesting and then, as the story progressed, things started to get REALLY interesting and that was it. The ending was great but I missed an epilogue, kind of like we had with Phoebe and Dan, but that's something I can overlook.

Great fun. I've been laughing and crying. Very smart writing: Bobby Tom is almost too dense. Almost, so the long slide into love is wonderful to read.

There are so many irritating characters in this book. Yeah, sparks & jabs between Bobby Tom and Gracie were amusing but even that could not push me to give it a 3 star review.
Susan Elizabeth Phillips tried to describe Gracie as a strong female character, but she failed big time in my opinion. She just seems so scared and insecure and constantly trying to please anyone...
Bobby Tom is annoying with his compliments and how immature he is... Yeah daddy told him not to punch girls when he was a little boy so he never sad an ugly word to a girl again. Yeah right... And to the only girl he is in love with he acts like a complete jackass... He is not in elementary school anymore...

I absolutely adored this on audio! Anna Fields' Texas twang for Bobby Tom Denton was great - I am in love! She was aces for all the other voices, but I totally fell in love with "B.T." With this ugly duckling story of Gracie and Bobby Tom I went from one extreme to the other. I laughed, I had tears in my eyes, so many moments to savor, I really loved his mother Suzy's storyline as well. A real keeper! Can't wait for the next one! What a fantastic story - it was hilarious and sweet and tender - it had everything I love in a romance! A keeper!

Another funny, funny book...when Gracie meets Bobby Tom's mom... hilarious ! The story is also liberally dotted with poignant moments and "punch-in-the-gut" moments. I didn't realize the Chicago Stars series was written in the mid 90's until this posting; Ms. Phillips books "age" well, which I can't say about some of my other favorite authors' early works.
Again, Ms. Fields is a joy to listen to. Truly the right narrator can enhance a storyline, which she does admirably.

Another great read by Susan. Good chemistry between characters but could have done without the sub-story

I really enjoy reading her books. She can make me laugh out loud which is a nice break from the news and work.

Heaven, Texas is book two in the Chicago Stars series by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. It is the story of Bobby Tom Denton who has been forced into early retirement due to a devistating knee injury. Since he has only ever known himself as a football player, he doesn't know what he is going to do with his life so he agrees to play the leading role in a new movie. Gracie Snow comes into his life as his "bodyguard" who is to make sure he shows up for filming on time. At first, I wasn't sure I was going to like this book. Bobby Tom was hard for me to connect with because he is too flashy and not at all like any man that I have ever met. Gracie is too much the opposite of Bobby Tom for me to feel like they could really have a connection. But as I read, I came to love these two characters for those very reasons. And normally I'm put off by far fetched romances about a virgin falling in love and taming a hard partying ladies man. This kind of story line is just too far fetched for me and I usually have a hard time connecting. But that is not the case with Heaven, Texas. Bobby Tom didn't fall in love with Gracie easily and it felt real when it finally happened.This is another one of my favorites by SEP. During the course of the book I fell in love with the main characters and the town of Telarosa, Texas. I found myself laughing out loud on more than one occasion. I felt like the story evolved easily, kept me entertained, and renewed my faith in true love.

SEP has rapidly become one of my top 5. Normally I enjoy her strong-willed, intelligent heroines but Gracie sets my teeth on edge. She is too naïve by SEP’s standards. In all fairness I have yet to finish the book. Here’s hoping my opinion can be swayed in the next 125 pages.

Grace Snow, age 30, grew up in a nursing home owned by her parents, surrounded by senior citizens, and being told by her mother that she was the latest in a long line of homely women. After her father died and her mother sold the nursing home and retired to Florida, Grace is on her own for the first time in her life. She lands a job with a movie producer whose father had been a resident of the nursing home before he died. Grace's first assignment as a "production assistant" is to deliver the production company's newest star, Bobby Tom Denton, to the filming location. Denton, a famous playboy professional football player who owns two superbowl rings, was forced to retire after a serious knee injury. He signed the movie contract on the condition that the filming be done in his hometown of Tallarosa, TX, a small town facing eminent death as its major employer is threatening to move away. Curiously, however, Bobby Tom is late showing up to begin filming, and Grace is sent to make sure he appears. Their first meeting takes place at Bobby Tom's house with a party in full-swing. A mousy Grace shows up, wearing dowdy ill-fitting clothes, bad hair and no make-up, making a sharp contrast to the beautiful, bikini-clad, big-breasted "bimbo's" sharing the hot tub with Bobby Tom. She is met at the door by one of Denton's buddies, mistaken for the stripper they ordered, complimented on her "librarian" costume, and advised to put on more makeup. The story progresses, with Grace attempting to take charge of Bobby Tom and get him to the filming location, and Bobby Tom making one excuse after another to delay their arrival. Once in Texas, Grace is tasked with acting as Bobby Tom's personal assistant and is forced to continue to try to rein him in. I loved this book. Of course, neither of our main characters are who they appear to be, and the process of each of them discovering both themselves and each other is the heart of the book's charm. The supporting characters are wonderful, and well-developed, and there is a very nice sub-plot concerning Bobby Tom's mother. The "hometown hero" bit is stretched a little too far in the last chapter, but it is a minor offense, and doesn't detract from the overall impression. There are several bedroom scenes, a few are explicit, but all have a very satisfying build-up of tension coming in. This is definitely a "feel good" book that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys romance novels.

For as much as I've heard raves about this book, I was a bit disappointed. I found the characters somewhat inconsistent, and the story itself left me cold.As a hero, Bobby Tom Denton left a lot to be desired IMO. He was very arrogant, and what was supposed to be charm I found more smarmy. In the begining of the story, I downright disliked the man. He had made a commitment to star in a movie, but when the heroine came to escort him to the movie set, he treated her as if she were some kind of prison matron. Basically, he got her fired by acting like a complete jerk. Even up until the end, he continued to believe that he was so far above the heroine as far as desirability I just never could warm up to him. Often times he took out his anger and frustrations on the heroine, laughing at her inexperience and self-perception. I found him to be very cruel.As for heroine Gracie Snow, I found her to be a bit of a doormat. When BT gave her such a hard time about doing her job, I wanted her to tell him to take a flying leap. Even their initial meeting was forced - Gracie arrives at BT's house in the midst of a party and is mistaken for a stripper. The fact that she lets things go as far as they do really caused me some eye-rolling. Also, once she and BT determine that their relationship will become physical, I had a hard time believing that she would agree to his demands. Her submissiveness made me sick to my stomach. No one is that innocent/naive/stupid. She came off as a person too good to be true. I almost expected little birds and wood-land animals to gather around her while she sang.Too, I found the conflict between the characters a bit forced. For some reason Gracie has determined that she is going to be the one person on the planet who never took anything from Bobby Tom nor asked for anything. This wore a bit thin, especially when Gracie finds out that BT had been paying her salary (after his selfish actions got her fired!) and she blows her top. Add to this BT's insistence that he could never be with a woman who wasn't super-model material despite his obvious attraction to and affection for Gracie and I wanted to throw the book against the wall.Quite honestly, the only thing that kept me reading was the secondary romance between BT's mother, Suzi Denton, and the town bad-boy Wayland Sawyer. Their relationship was far more poignant and interesting that the dysfunction between Gracie and BT. I wish we would have gotten more of that romance instead.I did finish the book despite thinking several times I wouldn't pick it up again, so for that I'm giving it a 3 star rating. I really want to like Susan Elizabeth Phillips because I've heard such great things about her. But this title worries me a bit.