The Cinderella Rules

December 15, 2003
Kauffman follows The Big Bad Wolf Tells All
with another fairy tale–themed comic romance, this one focusing on heiress Darby Landon, who has forsaken her family's glitzy life in favor of a rugged existence on a Montana ranch. When Darby agrees to help out her baby sister Pepper by showing their powerful father's Scandinavian business partner around Washington, D.C., Darby realizes that she may need some style assistance before she can reenter high society. On the way to her makeover at Glass Slipper, Inc., Darby meets Shane Morgan, who has reluctantly returned from abroad to handle the corporate empire he inherited from his grandmother. In between Shane's business dealings and Darby's outings with the sexy but sinister Stefan Bjornsen, the two make time for some sizzling encounters. And as they work together to figure out what Stefan's evil plans are concerning the Morgan conglomerate, they realize that their attraction is more than just sexual. It takes Pepper's unlikely help to foil Stefan, and hard thought by Shane and Darby to blend his footloose existence with her longing for home on the range. Though the fairytale conceit never quite works—Darby is simply too wealthy and attractive to ring true as a downtrodden Cinderella—Kauffman writes with warmth, wit and swashbuckling energy.

November 15, 2003
Darby Landon is born with a silver spoon in her mouth but pulls it out as soon as she can. Tired of the manners and mores of the wealthy elite, she moves to a ranch in Montana, where she happily spends her time raising horses. Shane Morgan also hates the rich and all of their affectations but is forced to come to New York to manage the corporation he has inherited from his grandmother until he can get rid of it. When Darby's globetrotting sister, Pepper, asks Darby to take her place as hostess for one of their father's clients, who is visiting the Big Apple, Darby reluctantly agrees. Glass Slipper, Inc., the company Pepper hires to do a major makeover on Darby, has three cofounders, one of whom happens to be Shane's godmother. Viv, Mercedes, and Aurora are no run-of-the-mill fairy godmothers; their special skills have more to do with sophistication, polish, and charm than magic spells, but they work wonders with Darby-and throw in a little matchmaking along the way. Darby and Shane soon discover that many of their preconceived ideas are as fictitious as a story penned by Grimm. Kauffman, whose last funny and fractured feminist fairy tale, The Big Bad Wolf Tells All, chronicled a modern-day Little Red Riding Hood, here does the same for this Cinderella in chaps. Sure to be a hit with romance readers, this is recommended for public libraries of all sizes.-Shelley Mosley, Glendale P.L., AZ

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2004
Kauffman, author of "The Big Bad Wolf Tells All "[BKL My 1 03], has penned a delightful romance about two appealing characters caught in the whirlwind of their families' business dealings--and their passion for each other. Darby is irked when her sister Pepper calls her and asks her to fly to Washington, D.C., to show their father's business associate around. She is even more reluctant once she learns Pepper has booked her a complete makeover at Glass Slipper, Inc., where the three founders will help her with her hair, makeup, wardrobe, manners, and everything else to get her prepared for her high-society role. Things are looking up when she meets the irresistibly handsome Shane Morgan, who is in town to take over the family company following the death of his grandmother. The sparks are instantaneous and bright, but when Darby's father's business associate turns out to be a handsome Nordic god, Darby has two men competing for her affections. A sexy, spicy romp. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)