In the Groove

Last week I went to a stand-up comedy show at a local bar. It was free, so I wasn't expecting any great comedy, but thought it would be a good time. I met up with a friend for dinner and we decided we'd check out the show for a bit, see if it was any good, and leave if it wasn't. Well, we ended up staying the whole time because it was great!

Most of the performers were actually really good (minus a few obvious newbies), but they were all brave to be able to get up in front of the small crowd and put themselves out there. The final guy that performed went on longer and was by far the funniest. He ended his act by bringing up the fact that he had just purchased a romantic novel about Nascar. Nascar is pretty big where I'm from (a Nascar driver even went to my high school), so I was dying laughing as he talked about this. He explained how Harlequin romance novels teamed up with Nascar to produce these books. Really? I mean, I know Nascar is a pretty popular "sport," but would these books really appeal to such a distinct audience? Apparently they are pretty popular in some groups.

Our comedian had a copy of In the Grove, the first in the series by Pamela Britton (who went on to write many more).



Here's a description from the back cover:

"She wouldn't know a NASCAR star if he hit her with his car...and he just did.

Sarah was a kindergarten teacher until a sleazy ex-boyfriend got her fired. Now the only job she can find is driving the motor coach for racing star Lance Cooper. She doesn't know a thing about NASCAR — and she's off to a rocky start when she doesn't recognize her ultra-famous boss.

Lance can't help but notice Sarah's sweet smile — and how seriously unimpressed she is with his fame. Her reaction piques his interest — and he's convinced she's a good-luck charm. But Sarah has no interest in Lance's jet-setting life; she'd rather deal with spitballs than one supersexy race car driver. Too bad whenever he comes near her she turns hot as race fuel.

Soon things begin to heat up on the track, and Sarah begins to wonder if she might be able to teach one famous race car driver a few lessons about love."

Other titles include:
Dangerous Curves
To the Limit
On the Edge

Check out Pamela Britton's Web site for more :)

My best friend from home loves NASCAR so I thought it would be great to get her one of these as a gag gift - until I was informed this weekend that she has already read some of these (?!). What do you all think about NASCAR and romance novels? I love some cheesey romantic novels, but is this going too far? At least a few people got a good laugh out of it the other night.