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Book Review By Sandra Calhoune
Sentimental Journey by Janet Dailey

Jessica Thorne is a beautiful 23 year old accounts representative for her uncle's advertising firm in Chatanooga, Tennessee. One day during her lunch break Jessica runs into a tall and darkly handsome man in a business suit. Upon seeing him Jessica realizes that she knows this man from somewhere in the past, although she can't place him in her memory. When the man catches her gaze he mistakes her for her older sister Jordanna. Jessica corrects him and introduces herself as Jordana's younger sister Jessica. When the man introduces himself as Brodie Hayes, a former classmate of her sister, Jessica immediately recognizes the name. As a young girl Jessica remembers how an infatuated and persistent Brodie would come calling at their house for Jordana, despite all her sister's attempts to give him the brush off. Brodie was from the "wrong side of town" and Jordana and her gang of friends had no use for such a boy. Stung by Jordana's rejection Brodie vowed to return to town a success story. When Brodie asks her out for dinner Jessica warily accepts but deliberately fails to give Brodie her home address, making it impossible for him to find her. Jessica is shocked when Brodie manages to track her down and arrives promptly at 8 for their date. Over dinner Jessica flatly asks Brodie if he's living out a fantasy with her as a stand-in for her sister. Brodie admits that he is, although the two share an intimate dinner and get to know one another. Jessica discovers that Brodie is a wealthy businessman who buys faltering manufacturing firms, revitalizes them and then sells them for a profit. Brodie makes it clear to Jessica that he has returned to Chatanooga for "a sentimental journey" into the past and to reinvent a faltering company, Janson Boats. As Brodie wines and dines Jessica over the next few weeks she finds herself falling in love with him. Although Brodie pursues her relentlessly and tries to get her in his bed, he makes it clear that he has no plans to get married or be tied down by a woman. When Jessica's sister Jordanna returns to town for a surprise visit, Jessica fears that she will lose Brodie to her sister.


Plot & Themes
Time/era of story
Love Triangles/Polygons Yes
What kind:
If one lover chases another... - he chases after her

Main Male Character
Profession/status:
Age/status: - 20's-30's

Main Female Character - 20's-30's
Profession/status:
Unusual characteristics:

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Deep South

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death
What % of story is romance related? - nearly 100%
How explicit is the sex? - descript of kissing
Focus of story - Her
How much dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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