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Book Review By Katrina Lo
Taming Natasha by Nora Roberts

Natasha Stanislaski has been the best ballet dancer in New York. However after one incident, she retires and settles in West Virginia to start a toy store business. In the small town, she has learned to love the slow pace of life and her hospitable and friendly neighbors. She enrolls in a nearby college to study whatever course that interests her. Although far away from her close knit family, Natasha enjoys being independent. She catches the eye of newcomer Spence Kimball and flirts at him. But it seems that Spence who has flirted back at her is already married and with a daughter. Furious for his cheating actions, she never gives her another glance again. Unfortunately he is the professor who is teaching her class.
New in town, Spence Kimball makes a big leap from big city New York to a small town in West Virginia to give his daughter a peaceful life. After enjoying being a successful and famous musical composer, he decides to become a full-time father for his daughter Frederica after finding out how his ex-wife has failed in taking care of his daughter. He vows that he will always be there for Frederica after being such an absentee father because he has been blinded by all the attention and success in New York Now both father and daughter start a new life – a new job as college music professor, a new school and set of friends.
When he sees Natasha for the first time at the Fun Shop, the toy store she owns, he can't help feel attracted to her. But after few minutes her disposition towards him has turned cool. Finding out the reason, he clears up the misunderstanding that he is married. He tells her that he has just divorced and he is just living with his daughter. After that they start to date. It's been a long time since Natasha dates again. But with Spence, she is slowly falling in love not only with him but also with his daughter. She keeps everything light because she is afraid to be heartbroken again. She has had the experience of being abandoned and pregnant at age 17. Her family has been supportive of her when she has decided to keep the baby. But just months after giving, birth her daughter died. She has been insane with grief and inconsolable. With Spence, she fears that things are going to end the same way and she doesn't want to go through that painful experience again. But fate has once again turned her life upside down when she finds herself pregnant with Spence's child. She tells Spence that she's pregnant and doesn't want the child and then runs away. Spence is crushed that Natasha feels horrible being pregnant with his child. His ex-wife has also felt the same way and has tried to terminate the baby. He tries to find Natasha but Natasha seems to have disappeared. Natasha finds solitude with her brother. There her brother let her see that Spence and her ex-boyfriend are 2 different people. That Spence loves her and will love to go through the pregnancy with her. So she returns back to Spence and Spence welcomes her back. They start a new life and family together.


Plot & Themes
Time/era of story
Inner struggle subplot Yes
Struggle with...
Children/Pregnancy Yes
Children/Pregnancy: - kid(s) make adults sensitive

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

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

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - West
Small town? Yes
Small town people: - nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death
What % of story is romance related? - nearly 100%
Focus of story - equally on him and her
How much dialog - significantly more descript than dialog
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