A Rose for Mr. Dillinger

Professor Glenna Rose is on a girls’ night out with her sister and best friends to celebrate her engagement to Dr. Edward Caleb Trumbull, the head of English Department at Stockton College. Glenna is shocked when they drag her into an establishment called Freud’s, where the walls are covered with phallic symbols (cigars and submarines, anyone?) and the entertainment is gorgeous men taking off their clothing. It is here that she meets Dillinger, a tall sexy dancer, who exudes sexuality while still wearing most of his clothes. Over the next few weeks, Glenna thinks maybe she’s gone crazy. After all, she is still engaged to dour Dr. Trumbull, she’s working hard on her classes for next term, and she’s growing close to new faculty member M. D. Beaumont, but at the same time, she cannot get Dillinger out of her mind. Can she handle more than one man in her life right now?

My favorite part of this novel is the characters. Ms. Snow does a great job of bringing Glenna and Dillinger alive – they are not perfect, but have flaws and have made missteps in their lives, just like the rest of us. Their conflict is one that many of us face – how do we integrate what may be our slightly shady pasts into our present lives? The plot itself is fairly simple and straight-forward, but is enlivened by the two leads, as well as a number of funny, well developed secondary characters that really beg for their own stories to be written. The love scenes are sensual and loving, but not graphic. As a reader, I found the relationship of the two leads very emotionally fulfilling (they seemed to find it emotionally fulfilling as well!). This was a fun read for those of us who like intense, but less explicit romance, and I enjoyed it very much.

Reviewed by: Jean