Love Overboard

She's been called "side-splittingly funny" (Publishers Weekly), "a blast of fresh air" (Washington Post), and "a winner" (Glamour). She is, of course, Janet Evanovich, the award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Stephanie Plum mystery series. Now available for the first time in more than a decade comes Love Overboard, the hilarious story of a sinfully handsome schooner captain and the spirited woman who agrees to work on his cruise ship. It's a classic novel of comic mayhem from the incomparable Janet Evanovich.

From the Back Cover

Dear Reader:In a previous life, before the time of Plum, I wrote twelve short romance novels. Red-hot screwball comedies, each and every one of them. Nine of these stories were originally published by the Loveswept line between the years 1988 and 1992. All went out-of-print immediately and then could be found only at used bookstores and yard sales.I'm excited to tell you that those nine stories are now beingre-released by HarperCollins. Love Overboard is second inthe lineup, and it's presented here in almost original form. I've done only minor editing to correct some embarrassing bloopers missed the first time around. And I changed the title because I thought the original title (Ivan Takes a Wife) was boring!Love Overboard is a romantic tale about a handsome ship'scaptain; a wary wench from Jersey City; a hundred-year-old, two-masted schooner; and an entire town of shoemakers. There's some getting naked, some blueberry pie, more getting naked, and at the end . . . Okay, I won't tell you about the end, but it's really good and it'll make you feel happy.I took my family on the road trip from heck to research this book. When we finally got to Maine it was all worthwhile because we fell in love with the boats and the people who sailed them.Enjoy!

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Love Overboard CDBy Janet EvanovichHarperAudioCopyright © 2005 Janet EvanovichAll right reserved.ISBN: 9780060736958Chapter OneIvan Rasmussen swirled the last of his coffeearound the bottom of his mug, looked past theprow of his ship to the sloping green lawn ofCamden Harbor Park, and wondered for thehundredth time in the past two hours what thedevil had happened to his cook, Lucy. She wasnever late. Until now. Now she was beyondlate, and because she was his friend as well ashis cook, he was worried.He squinted at a flash of color and movementtoward the top of the hill, and unconsciouslylet his mouth fall open at the sight of ayoung woman rolling down the grass embankment.She came to a spread-eagled stop whenshe reached the cement footpath at the bottom,and she uttered an expletive that carried acrossthe short span of shoreline, bringing the firstsmile of the day to Ivan's lips.Stephanie Lowe, the woman Ivan had beenwatching, struggled to her feet, adjusted herbattered backpack, and scowled at the grassstains on her knees. She was looking ahead to awhole week of cooking for Ivan the Terrible inexchange for free plumbing repairs to her bathroom.And if that wasn't awful enough, shewas the one who had to bring Ivan the goodnews that his usual cook was taking an impromptuvacation."Lord, I'm such a dope!" Stephanie muttered,smacking herself on the forehead, broadcastingher thoughts to all watching. Nothing likemaking a memorable entrance. If one morething went wrong, she was going home. Theheck with it all, she thought. She wasn't crazyabout this deal anyway. She'd seen Ivan onlyonce, but he'd made a lasting impression onher. He was over six feet with gray-green eyesand strawberry blond hair. And at the time oftheir meeting he'd been all packaged up in acustom-tailored, navy pin-striped suit that hadmade him look more like a chairman of theboard than the captain of a schooner.Stephanie searched the crowded harbor forthe Josiah T. Savage, gasping when she realizedit was directly in front of her, tied to a floating dock at the end of the cement path. It would bethe last of the windjammers to leave the harbor,she thought with an inward groan—late toleave Camden because it was waiting for itscook. Unfortunately, its cook had suddenly decidedto get married. Double unfortunately, itscook was her cousin Lucy.Lucy had provided her with a few vital statisticson the Savage. It was a windship. A tallship. A hundred-year-old, two-masted, coastingschooner with seventy feet of deck length,carrying twenty-two passengers and four crewmembers on six-day cruises along the islandstrewncoast of Maine. Lucy's description of hercaptain had been equally brief. Ivan Rasmussen,she'd said, was better known as Ivanthe Terrible because he was terribly handsome,terribly eligible, and terribly slippery. Stephaniehad her own reasons for believing he was terriblyrotten.She took a quick survey of the ship and spottedIvan standing on deck, coffee mug in hand,looking at her as if she'd just dropped off theplanet Mars.Get it together, Stephanie, she told herself.Life was filled with trade-offs. If you packedaway a whole bag of cookies, then you had to wash them down with diet root beer. This wasjust another of life's cans of diet root beer.Cousin Lucy worked as a cook on Ivan's windjammer.That morning cousin Lucy had decidedto run off and marry Stanley Shelton.Stanley Shelton was a plumber. Stephanie desperatelyneeded a plumber. Simple, right?Cousin Lucy got a honeymoon, and Stephaniegot a toilet. Okay, no problem. Piece of cake.There was no reason to be nervous. Ivan shouldbe happy to have her aboard, she reasoned.Where else would he get a cook on such shortnotice? She was actually doing him a favor.Besides, after what he'd done to her, he deservedto eat her cooking for a week. Anyway,how hard could it be? She'd just whip up fortyor fifty peanut butter and jelly sandwiches andsend all the passengers off to an island in thedinghy. It might even be fun—a week on thehigh seas with the wind at her back and the saltspray in her face. It was going to be an adventure.A new experience.She approached the boarding ramp andlooked up into Ivan's eyes, deciding theyseemed only mildly predatory, more curiousthan anything else, narrowed against the glare,shaded by thick curly blond lashes. His hair was longer and lighter than Stephanie had rememberedit, curling over his ears and alongthe nape of his neck. He'd grown a beard sinceshe'd seen him?very close-cropped, oddlydark compared to his hair, and overwhelminglymasculine. He wore faded, frayed cutoffjeans that Stephanie admitted were perfectlyproper but seemed sinfully erotic, molded toIvan's male contours.She bridged the short span between wharfand ship, automatically taking inventory of hersurroundings, and plastered a hopeful smile onher lips. "Hello.""Hello," he responded, contained amusementclear in his voice.There was a flicker of recognition in his eyes,but Stephanie knew he hadn't placed her. Shewasn't surprised. He probably swindledwomen all the time. He probably couldn't keeptrack of all the people he'd stuck it to."Stephanie Lowe," she said. "We met twomonths ago when I bought your house." Thevery same house that had been falling apartpiece by piece ever since she'd moved in, shesilently added.Ivan's brows drew together . . .Continues...Excerpted from Love Overboard CDby Janet Evanovich Copyright © 2005 by Janet Evanovich. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

From AudioFile

Stephanie Lowe is an ex-cop with attitude. The old house she buys in Maine is falling apart and might be haunted. For some free plumbing, Stephanie agrees to be the cruise cook for schooner captain Ivan Rasmussen. Of course, it's lust at first sight, but the inevitable steamy sex can't happen immediately because Stephanie just might be the last virgin over 25 in the twentieth century. C.J. Critt performs the novel, first published in 1989 as IVAN TAKES A WIFE, with her usual expertise. She makes the most of Evanovich's rapid-fire repartee, keeping a tight rein on what could easily be a predictable romantic comedy. Fans of Janet Evanovich will enjoy a peek into the wisecracking, smart-alecky style that has won her kudos in the Stephanie Plum series. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About the Author

Janet Evanovich is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Stephanie Plum series, the co-authored Fox and O’Hare series, the Knight and Moon series, and the Lizzy and Diesel series as well as twelve romance novels, the Alexandra Barnaby novels, Troublemaker graphic novel, and How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author.

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