Roadside Assistance

Harte continues her Seattle-based Body Shop Bad Boys series (after Test Drive) with a couple who look intimidating on the outside but have awkwardness, vulnerability, and a great love for their families within. Statuesque redhead Cynthia Nichols, a coffee-shop owner, turns down the initial advances of huge, muscular, tattooed Foley Sanders from Webster’s Garage because she’s taking a break from men—but she gives in to pursuing a friendship that slides into sexual flirtation. Harte has a good feel for playful, outrageous banter as the Webster’s Garage mechanics talk trash to one another and both Cyn and Foley get teased heavily by friends and family for the affection that’s obvious under their pretense of casualness. However, Cyn’s anxiety about her attractiveness compared to the thin models Foley usually dates and Cyn’s mother’s harangues about her daughter’s weight take up too much space in the narrative, in a heavy-handed attempt to include a body-acceptance message. (Sept.)