Charleston, South Carolina - Present Day

Traci Evans is the owner of a high profile public relations company, representing famous and prominent figures. Traci is good at her job, which has made her a wealthy woman, but lately her job is leaving a bad taste in her mouth. After helping a cheating, lying and conniving client, Traci heads over to attend a meeting of the Invincible Sisterhood, a group of older women, best of friends who pushed each other to live life to the fullest after the deaths of their beloved husbands. Traci, in her thirties, is the youngest member of the group, but unlike the rest of the women, is not grieving for her husband. Her marriage was a disaster from the start. Of all the women in the Invincible Sisterhood, Traci is closest to her next-door neighbor, Maureen.

Almost sixty, Maureen is still beautiful and vibrant and often turns heads of men much younger than herself. Madly in love with her deceased husband, Maureen still mourns her loss, but, as he would have wished, enjoys her life and working in her antique shop. Maureen has one son, Ryan, a very handsome doctor to whom Traci is attracted, but after a series of disappointing personal experiences, Traci is cynical about love. Traci covers her attraction to Ryan with sarcastic comments. When Ryan asks for Traci's help in planning his mother's upcoming birthday celebration, she agrees. Will Traci's defensive walls crumble as she spends more one-on-one time with Ryan? Does Ryan really need Traci's help in planning his mother's birthday party, or does he have ulterior motives?

Maureen meets Simon Dunlap in a hotel bar, and he leaves her weak in the knees, but Maureen turns away when she realizes that Simon is over a decade younger than herself. When Maureen's home is burglarized and she phones her son Ryan for help, he comes, bringing along an old friend, a cop, with whom he was having drinks with when she called. It is Simon. Is it fate? Can Maureen get past their age difference to take a chance on a new love? How will Ryan react when he finds out that his mother is getting involved with an acquaintance of his?

NOT EVEN IF YOU BEGGED is a book with subplots galore, which most readers will find of interest. Traci is a tough woman who, underneath her hardened exterior, is wounded. As a full-figured woman with a lousy childhood, she doubts her attractiveness to men and her ability to love. Traci works hard at her job to compensate for her insecurity. Maureen is a classy, elegant woman who has known love and is astounded at finding it again, but she is getting older and there are some things that she can't give Simon, no matter how much she may wish otherwise.

NOT EVEN IF YOU BEGGED is a likable, well written book that is sure to engage Francis Ray's fans and make her some new ones.

Nickole Yarbrough