Anne

Married for Christmas by Noelle Adams

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

*Note: So, I have a thing for reading holiday themed stories.  The thing is, I generally lag behind by a month or so.  So, here I review a great story set at… Christmas.  Enjoy! ~Anne
18801516
Grade: A-
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, Marriage of Convenience
Series: Willow Park #1
Published: 12/1/13
Reviewed by Anne
140 ebook pages

Jessica and her best friend Daniel agree to a friendly marriage.  Jessica has had a long time crush on Daniel (unbeknownst to him) and is pretty reserved socially and is despairing of finding someone to start a family with.  Daniel is a pastor who is being considered for the job to lead their small town church, but his unmarried state is a bit of a drawback for the church considering him.  Jessica talks Daniel into this marriage between friends.

So, I was really intrigued by a non-inspy book that featured people for whom religion was a large part of their life – a pastor!  I was lucky enough to get a copy from NetGalley and fired it up on my iPad one night at 11:30.  I was immediately hooked, and very emotionally involved in this book!  I was near tears – and HATE to cry while reading – but I loved it.  So I stayed up until 1:30am finishing the book, despite the fact that I’d be home alone with my four children the next day!  And I don’t regret it!

The thing that had me near tears was watching Jessica truly love Daniel.  He loved her back, but it was more of a friendship love, and he seemed to be working hard to keep a boundary between them.  Then they’d have a moment where they truly seemed close, and he’d pull back and distance himself again.  Even though the story is told solely from Jessica’s point of view, it seemed clear that he was developing feelings for her.  It wasn’t too clear why he was sabotaging those feelings, though!  It was especially painful because his unintentional hurts seemed to pile right on top of some insecurities she was holding onto.

As a character, Daniel was very interesting.  Jessica was almost too perfect.  She was shy and not good at cooking, but, really, who cares?  She was emotionally perfect and a bit of a martyr.  It was believable to me because they were trying to apply logic to a very emotional situation, so I’ll give her a pass on being an emotional Mary Sue.

There was a drawback to the single point of view of the book, and that was that some revelations about Daniel’s character caught me off guard when I read them.  I really did feel like there was much alluding to them.

Despite these drawbacks, the story really worked for me.  And as the cherry on top of this emo romance, there was really well written explicit sex!  What?  Religious people who have on page sex?  I loved it!  I recommend this book and I’ll be watching for more in this series!  (I’m rooting for a book about Daniel’s brother, Micah!)

Motorcycle Man by Kristen Ashley

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

16076190
Grade: A-
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, MC
Series: Dream Man #4
Published: 5/22/12, republished 1/28/14
Reviewed by Anne
324 ebook pages

So I was at book club a couple weeks ago and a bunch of my friends were going on and on about Madeline Sheehan and what great motorcycle (MC) book crack she writes and how they love it so.  For the first time, I was feeling a little left out.  I thought I would not like an MC book.  I was hesitant to read one.  But I don’t like feeling left out, and it was a reading goal of mine to try a Kristen Ashley book, AND I’d just gotten a NetGalley copy of Motorcycle Man, so I figured all signs were pointing toward it being time for me to put on my big girl pants and give this MC book thing a try.  

I started reading and was instantly pulled in.  Tyra is in bed after having sex with Tack, who she just met, and is seeing hearts and flowers and thinking that this man, finally, is her dream man.  And Tack?  

His hand left my skin to smack my ass lightly before he said, “Time to get to your own bed, darlin.” (p. 17, ePub edition)

*snort*  Not exactly hero behavior!  But Tyra’s got some backbone.  She feels like an idiot for mistaking fabulous sex for love, and for thinking Tack was her dream man, and because Tack is her new boss.  However, when Tack tries to fire Tyra, because he doesn’t mix work and pleasure, she stands up for herself, and she keeps the job.

This book was so awesome.  Tack is an alphole, but a really sexy one.  And the thing is, over and over he proves that he cares about Tyra.   He gives her what she needs, and he apologizes when he makes mistakes.  Of course, he makes lots of mistakes, and one of them is being a sexist, macho, bossy pig of a man, but it’s so easy to forgive him.  It’s totally believable that Tyra would continue to fall for him.

The story line is good, believable, and very engrossing.  There’s a certain amount of suspense and danger, but not enough to annoy me.  The writing style is almost a stream of consciousness, all from Tyra’s point of view, but that worked very, very well.

My only problem with the book is the MC culture.  Women are second class citizens who have no say in the running of the club.  There are “old ladies” and club whores and they each have their place and accept one another.  And though the MC in this story is relatively clean, as far as drug running goes, it’s acknowledged that drug running is a path that other clubs take.  I have so many issues with that lifestyle that I almost feel guilty reading the book.

Despite all that, and mostly because of the alpha hotness and dirty talking that is Tack, I loved this story.  I don’t think MC romance will ever be a favorite of mine, in general, but this book is!  It’s going on my favorites of 2014 list and I highly recommend it!

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

The Rosie Project

Grade: A
Hotness Level: Ember
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, Nerdmance
Published: 10/1/13
Reviewed by Anne
292 pages
 
So, I saw this book had some good buzz last fall as a funny romance told from a Sheldon-like character’s POV.  I put it on my To Read List and finally got around to it over Christmas Break.  I devoured this book!  It gave me a serious case of Book Cranky as I had to fit it in around my kids and family obligations!
 
It’s told from the first person point of view of Don.  Don is someone I’d guess is on the autism spectrum.  He is certainly very literal minded and has a hard time understanding people.  He is very self aware, though, and his narration is unintentionally funny.  Actually, it’s unintentionally hysterical!  He knows he would like to have a wife, because he has observed in others a happiness level he associates with a long term partner.  After deciding that being set up with people and online dating are very unefficient ways to meet a potential mate, he begins The Wife Project.
 
He runs The Wife Project with the help of his married friends, Gene and Claudia.  Their relationship is a secondary story line.  In the course of The Wife Project, Don meets Rosie, who he immediately recognizes as unsuitable for wife material.  However, he’s intrigued at her current quest to find her biological father.  He finds this situation interesting enough to start The Rosie Project, his effort at helping Rosie in her quest.  
 
This story was touching and sad at points, but it’s so funny throughout that it didn’t bring me down.  Along with Don and Rosie’s quest, we hear about Don’s relationship with his elderly neighbor, Daphne, who helped inspire Don to undertake The Wife Project.  This story reminded, in emotional tone, to the beginning of the movie, Up.  Don and Daphne’s story is very simply told, but so much lays between the lines.  It’s an excellent way to get insight into Don’s character and it left me rooting for him!
 
I don’t really know if it’s an accurate portrayal of someone with Asperbergers or autism.  If it is not, a reader with familiarity to this issue might not enjoy the story.  That issue aside, I really enjoyed the book and I highly recommend it!
 
Note: I’m listing this one under Best of 2013 and Best of 2014, because I read it late in December, after I made my Best of 2013 list.