B Reviews

He’s So Fine by Jill Shalvis

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

19291271
Grade: B
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, small town
Series: Lucky Harbor #11
Published: 9/30/14
Reviewed by Anne
233 ebook pages

Olivia runs the “vintage shop” in Lucky Harbor.  She and her friend Becca enjoy watching the guys who run a charter boat company and enjoy surfing.  So when Olivia sees one of them fall in the icy cold water off his boat, she jumps in to save him – never mind that she’s not a strong swimmer and he didn’t really need saving.  Olivia and Cole each have their own baggage.  Cole hasn’t dated since his fiancée left him two years earlier.  Olivia left behind a rough childhood and adolescence, even changing her name before settling in Lucky Harbor.  Neither is looking for a relationship, or even a hookup, but their attraction to each other is strong – and so are their matchmaking friends.

You just can’t go wrong with Jill Shalvis.  Even when she’s writing a “pretty good” story, which is how I’d rate this one, it’s still a step above most other contemporary romance authors.  Seriously.  “Pretty Good” for Jill Shalvis ranks even with the best of other romances I read.  Shalvis’ humor is sprinkled throughout the book.  As my teens would say, I LOLed!  Several times!  I enjoyed the chemistry between Olivia and Cole, and I believed they belonged together.

On the other hand, I was severely annoyed at how stupid Olivia came across in the opening scene.  Who jumps in to rescue someone when they’re not a strong swimmer themself?  How about running on the boat and throwing out a life vest?  Or calling for help?  Thankfully, this turned out to be an out of character move for Olivia, who is otherwise very intelligent and independent.  In fact, she has a hard time accepting help from Cole.  This turns out to be a new thing for Cole, who seems to be the fix it guy for the entire town, including his family.

I have one other nit picky detail.  There’s a side story about two little girls who spent some time in foster care before their father stepped in to take care of them.  So, now we’ve got this little family with no money to spare, so the characters in this book are stepping in to lend a hand with the little girls occasionally.  The girls, who are around 6, I think, mention that they’ve never celebrated Halloween before – like foster parents don’t celebrate Halloween?  I’m sure there are foster homes where that happens, but as a former foster parent, pretty much every kid I knew celebrated Halloween, in foster care or not.  In fact, the only kids I knew of who didn’t celebrate were those whose religion was a factor against it.  Maybe the back story of these girls is more fully explained in the previous book (which I haven’t read yet) but I sure do get tired of reading foster homes as the source of all childhood suffering.

Ok, so, stepping off my soapbox… this was a very enjoyable read.  The angst factor was low and humor factor was high.  I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys contemporary romance.   I’ve read most of the Lucky Harbor series, but not every book.  Even without having read the previous story in the series, this one was enjoyable.  So, read in which ever order you’d like, but do read it – it will make you smile and LOL!

Afternoon Delight by Anne Calhoun

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

22872970
Grade: B
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary
Published: 9/16/14
Reviewed by Anne
130 pages

Tim is a paramedic who rushes through life at high speed, not really connecting to anyone.  That keeps him from connecting to anyone, and that keeps him from being hurt.  Sarah savors each moment of life, and when she sees something she likes, she goes for it.  So when Sarah sees Tim, sparks fly.  When Tim slows down to spend time with Sarah, it cracks some of his armor, and he’s not quite sure what to do with that.

Tim and Sarah are unique characters I enjoyed reading about.  It took me a while to really get engaged in the story, though.  It was a little too easy to put down for about the first half of the story.  Once it kicked in, though, it was great.  The big gesture at the end of the story was pretty awesome and left me feeling like these two really have a chance of making their relationship work.

Anne Calhoun writes great sex, and this book is no exception!  There was a great balance in this short story of just enough secondary characters to make the story feel complete – it’s not just the two main characters in a vacuum.  At the same time, the story is focused on Tim and Sarah without trying to squeeze anything else in, and I appreciated that.

Altogether, it was a very good story, and I’d recommend it to readers who enjoy a really hot contemporary story.

I will say that I struggled just a bit with this story.  At times I reread lines or paragraphs to try to understand what was happening.  This wasn’t an issue with physical scenes, but with the thoughts of the main characters.  It left me feeling like I wasn’t quite smart enough to understand the book.  I’m curious to know if anyone else ever has that feeling while reading a story.  It happens to me sometimes with Mary Ann Rivers, too.  I can tell that something is implied, but I don’t know what.  Unfortunately, that really pulls me out of the story.

Trivia: This story is set in New York City.  There’s a scene where Tim takes Sarah to the Highline Park, a park created by renovating an abandoned elevated train line.  It sounded really cool, and shortly after I finished it, I came across an article in the New York Times detailing the opening of the third section of the park.  I love that books leave me feeling familiar with a place I’ve never been!  You can check it out here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/20/arts/design/the-high-line-opens-its-third-and-final-phase.html?_r=0  NYT

Sweetwater by Lisa Henry

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

22611970
Grade: B-
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Moderate Kink
Genre: Historical, m/m, BDSM
Published: 8/19/14
Reviewed by Kate

This one is such a tightly woven story that I find it hard to write a summary of it without giving you the entire play-by-play.  But here goes : When Elijah was little, scarlet fever took his family, and his hearing.  Although he isn’t 100% deaf, most of the town thinks he’s an idiot.  Elijah knows that being deaf isn’t the only thing that makes him different from everybody else.  He’s also gay.  His first “relationship” is with Harlan Crane, the owner of the saloon.  But Elijah is also attracted to cowboy Grady Mullins and Grady’s interested as well.

Elijah is around 20, but is just starting to try and figure out who he is and what he wants.  Unfortunately most of what he wants conflicts with the way he was raised.  Lots of internal conflict for Elijah.  Lots.

His relationship with Crane is dirty and nasty.  It made me flinch whenever I had to read it.  Their relationship is about pain and humiliation and subjugation.  Even though Elijah discovers he needs the pain, there is nothing romantic about Crane and Elijah.

In Grady, Elijah finds something that he never knew existed.  Gentleness, caring, compassion.  And while part of him craves that from Grady, another part of him is terrified spitless at this new type of relationship.  Elijah’s relationship with Grady, which doesn’t start until half way through the book, is the only part of this book that would qualify as a romance.

This one felt more like a coming-of-age story, rather than a romance.  Outside of the relationships with Crane and Grady, Elijah goes on a heartbreaking journey of self discovery.  A journey which takes him through highs and low—although mainly lows.  The relationships with Crane and Grady are a definite, but minor, part of his journey

Lisa Henry has written a gritty, raw, page turning tale about a young, deaf, gay man on a self-discovery journey in 1870.  And while the relationships in this book were not my cup of tea, I would not hesitate to read another of her books.  In fact I hope to do so soon.

As a romance, this one disappointed me a bit.  As a novel, in general, I loved it.  What’s the last book that you read that didn’t hit the romance note right, but you enjoyed regardless?