C Reviews

Love Letters Volume 5: Exposed

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Grade: C
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Mild Kink
Genre: Contemporary, Novella
Published: 9/9/13
Reviewed by Anne
44,000 words
 
I went into this thinking the collection would be about voyeurism, which wasn’t the case with every story.  They had more to do with being on display/exposed, though there was some voyeurism.  The first two stories were ok. I LOVED the 3rd one by Christina Thatcher.  The fourth one started off great but then gave me book rage. So, it was a mixed bag for me.
 
R is for Reality by Ginny Glass is about a camera woman who convinces a cab driver to come audition for a part to get her out of hot water.  Their chemistry was good, but I was surprised by the pacing of the story, which jumped over large gaps in time.  Overall it was just ok for me. (C)
 
S is for Scandalous by Emily Cale had the exact opposite pacing problem for me.  I felt like I had mental whiplash due to how fast the characters’ relationship moved.  Kacey takes a job where she will lie nude and be the serving platter for a meal of sushi.  Austin shows up and recognizes Kasey.  He goes to see her after the meal when she is changing.  Even though their teenage friendship/crush didn’t survive Austin leaving for college, they pick up like they’d spent the intervening years dreaming of getting back together.   And despite the years apart, they act like they know each other extremely well.  It just didn’t work for me (C-)
 
T is for Tango by Christina Thatcher was the standout read in this collection!  Sonia is a secretary at Adam’s company.  Once a week he catches her changing clothes… at her desk.  He doesn’t know what to make of it, but he’s enthralled.  Then he realizes she’s doing it on purpose, for him.  This just worked on every level for me.  (B+)
 
U is for Undone by Maggie Wells started out really promising.  When the power goes out, Alec sees Sophia, a co-worker he’s admired.  She’s lighting candles in her apartment and taking off her clothes.  He can’t help but watch and he’s shocked when she makes eye contact with him and he realizes she knew he was watching the whole time!  This beginning worked very well for me.  Unfortunately, what came next was rage-inducing.  I don’t want to ruin the story, so I’ll just say that Alec was very controlling about how their relationship would move forward.  This frustrated Sophia, but ultimately she doesn’t complain and just moves forward in the way Alec dictates.  I felt like Alec was playing mind games with Sophia, but that’s not the tone of the story.  I think we’re supposed to think it’s sweet that he wants to get to know her and take things slow.  It just didn’t work for me. (D)

Things Good Girls Don’t Do by Codi Gary

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Things Good Girls Don't Do

Grade: C
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary
Published: 8/27/13
Reviewed by Anne
194 pages

Katie Conners has always been a good girl, following the prim and proper nice girl rules her mother taught her.  She’s itching to make some changes though, and finds herself scrawling a list of bad girl things she wants to do on a bar napkin one night.  That napkin gets picked up by the new guy in town, Chase Tresspaso.  He’s a tattoo artist who rides a motorcycle, so just having his interest makes her feel like a bad girl.  When Chase offers to help her out with her list…  will she dare?  Thankfully, she does!  And this book is the story of what happens when the town good girl starts to go a little wild and stop letting everyone else take advantage of her.

There were parts of this story that were pretty funny, cute, and sweet, but I kept getting pulled out by little things that bothered me.  One of the things that bothered me had to do with my expectations.  The cover, with no clothes visible, says “erotic romance” to me, but this wasn’t a sex driven story.  I was also surprised that Katie gave up on a career because she was uncomfortable being around swearing.  I get that some people don’t like swearing, but Katie started college wanting to be a police officer.  When her mentor during a semester long internship told her she’d need to be able to read aloud a witness statement that included swear words, she couldn’t do it.  Eventually she decided to change her career goals from police officer to hair stylist.  (No, really!)  That seemed like a really drastic change of plans that she based on her desire not to be around curse words.  

There were two small parts of the story that actually upset me.  The first is a cat thing.  Maybe it’s really normal for cat owners?  I don’t know, as I don’t own a cat.  Katie’s cat pees on the clothing of people the cat doesn’t like.  And the cat only likes Katie.  Katie seems to think this is pretty cute or funny.  I thought it was really, really gross.  And then there was the off hand mention of suicidal aspirations used to convey how exasperated Katie was.  On page 12 she suggests she might drown herself in her bathtub because she’s had a rough day. On page 39 she’s embarrassed that Chase had pizza delivered to her house, because everyone will know he’s there, and she thinks about filling the sink and drowning herself in it.  I’m know I’m very sensitive to suicidal talk because of my family history, but it bothered me very much in this story.

There were some really good things about this book.  The one that kept me hanging on was Katie’s transformation from good girl to bad girl.  It was actually more a transformation from doormat to assertive.  There was even a discussion about the difference between these two states of being (though not using the words doormat or assertive.)  Even better, thorough out the story, Chase encourages her transformation, not for his own purposes, but for herself.  That was pretty awesome.

The list idea was cute and well done in this story.  I also enjoyed the friendships among the younger generation of women.  The conflict between Chase and Katie was really well done and realistic.  It was understandable that Chase did what he did, but Katie also deserved a big grovel to make up for his actions.  (She got it!)

So, all in all this one was just ok with me.  So now tell me – am I way off to let the peeing cat bother me?



Sins Of The Highlander by Dawn Halliday

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Sins of the Highlander (A Highland Erotic Romance)

Grade-C
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-No Kink
Genre-Erotic Historical
Reviewed by Kay
158 pages

Aileen and Niall had known each other for years. They were close in age and he was her husband’s trainee in a way. They formed a friendship despite her husband’s physical and mental abuse. Niall realized his attraction to Aileen and left he castle but they never forgot each other.

After her husband’s death, Niall is sent to bring Aileen to her brother, so he can pick her next husband. The two catch up on old times, are still hot for each other but know it can’t go anywhere. One thin leads to another and they have a fling. They both know there’s no future in it but can’t help themselves.

Dawn Halliday writes good erotic historical romance. The love scenes were hot and plentiful. The characters were very enjoyable but I like my historical not quite so erotic. If that doesn’t bother you, check out this novella about two souls bound to each other in the hills of the Scottish highlands.