contemporary

Suddenly You by Sarah Mayberry

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Suddenly You

 

Grade-A-
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level No Kink
Series-this is a sequel to another book, but it stood alone well
Reviewed by Anne

Generally I like really hot and explicit books.  But there are a few authors who I really enjoy and would probably read even if the book had little to no sex.  Sarah Mayberry is one of those authors.  Thankfully, Suddenly Yours is a wonderful contemporary romance that also has some wonderful sex!

Pippa is a single mom of a 6 month old baby girl.  Harry is a pierced and tattooed mechanic with a heart of gold, and best mate (friend) to Pippa’s ex.  When Harry finds Pippa stranded on the side of the road with a broken down car, it is just the first in a series of meetings that lead to Harry realizing how much his mate has abandoned Pippa.  He’s torn between loyalty to his best mate and wanting to help Pippa out.  And wanting to help Pippa out is further complicated by the fact that they are attracted to each other.  That’s a complication neither of them really want, but they can’t ignore, even if neither is sure the other feels it.  On top of that, Harry is a confirmed man-whore.  He doesn’t do commitment.  He knows this and Pippa knows it, too.  This story, with no real bad guys, is all about what they do with that attraction and how they handle the challenges life throws at them.

There were so many things I enjoyed about this story!  I love the Australian setting and the way the author and publisher *don’t* Americanize the book’s language.  I’m smart enough to figure out the slang and I enjoy it!  I thought the realities of being a single parent were well handled.  It’s messy.  Pippa isn’t suing her ex for child support out of bitterness or for revenge.  She’s doing it because she’s struggling to make ends meet and she wants to be able to feed her daughter.  Pippa also has a temper that gets her into some situations.  This didn’t feel like an author contrivance to create conflict.  It felt like Pippa was a real person who flew off the handle now and then, especially when feeling embarrassed.  She also has a tendency to blurt things out.  This leads to a few more embarrassing moments, but it never felt over the top to me.  It felt real.  Here’s a good example I bookmarked.  Harry is doing some work at Pippa’s house and he’s up on a ladder while she’s down below.  He’s just politely told her that a button came undone on her shirt and he can see down it.  She’s embarrassed but when she looks up she sees “an impressive bulge” in his jeans.  Her mind is whirling.  Is it possible that he’s attracted to her, too?  Is that all because he’d seen down her shirt?  She’s busy with her inner monologue, convincing herself it would be foolish to act on anything when…
 

“Good coffee, Thanks.” He stepped toward her, coffering her the empty mug.

Her gaze slid down his broad chest and flat belly to his crotch.

“Is that for me?” The words slipped out of their own accord, born of too many nights alone and bone-deep curiosity and need.

It had been so long, and she was only human.

Harry’s gaze tracked to hers to his groin. She held her breath, waiting for him to respond, aware of the pulse of desire between her legs.

A slow smile curled Harry’s lips. “This, you mean?”

Pippa watched with dawning horror as he reached into his pocket and drew out a tub of filler.

His smile grew into an outright grin, his eyes dancing with mischief and amusement. “I’m not sure whether to be flattered or intimidated, to be honest,” he said, eyeing the tube assessingly.

Pippa opened her mouth to say something to rescue herself but the only sound that came out was a small, choked cough. Heat flamed its way up her chest and into her face.

Harry was watching her, grin still in place, amused and entertained. IN a moment of blinding clarity, she saw herself through his eyes – frumpy single-mum Pippa, down on her luck, a bit quirky and needy in her pill-covered yoga pants and baggy old man’s shirt.

A million miles from the kind of woman that would inspire a hard-on the size of a tube of spackle.


This is why I love Sarah Mayberry’s writing. It’s so real!  Sometimes when you open your mouth you make an utter fool of yourself.  Mayberry captures that.  It’s a funny situation that makes me smile, and then ache at the same time, because you know how Pippa feels.  The book has a handful of moments like this.  (And don’t worry, Harry does reciprocate her feelings!  The embarrassment works out well for her.)

 There wasn’t much in the story that I didn’t like.  Alice, Pippa’s daughter, seemed to sleep a lot, but I’ll accept that in my fantasy read. Sometime’s Pippa’s ex seemed a little over the top, but it fit the story, so I’ll accept that, too. 

I highly recommend this book.  It was a wonderful feel good read.  Sarah Mayberry is a consistently good writer who I never regret spending money on.  I’ve still got some of her backlist to read through. Her latest newsletter mentioned that she’s going to self-publish some more stories (this, like almost all of Mayberry’s books, was published by Harlequin) and I look forward to them, too.

Nauti Temptress by Lora Leigh

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Nauti Temptress (Nauti Girls, #1)
Grade-C
Hotness Level- Inferno
Kink Level- Low
Series-Nauti Girls#1 (tied to the Nauti Boys series)
Reviewed By Kay

This novel starts with a twist to the male dominated Mackay family. Dawg’s family line to be exact. He finds out out he has four half sisters courtesy of his father. He takes them and their mother in and provides for the family.

Then the story jumps ahead several years to Eve, the oldest of Dawg’s siblings. She is in love with Brogan Campbell, a suspected traitor. Well obviously he’s not and thus starts their story. It was a little sweet, a whole lotta heat and vintage Leigh writing.

I have enjoyed Lora Leigh’s writing for several years and she’ll always have a special place in my heart. She introduced me to steamy contemporary romance and I consider her the queen of that genre. I have felt the last several books she’s had, I haven’t connected with. Regardless, I will always hold out hope and read anything she writes because when she’s on, she’s on fire! See Wild Card that sees a love story to it’s full fruition, Maverick that shows us that sometimes the perfection comes to the most scared and deserving of us. Nauti Night and Nauti Dreams that made me fall in love with the Mackays. Nauti Intentions that introduced me to Alex Jansen which is one of the HOTTEST books I’ve ever read and Only Pleasure that touched me in ways I never expected.

Keep writing Lora and we’ll keep reading.

Tart by Lauren Dane

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Tart (Delicious, #2)

 

Grade-A
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level Low, HEA for 3
Series-Delicious #2 (Note that Delicious is connected to the Brown Siblings series)
Reviewed by Anne

So, last Wednesday I confessed to buying this book, Tart.  It was on the expensive end of what I’m willing to pay for a book, but, in this case, I have no regrets.  Be warned, this is going to be another love fest from me to Lauren Dane.  I really love her contemporary set writing.  I know it’s not perfect, but I don’t care.  It’s perfect to me!


In this book, Jules, friend to Daisy and Gillian, is nursing a long standing but unreturned affection for Cal.  This has been the status quo for several years.  Cal, openly bi, has serially dated several women and men during this time.  He’s secretly got a thing for Jules, but feels unworthy of her and is too scared of losing the friendship he has with her to take a chance and make a move.  That’s the case until Jules and Gideon meet. 

Gideon is a childhood friend of Jules and Cal’s.  He’s returned to town to help his grandfather run his farm.  There are immediate sparks between Jules and Gideon, and the move quickly into a relationship they both realize is serious.  That finally spurs Cal into action.

For me, this point where Cal decides to pursue Jules is the weakest point in the story.  I don’t want to spoil anything, but the way they moved from a couple and an outside pursuer into a triad was difficult for me to believe.  However, besides this point in the story, I thought the rest of the dynamics of being part of a triad were realistically portrayed.  (Disclaimer:  I’m not an expert on triads, this is just based on how I would imagine it being.  To me this is fantasy in a contemporary setting.) 

As I’ve mentioned many times before, I enjoyed the Brown Siblings series and now the Delicious series because there are no villains and no susupse, just a telling of how two (or three) people come together.  In this story Jules had more growing to do than the two men.  I’m not sure they could have made a relationship work if they all were a mess.  But I can buy into this fantasy, and I enjoyed being there!  I’m impatient for the next story.  For me, there is just no one who writes quite like Lauren Dane when it comes to this kind of contemporary book!