no kink

Wallbanger by Alice Clayton

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

15858248
Grade: B
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary
Published: 11/27/12
Reviewed by Anne

Caroline moves into her new apartment and loves it.  Until she wakes up in the middle of the night to the sounds of her next door neighbor having sex.  The walls are paper thin and she can hear everything.  The next night she hears him with a different woman.  And the next night with a third.  That’s when she’s had enough and she stomps over to pound on his door…

So, I’ll admit, I’m late to the Wallbanger party.  I remember reading reviews long ago and putting it on my “buy this book and read it soon” list.  I’d heard it was funny, and it really is!  I’d also heard it was Twilight fan fiction, and that ended up taking away from my reading experience.  Because it was so easy to see who was who, I had some expectations.  It was very jarring to me when the characters acted differently than their Twilight personalities.  And just when I had accepted Caroline and Simon (the wallbanging neighbor) as “Caroline and Simon” instead of “Edward and Bella,” they go and do something very Edward and Bella-ish.  It was very frustrating to me!

For most of the book I really loved the pacing of the relationship between Caroline and Simon. When I realized what a man whore Simon was, I was worried that Caroline would join his harem.  I was so glad that they became friends and things developed at a slower pace between them!

Caroline and her friends were funny.  I really enjoyed the secondary storyline about her friends’ relationships.  I can’t say enough how much this book made me smile!

On the other hand, there were some things that really bothered me.  The story is told primarily from Caroline’s point of view, which was fine, but there are a couple places where it jumps to someone else’s point of view.  It was done for comedic effect, and it was funny, but it was also a bit jarring.

Another annoying thing is the pacing of Caroline and Simon’s relationship.  I really liked it going slow in the beginning.  However, once they start dating, they both seem to really want sex but aren’t having it for a really long time – to the point of ridiculousness.  Even more odd, they don’t actually talk about it.  Caroline makes a decision as to when she thinks the right time is, and Simon seems to instinctually know this and agree.  That had me rolling my eyes.  It also made me yell at my iPad – “I don’t care what kind of food you’re eating!  Just have sex!”  Because, seriously, there was a lot of food description to wade through before there was any sex.

The worst thing about this story, though, was that Caroline has “lost” her “O.”  She hasn’t had an orgasm in a very long time and she misses it.  Does she take matters into her own hands?  No.  Why not?  I have no idea.  Seriously, this was the dumbest thing, and she kept going on and on about it.

Still, despite all that, I enjoyed the book.  I don’t know if I’ll read more Alice Clayton or not.  I’m not sure the enjoyment was worth the annoyance, especially because, as time goes by, I just seem to remember the annoyance, and not the enjoyment.  The author is writing sequels to this book, about the same characters.  I’ll probably be tempted in a weak moment – the banter between Caroline and Simon is pretty awesome!

Falling for Max by Shannon Stacey

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

18812534
Grade: A-
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, Small Town
Series: Kowalski Family #9
Published: 7/29/14
Reviewed by Anne
192 pages

The latest rumor about Max Crawford in the town of Whitford is that he just might be a serial killer, what with his mysterious locked up basement and all.  No one really believes it, but they know so little about him that they settle for gossip.

Tori Burns is a part time waitress at Whitford’s Trailside Diner.  When Max decides it’s time to start looking for a wife, his first step is to be more social, and going to Trailside is where he starts.  He and Tori hit it off, but Tori’s only interested in being friends.  Her parents’ bitter divorce has left her convinced that love is not worth taking a chance on for her.  Still, she’s willing to help Max, who is a little awkward socially, practice his dating skills. Now they just have to ignore the chemistry between them and find some eligible bachelorettes in Whitford.

This latest book in the Kowalski Family series was another winner for me.  I enjoyed so much about this story!  The Kowalskis appear as secondary characters, but don’t overwhelm the main plot.

Max and Tori are great characters.  They each have personal obstacles to overcome.  Max is never said to be on the autism spectrum, but that would be my guess about him.  Social situations can be challenging for him.  He’s very literal and very focused.  He’s looking for a wife, and Tori sees right away that he needs someone who will appreciate his differences and not see them as drawbacks.

Tori comes with a lot of baggage from her parents’ divorce.  She’d always thought they had a loving marriage.  So when it fell apart and they became extremely angry and bitter she was shocked.  Even more surprised when she found herself in the middle of an emotional tug of war between them.  It got bad enough that she moved to Whitford to put some physical distance between herself and her parents.  Aside from her baggage, Tori’s an interesting woman.  She designs book covers and websites, working from her apartment.  She works part time at the diner to indulge her social side.  She also enjoys being with her cousin, the young chef at Trailside.

Besides the characters and the low conflict plot (my favorite!) Shannon Stacey’s trademark humor is in abundance.  There were so many lines that had me laughing.  Here’s an example I love!  Tori and Max are practicing small talk.  She starts:

“I like to play Bingo.”
He didn’t even hesitate.  “That’s wonderful.  How many cats do you have?”

As much as I enjoyed their dialog, I also appreciated how things worked when they were not getting along, too.  They weren’t perfect.  Their reactions were realistic, and it takes growth on both their parts to come through it.  It was a joy to read!

I’d highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy small town contemporary romance, and readers who like low conflict romance.  While it’s part of the Kowalski series, it would stand alone fine, too.  That said, I’m really enjoying the series and looking forward to reading more about Gavin on his quest to become a big deal chef!

Truly by Ruthie Knox

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne
18481904

Grade: A-
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary
Series: New York #1
Published: 8/5/14
Reviewed by Anne
315 pages

Wisconsin girl May is stranded in New York.  She very publicly rejected her boyfriend, Dan, when he proposed, then managed to dump him in private, leave his apartment, and get mugged on her way to the airport.  She doesn’t want to reach out to Dan to help her out, so she’s nursing a beer she bought with her last $5 in a Packers bar.  She’s hoping to find a friendly person who might help her out.  Instead she finds Ben.

“When she’d tried to catch his eye, venturing a friendly smile in his direction, he’d pulled a paperback book out of his back pocket and propped an elbow on the bar between them.
Do not disturb, that elbow said.
And also, just possibly, I am a dick.” p. 7

Ben is coming off of a really horrible, angry year.  In an attempt to convince himself there is a little bit of him that can pretend to be polite, he eventually stops ignoring May and offers to help her out.

There was so much to love about this book!  First and foremost, May was a woman from Wisconsin, with deep Wisconsin roots, and I found I identified with her a lot.  Not in personality as much as some of the things that shaped her.  The need to be polite.  The ability to hold her liquor.  (Ok, actually I’ve never had that ability, but it is something that most Wisconsinites I know possess.)  The love of the Packers.

I give bonus points to this story because May’s dad is an engineer at a nuclear power plant!  I used to work at a nuclear power plant and it’s something you rarely see mentioned in a romance!  It wasn’t a big part of the story at all, but just the mention made me grin!  Also, May’s ex was a quarter back for the Packers!  That was awesome, and knowing what a star that would make him in Wisconsin (even after he got traded to New York) made it very believable that May’s family would think he was perfect for her – it would be like dating a prince!

May has a lot of insecurities, but they are not crippling.  She becomes more and more self aware throughout the book and shakes herself out of behaviors that are driven by her insecurities.  That was really wonderful to read!  Ben was also an interesting character.  He’d been so angry for so long, he really had to put forth an effort to behave in a civil manner.  He and May really help each other, but the changes they make are for themselves, not to try to impress each other.

May and Ben each have some issues with their parents, and those relationships were very well written.  No one was made out to be just a villain.  Most importantly to me, while progress was made in these relationships, nothing was neat and tied up with a bow.  It was about May and Ben changing to meet the challenges in their lives, not magical improvement for every character in the book.

I really enjoyed May’s sister and their relationship.  I see on Goodreads that there will be another story coming out in 2015, and I really hope it’s about May’s sister!  I wouldn’t say no to a story about Dan, either, though!

This was originally published as a serial on Wattpad, an app I downloaded on my iPad just to read this book.  But then I never read it.  I’m not crazy about serials, and in this case I’m really glad I waited until I had the whole thing.  I highly recommend this story to anyone who likes contemporary romance.  It was a great read!  Let me know if you can recommend another romance with a character from Wisconsin!