personal

The Story Guy by Mary Ann Rivers

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Every once in a while we read a book that we love so much that we decide we need to put up a review of it immediately, even though the review calendar is full.  This is one of those books.  Kay and Anne highly recommend you read The Story Guy.

The Story Guy
Grade-A
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink level-No Kink
Genre-Contemporary
Reviewed by Kay
131 pages

This is the most beautiful book I’ve ever read. So much more than a romance. Powerful, moving, sweet, loving and sometimes even funny. It starts with the placement of personal ad and takes you on the journey of two people that so desperately needed each other. The desire to love and be loved is never more profound.

Brian places an ad for one day a week, to meet with someone for nothing more than kissing. No relationship, no extensive touching and no sex. Just kissing. He doesn’t have the time for anything more. He lives with his sister and works as an attorney.

Carrie is a librarian who answers his ad because of how it’s worded. She had no idea what she would be getting. Her confusion over the situation is understandable and frustrating. But growing to love someone is never easy. I really can’t tell you much more because I don’t want to give anything away.

I ended up open mouthed sobbing because the emotional pull of this story is huge.

                     

Anne’s Home!

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

I went on vacation. Maybe you didn’t know. Above you can see the dash of our minivan.  We spent a lot of time in the van, so, despite taking a husband and four kids with me, I managed to do a LOT of reading. (Yay!)  Some of it even happened poolside instead of in the van! (Double Yay!)  Now I’m home and writing up reviews, but I know a lot of the reviews won’t show up here for weeks, so I couldn’t resist a little preview.  So here’s what I read on vacation:

 
The Good:
Just What He Wanted by HelenKay Dimon – This was my first HelenKay book (other than some short story anthologies I read years ago.)  I liked it.  My only complaint is that now I’ve got several books in this series I want to read!
 
Mercy Bound by Kele Moon – This was pretty short and I liked it, but I wanted more.  Not more sex, because there was plenty of that, but more of the world and the people. Interesting look at humanoid aliens!
 
Closer by Charlotte Stein – I’ll go almost anywhere with Charlotte Stein.  This time it was rubbing up against strangers on a train.  Another pretty short one that was just right for me.  Now I need more Charlotte Stein!  (I’m working my way through her backlist.)
 
Breaking by Claire Kent – this is a novella sequel to Escorted, featuring the same characters.  It was written to stand alone, but I really think the whole thing had more meaning because I read the first one.  A novella about a man who uses sex to distract his partner from a discussion he doesn’t want to have – that makes for a LOT of sex.  At least Ander is very good at it. 🙂
 
Lamplighter’s Love by Delphine Dryden – I’m working my way through Delphine Dryden’s backlist, too.  I REALLY enjoyed this one right up until the ending.  Ugh.  The steampunk world was really cool.  The strong, intelligent woman was awesome.  The ending made me want to pull my hair out. That’s a lot of feeling to have for a novella.
 
The Chocolate Touch by Laura Florand How have I not read this series?  I’ll tell you how.  I didn’t think it was hot enough.  I read something about this book (4th in the series, I think) that mentioned that it was hotter than the others and I was sold.  And, once again, my biggest problem?  Now I want to read the first books in the series.  I haven’t been transported by a book like this in a long time.  It made me want to go to France and eat chocolate.  I settled for the chocolate, but it was still a very good read.

The Meh:
Unscripted by Jayne Denker  This wasn’t bad, but it was much more chick-lit than I like.  First person POV from the heroine only, and has lots of humiliation for her to endure.  Just not my cup of tea.  

The INCREDIBLE!!:
Her Favorite Rival by Sarah Mayberry – I’m a Sarah Mayberry fan.  This book is exactly what I expect from her.  Very well written realistic contemporary romance.  She is so good at what she does and this book was AWESOME!  Co-workers have the hots for each other, but neither thinks office romance is a very good idea.  This is two intelligent, hard working people falling in love, and I loved it!
 
Curio by Cara McKenna – I’d heard about this book.  The male prostitute book.  Like I’ll follow Charlotte Stein almost anywhere – I feel the same way about Cara McKenna.  Still, I hesitated with this one, until I read Escorted by Claire Kent a few months ago.  That male prostitute story really worked for me.  I think I liked this one even better.  They’ve got a lot in common, though.  Both stories are told from the heroine’s POV only, and both have novella sequels.  Curio has several sequels.  I’m definitely checking them out!
 
Never a Hero by Marie Sexton – This is Tucker Springs book #5.  I want to move to Tucker Springs and be friends with these people.  I think this story was my favorite in the series, which I’ve read totally out of order.  I still need to go back and read book 1!
 
Making it Last by Ruthie Knox – This was by far my best read of the entire vacation.  I never cry when I read and this book had me tearing up.  It’s a novella sequel (I guess those are a thing now.) to How To Misbehave.  It catches up with Amber and Tony several years and three kids later.  They’ve barely got any time together.  The construction market is tight, and that’s got Tony working way too much and traveling way too far to get jobs.  Amber just sent her youngest off to school and she’s feeling a little lost.  A destination wedding in Jamaica gets them away from it all, but herding their kids along makes it not much of a vacation.  This story was so good and so real.  I need everyone to read it so I can talk to them about how much they loved it!

I’m still working on Exotica by Eden Bradley and I just started The Stone Guardian by Danielle Monsch.  Both are Netgalley copies.  Exotica is already out, and The Stone Guardian comes out on July 15.  I really want to love The Stone Guardian.  It’s a GARGOYLE ROMANCE.  You guys!  How cool is that?  And it’s the first in a series, so I’m crossing my fingers.  I just got through the first chapter/prelude.  The thing is I’ve got tons of laundry and other chores to do before I have a chance to read.  Unless I take my kids to the pool…  then I can read poolside and pretend I’m still on vacation!

So, how is your summer reading going?  Have you read anything really good or really bad this summer?

A Dirty Girl Chat With Author HelenKay Dimon

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Just What He Wanted (Holloway, #4)I had the pleasure recently of interviewing best selling author, HelenKay Dimon. I had read her in the past and enjoyed her writing quite a bit. She just had a book come out on June 10th and it was reviewed today on the blog. Here are some of the things we got to talk to her about.

Welcome to Dirty Girls Good Books, HelenKay! Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions regarding your latest book, Just What He Wanted, which features an older heroine paired with a younger man. I read it and I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Dirty Girl Kay:  You’ve written about the age pairing before in Hard As Nails. Is this a favorite of yours?

HelenKay: Actually, I usually go for older hero/younger heroine or books where they are close in age. But the hero in Just What He Wanted, Travis, just needed an older woman. He had a tough life and is a self-made, down-to-Earth guy. He’s pretty smart about women and I just couldn’t see him with a younger twenty-something. I thought he needed someone who would totally shake up his world and take him from “I got this” to “what’s happening here?” and Andie does that.

DGKay: Andie is curvy or full figured. Was this an effort to show that women can and should be confident in any body shape?

Lean On Me (Holloway, #2)HelenKay: Absolutely! Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. As someone who has struggled with weight issues and who has lost weight, looked in the mirror and still seen the larger body size, I wanted to introduce a heroine who is smart but has that nagging voice in her head that tells her the extra weight matters. Andie has the same insecurities a lot of us have, and Travis doesn’t get it because he thinks she is this beautiful zaftig woman, so letting them figure each other out was so much fun. It’s actually why I picked the title Just What He Wanted. I thought it was perfect.

DGKay: This is the fourth book in the series. Are you planning to write more?

HelenKay: I don’t think so. Originally I envisioned this as a three-book series. Then Travis stepped on the page in book #2, Lean On Me, and I kind of loved him. Happily, readers liked him, too, and asked for his story.

DGKay: What else can we look forward to from you in the future?

HelenKay; I write romantic suspense for Harlequin Intrigue and start a new miniseries this summer with two brothers in Fearless (July) and Ruthless (August). By the way, in my head the oldest brother looks like Tom Hardy. I also have the second book in another contemporary romance series-the Hanover Brothers, about the sons of a notorious con man-coming out in July, A Simple Twist Of Fate. And in a bit of really exciting news, I’m one of the launch authors for the new Cosmo Red Hot Red Line from Harlequin. My book, Everything You Need To Know, comes out in October. Take a somewhat serious businessman, a smart woman with a secret and a white-hot attraction and you get Everything You Need To Know.
Fearless

DGKay: Congratulations on the Harlequin launch! Do you write about any personal experiences in your books?

HelenKay: All the time. I should clarify that by saying I borrow bits and pieces from people, my life, things I see, things I read in the newspaper all the time. I’ll read or look at something and think, “now what if X happened” and a book idea is born.

DGKay: Are there any writers you read or look up to for inspiration?

HelenKay: I am an avid reader. I love Gillian Flynn and Rosamund Lupton in suspense and read across all romance genres. Some of my current romance favorites are Alison Kent, Jill Shalvis, Anne Calhoun, Lauren Dane and Maya Banks. As far as inspiration goes, I am constantly inspired by the authors in the romance genre. Watching their careers inspires me to do better and work harder.

RuthlessDGKay: Is there a specific book that ranks as your favorite or as one of your favorites?

HelenKay: It’s so hard to pick! I would say I do have three sentimental favorites in romance- The Bride by Julie Garwood, Daniel’s Bride by Linda Lael Miller and Perfect Partners by Jayne Anne Krentz. They were the first romances I ever read. I was thirtyish and reading those books literally changed my life. I read them, fell in love with the genre and eventually started writing one. Romance made the change from full-time lawyer to full-time writer possible. It’s been an amazing journey so far.

DGKay:  We again appreciate you taking time out of your schedule to talk about the book and what’s coming next for you. This was great fun and I hope to do it again with you in the future. Thank you so much. We also want to thank Morgan at Romantic Times magazine who approached us with this opportunity and was so very helpful in planning this interview.

Here are some links for you to buy Just What He Wanted: