Blonde Date by Sarina Bowen – A I developed a little crush on Andy Buschnagel while reading Blonde Date. He’s so adorkable and kind and sweetly charming. I was a little worried Katie would tear him up because he strikes me as someone who’d be so devoted that he could be taken advantage of.  But perhaps I’m doing Andy a disservice there. Fortunately, in the course of their blind date (the story is almost all set in the course of one night), Katie comes to appreciate just what she has in Andy and my feeling is that she’s not planning to treat him badly. Katie is “blonde Katie” from The Year We Hid Away.  Her character isn’t terribly developed in that book, but by the end, there is a hint of there being more to her.  I liked that this novella didn’t try and recreate her character, but rather, it expanded the reader’s knowledge, and in that expansion was the nuance and the depth we didn’t see in the earlier book.

I loved that Katie unashamedly loves sex and I liked the way slut shaming was handled in the book.  It felt very authentic to me – because we all think things from time to time which are unflattering, let’s face it.  What made the difference was that Katie realised and called it.

Peeking through the boughs of the Christmas tree, I snuck a closer look. When the girl shifted her face from one side of him to the other, I recognized her. Debbie Dunn. She wore an unhealthy amount of eye makeup. And was staring up into Dash’s face, and practically rubbing her boobs on his oxford shirt.

My first thought was: Ew. My second was: Have I ever done that? And did it cause someone else to say ‘ew’? My third thought was: Do I care? Am I actually slut-shaming Debbie Dunn because she’s wearing gloppy mascara?

I also loved that Andy came up with creative ways to defend “his girl” without being all he-man and included ways for her to take back some of her own power.  It fit his personality so well but also demonstrated that he will stand up for those he cares for.

The sex scene had me laughing fondly – especially Andy’s reaction as his brain short-circuited from all the sexy goodness.

And when she opened for me, the first slow slide of my tongue against hers sent my brain on a week-long sailing trip around the Caribbean.

I could easily have read more about this couple and I hope to see them in future books. What was also clever was that the “villain” Dash McGibb was given some nuance too and I wonder if he might not be a future hero?  If you had asked me at the start of the novella, I’d have said an emphatic no.  Now? I can totally see it.

Blonde Date pretty much works as a stand alone story as well, so I don’t think it’s necessary to have read the earlier books (although I recommend them too).

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Reviews of these books will be up soon at AudioGals.