My review of Nora Roberts’ The Last Boyfriend is up at the ARRA blog. They don’t grade over there. But I gave it a C+. Come over and say hi! 🙂
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Why I read it: I heard Twitter buzz and pre-ordered this one. As is often the case, it took me a little while to get to it on Mt. TBR.
What it’s about: (from Goodreads) The road to passion is paved with guilty pleasures.
Faith Hillman is in a bit of a pickle. She’s been commissioned to write a series of magazine articles on spicing up your love life. She’s got the theme—the “Seven Sexy Sins”—but there’s one major problem. She hasn’t experienced any of them.
Ever since Faith’s older brother gave Rusty Thorne a black eye for kissing her on her eighteenth birthday, he’s kept his distance, waiting for the right time to make his move. This is it. She needs a research partner? He’s the man for the job.
When sex-on-legs Rusty offers his services, Faith is all over it—with one caveat. The notorious heartbreaker must sign a confidentiality contract. Just to keep him safe from her brother’s wrath, of course…and her heart off Rusty’s long list of conquests.
As they work their wicked way through the list, the implications of the contract hit Rusty as hard as the handcuffs binding his wrists to the bed. It isn’t just Faith’s touch that rocks his world. It’s the way his heart likes it that blows his defenses out of the water. And makes him wonder, when the contract ends, if he can bear to let her go.
What worked for me (and what didn’t): This book was so much fun! Faith and Rusty are part of a wider group of friends (which includes her brother Dan) who have all hung out together for years and know each other very well. Their camaraderie was obvious right from the beginning. I like friends-to-lovers themed stories anyway, but where this one worked especially well for me was that time was taken throughout the story to show (as opposed to tell) that this couple were actually friends, with things in common. Sure, they had a smoking chemistry together but there was a lot more to their relationship. They talked about work and goals and dreams and I absolutely believed that they would be very happy together for the long term.
The set up calls for seven sexy encounters between the two but each one advances their emotional relationship as well. Although their Gluttony escapade (sex with food) had me raising my eyebrows a little – Two words: Mars Bar. Here’s another two words: Yeast infection. I also wondered if either would be able to walk for the week after Avarice (multiple orgasms) but possibly that’s just jealousy talking.
Faith is inexperienced, but she’s not naive
He pushed her against the wall, moving one hand up her thigh. His eyes met hers, and she felt her cheeks flush as he slipped his fingers inside the black lacy panties for the first time. She opened her legs for him, sighing.
“Am I wet enough?” she asked innocently.
He gave a deep, sexy laugh, sliding his fingers through her warm folds, and brought them up, slick and coated, to arouse her gently. “You’re kidding me, right?”
She let him stroke her for a while before adding breathlessly, “So we don’t need any lubrication then?”
“Ah…not so much.”
She moistened her lips with her tongue as he continued his skillful stroking. “So you’ll be able to slide in and out easily?”
His eyes were hot and exasperated. “That’s it. I can’t wait any longer.”
“Oh, thank goodness.”
and I really liked that she owned her sexuality. Rusty erroneously thinks that he is her “teacher” rather than her “partner” in this experiment and she sets him straight in no uncertain terms
“I’m not your trainee, Rusty. And I’m not your protégée. I may be a step or two behind you, but that doesn’t make me your subordinate. Understand?”
Of course, as things heat up in the bedroom (and various other places too), the pair realise there’s much more than physical attraction between them. Rusty however feels he’s a bad bet. He comes from a long line of alcoholic abusers – his father, grandfather, even his brother were/are all alcoholics who got mean and violent when drunk – hitting wives and children. Rusty hasn’t ever touched alcohol, afraid to unleash what he believes is a monster inside of him. He’s also worried that, even if the monster gene has skipped a generation, if he ever fathered any children, he could sire someone like his own dad. So he has flings and brief relationships but believes marriage and a family is not an option for him. Even when he comes to the conclusion that he loves Faith, he cannot take the risk – the fact that he loves her makes hims even less desirous of potentially hurting her and that created the touch of bittersweet toward the end of the story. Don’t worry, it has a happy ending but there is a bit of angst getting there.
He felt forlorn. Bereft. Like half a person, as if he’d gone into hospital to have a mole removed and they’d mistakenly amputated his left arm and leg. While he was dating her, he should have written “Not this one” on his heart in black pen.
Dan of course, doesn’t know that Rusty and Faith are getting it on and when he finds out (of course he’s going to find out!) fists fly. But in the end, it is Dan who helps Rusty see that he is not the monster he fears he is – and it is one of the funny but also kind of touching moments in the book which raised it above the average. (Any book which has made up lyrics to Bryan Adams is a win in my opinion! :D)
I found Rusty’s fears believable for him. On the one hand, his friends knew that he wasn’t what he feared but I knew that Rusty believed it was possible. I could understand why he was frightened and the scene with his brother just brought it home to him again. It could have been the sort of conflict I got a bit tired of (you know “oh, get over it already!”), but the way it was written, it worked for me (even if he was a bit of a dick to Faith and Dan in the process). I can understand having a negative belief so deeply ingrained that common sense can’t root it out. And that’s what Rusty was dealing with.
What else? I read a review of this book on Dear Author where Dabney quoted one of the sex scenes. The author used the unfortunate (IMO anyway) phrase “heart of her sensitivity” in it and it did put me off reading for a bit. But, it’s only used the once and really the sex scenes are well done. Really well done.
I also enjoyed the New Zealand setting – I honeymooned on the North Island of New Zealand and spent a few special days in Paihia in the Bay of Islands as it happens.
I’ll definitely be reading more from this author.
Grade: B+
Why I read it: Brie from Romance Around the Corner mentioned this one to me on Twitter when we were talking about some New Adult books we were loving. She wanted to get hold of the book but as the author is Australian, it was geo restricted for her. as an ebook and at the time, not available in print either. Myself, I ended up waiting for the UK publication as it was less than half the price to buy it from The Book Depository than to get it here – even in an ebook version. Brie tells me this one is now lined up next in her queue.What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Carly has dropped out of uni to spend her days surfing and her nights working as a cook in a Manly cafĂ©. Surfing is the one thing she loves doing … and the only thing that helps her stop thinking about what happened two years ago at schoolies week.And then Carly meets Ryan, a local at the break, fresh out of jail. When Ryan learns the truth, Carly has to decide. Will she let the past bury her? Or can she let go of her anger and shame, and find the courage to be happy?
Warning:Â If you have rape triggers, this is not a book for you.
What worked for me (and what didn’t): This is kind of a hard one for me to grade. On the one hand, I devoured this book in 1 day, staying up way too late to make sure Carly got a happy/hopeful ending. The writing was clean and engaging, even though I probably didn’t understand more than half of the surfing language. (It will be interesting to see what Brie thinks of the Australianisms in the book – there’s a lot of “mate” and other Aussie terms. It felt authentic to me even while I was sometimes cringing at the way some of my brethren can be… less than articulate).
Carly gutted me. After being sexually assaulted during “schoolies week” (I think in the US many teens go to Florida to celebrate the end of school – here they go to the Gold Coast in Queensland) after she finished high school, she withdrew from her family and friends, dropped out of university, moved from the Central Coast of New South Wales to Manly and lived only to surf. Her only happiness was in surfing, where she could get away from herself and not feel empty or awful anymore. She is frightened of men, intimacy, sex. She feels rage and emptiness and overwhelming shame. What bothered me, both in terms of the book and for Carly, is that she didn’t talk to anyone about it. Even by the end of the book, there is really only a fairly brief discussion with Ryan (and, while he loves and accepts her, he possibly did not articulate what she needed to hear – but then, what do I know, I’ve not been sexually assaulted). Carly got no treatment, no counselling – it seems she wasn’t even tested for STD’s. She didn’t tell anyone, until Ryan. She has very interesting reasoning for not telling anyone and for not reporting it, which felt authentic but at the same time, it left her dealing (or not dealing as the case may be) with an horrendous trauma completely alone.
By the end of the book, Carly was essentially doing the same things she had been doing at the beginning, albeit she had now opened herself to love with Ryan. But she had made no decisions about possibly going back to uni (to pursue perhaps a different form of study given that she clearly hated the business communication course she had been doing) or possibly pursuing further education/an apprenticeship as a chef/cook. She had not reconciled at all with her family. She had not been to a counsellor. After the big reveal to Ryan, which was heartwrenching – gritty and raw rather than especially graphic in my opinion (and I DARE YOU to stop reading after that), she burrows away for a long time and eventually finds solace again in the surf. There is a happy/hopeful romantic ending, never fear, but I wasn’t convinced, in terms of Carly’s mental health, that she had really processed anything or was in a better place.
The story is told from Carly’s first person POV and Ryan isn’t a big talker, so I did feel that I didn’t get enough of him.  However, there was one wonderful scene (involving a discussion about tattoos) which showed he was absolutely gone over Carly. And, when push comes to shove, he chooses Carly over everyone else. Ryan is a fairly unusual hero. When we meet him, he’s just got out of jail. While it wasn’t a violent crime he was put away for, I wonder if some readers may find his criminal past makes it difficult to warm to him. But, I liked that he turned his life around and it was clear he wasn’t going back to jail. (He got a job and he moved on – that’s why I particularly noticed that Carly (with the exception of her relationship with Ryan) didn’t.) Considering that for most of the book he was clueless about what made Carly so skittish (and, while he wasn’t a bully or pushy, he wasn’t what I’d call sensitive either – at least in terms of sex) he was certainly very patient with her emotions – to the extent that on one of their first dates she spends a lot of it sobbing in his arms. Ryan is also unusual in that he’s not drop dead gorgeous. He has a good body – he’s a surfer: of course he has a good body, but he has freckles everywhere and “sandy lank hair” and ears that stick out. I liked that he wasn’t an Adonis. Not a lot was made of his looks really (or hers for that matter – there was little physical description of Carly in the book) and it put me in mind of the recent post by Kate Elliott regarding the male gaze – I felt this book was written very much with Carly’s gaze – it wasn’t terribly sexual – which makes sense given what happened to her. She sees bodies more as functional, particularly in relation to surfing. Or, at least, that was my impression.
I would have liked a few more chapters, or maybe an epilogue a little bit down the track to give me some comfort that Carly was truly going to be okay. My heart broke for her. As much as Ryan loves her, I didn’t think his love alone could “heal” her and I really wasn’t convinced she could do it on her own. While I understood her reluctance to get help, I wondered if the book was perhaps sending an unhealthy message to younger/vulnerable readers? (my inner parent showing).
What else? Carly is 19 and Ryan 26, so I’d say this book is definitely “New Adult” rather than YA. One other thing I’ll add is that it is told in present tense – that might put some people off, but I found in this book, it kept the tension strong – I was finding out what was happening just as Carly was, and I wasn’t ever sure just what would happen. While I’m not a huge fan of 1st person present tense, I think it worked well in this book.
Carly strikes up a friendship with a fellow surfer, 15 year old Danny. He has synaesthesia – he sees things in terms of colour. For example, Wednesday is green.  The title of the book is actually a reference to a way Carly describes the ocean toward the end of the story:
When I come over the top of the dune I see the ocean and I feel like I’m seeing it for the first time. Â
Today it’s blue, straight and simple. Raw blue.
But, it also relates to Carly herself. Danny sees Carly as blue – when she is particularly troubled, it is a dark, sickly, blue from which Danny flinches and when she is better the colour is somehow easier on his eyes. And Carly was certainly “raw” in very many important ways.
While I devoured the book and the main character gutted me (my concern for Carly ran well beyond the end of the book), there were some things I felt were missing or light on, in terms of an excellent story. Hence, my grade. I’d recommend it but it may leave you feeling on the melancholy side rather than with warm and fuzzy with satisfaction and triumph.
Grade:Â B-Â ETA BÂ This book has stayed with me. The more I thought about it… well, now it’s a B.
Why I read it: Carina sent an early copy to all of its auto-approved NetGalley reviewers. Thank you Carina! But in any event, I’m a fan of the series.
What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Born to RoamMitch Kowalski lives out of a suitcase—and he likes it that way. Traveling for work has the added bonus of scaring off women who would otherwise try to tie him down. But when he’s called home to help with running the family lodge, he’s intrigued by the new girl in town and her insistence that she doesn’t need a man—for anything. If there’s one thing Mitch can’t resist, it’s a challenge, especially a beautiful one.Looking for Home
After a nomadic childhood, Paige Sullivan is finally putting down roots. Determined to stand on her own two feet, she lives by the motto men are a luxury, not a necessity. But when Mr. Tall, Dark and Hot pulls up a stool in her diner and offers her six weeks of naughty fun with a built-in expiration date, she’s tempted to indulge.
Mitch won’t stay put for a woman, and Paige won’t chase after a man—they’re the perfect match for a no-strings fling. Until they realize the amazing sex has become anything but casual…
What worked for me (and what didn’t): First of all, Mitch Kowalski is ROWR. He’s also a bit of a player, but he’s not a dick about it. He makes it clear from the start that he’s not into long term. Things will end, he will say goodbye and leave. He won’t call, he won’t text and he won’t be back.His role as boss/owner of a demolition company (what a cool job!) means he travels a lot and he’s very busy and he learned the hard way that his business and a long term relationship don’t mix well.
But, even before that, he was a love ’em and leave ’em man – as many many ladies in Whitfield will tell you – the strange thing is that no-one holds a grudge. All the memories are fond (at least on the part of the women, some of their daddy’s? Not so much.)
She leaned her hip against the stainless steel island the coffeemaker sat on and looked him over. “Tall, dark and handsome, with pretty blue eyes. You must be one of Josh’s brothers.”
Usually a guy didn’t like being told he had a pretty anything, but he’d learned a long time ago having pretty eyes led to having pretty girls. “I’m the oldest. Mitch.”
When Mitch comes home to Whitfield to help his brother Josh with the Northern Star Lodge after Josh breaks his leg, it is with bittersweet joy. It is good to be home, to see family and the lodge, but he detests that he doesn’t seem to be able to shake off the mistakes and hubris of his teen self. No-one in Whitfield will let him forget his adventures – and over the years, many of them have been embellished.
Mitch doesn’t take long to spot Paige and decide that he’d like to spend his 6 weeks in Whitfield getting cozy with her. Paige’s role-model was her mother – a woman who flitted from one man to the next, who felt it was necessary to have a man to be “complete”. Her philosophy is that men are a luxury she doesn’t need so she’s sworn of relationships. Despite how hot and sexy Mitch is, it does take him some time to wear down her resistance – by the time he does, half of his time is up (which seemed like a bit of a waste if you ask me – I mean, he was the perfect candidate for a fling wasn’t he? Temporary and hot – and, not staying, so she wouldn’t have to keep bumping into him in town.)
Paige also has to deal with the “girlfriend code” – her good friend Hailey had a fling with Mitch when they were teenagers – in fact, it is one of the reasons Hailey is urging Paige to go for it.
“But still nothing. Trust me when I tell you there was no emotional involvement at all, for either of us, and you are clear to land, honey.”
“My runway’s closed.” Paige frowned, then shook her head. “I’m butchering this whole airplane thing. I can’t be the plane and the runway.”
“Let me make it easy. He’ll be the plane. You be the hangar.”
“For a guy who’s parked his plane all over town? He can taxi on down to another hangar.”
Hailey laughed. “You’re right. You do suck at the airplane thing. But I don’t think he’s quite as free with his plane parking as legend makes him out to be, you know. I’ve lived my whole life here, and a lot of those stories are the equivalent of my uncle’s fish stories. They just want everybody to think they landed the big one.”
“I can’t do planes and fish. You’ve gotta pick one.”
“Reel him in, keep him a few weeks, then throw him back and let him swim away.”
“You’re killing me with metaphors.
*gigglesnort*
I didn’t mind the build up of the sexual tension actually, it was sexy and fun and it gave the couple some time to do a bit of courting. But, I did think Paige’s turnaround made little sense in the big scheme – after all, nothing had really changed, other than resistance being futile I guess. And, I would have liked the period of “togetherness” to have lasted longer than a couple of weeks.
When Paige and Mitch do get together, they certainly scorch up the sheets (and a few other places as well) and find extra uses for a can of whipped cream. Pretty soon, both of them have developed feelings but Mitch won’t stay and Paige won’t go – if she does, she would be giving up on her dreams and they’re just as important as Mitch’s. What I liked, is that Mitch never ever contemplated that Paige would or ought to do so (which was why I was able to forgive him for a couple of his more sexist type comments – like we woman need a man to open a jar! Really!).  The compromise, when it occurs, seems obvious (and not dissimilar to that reached in Slow Summer Kisses really) but I didn’t see much resolution of the other problem Mitch has with Whitfield – not being able to escape his past.
I think, in the end, perhaps the 6 week duration of their journey from “hello” to HEA was a little on the short side for me, particularly as they were dancing around each other for half of it. I guess I would have liked the relationship to span a little more time. Other than that, I can’t really articulate why I like others in the series better than this one (having said that, I didn’t not like it).
As usual, there is plenty of sizzle and spark and humour – all the things which have made Shannon Stacey an auto-buy for me. Her contemporary voice just works for me. While this book wasn’t my favourite in the Kowalski series, it was nevertheless good fun and I recommend.
What else? We are also introduced to the other Kowalksi brothers Josh and Ryan and their soon to be significant others (they just don’t know it yet) Katie and Lauren (Ryan and Lauren are next) and a broader cast of Whitfield townspeople. I particularly liked Drew and the storyline with his wife Mallory. He wants children, she doesn’t – but she’s told him for years that she would eventually – turns out, not so much. Their ending in this book isn’t happy. I’m hoping that over the course of the trilogy we might see Drew get a HEA of his own (ETA: Ms. Stacey tweeted that Drew will be getting his own book – yippee!) – whether his HEA will be with Mallory again or someone new, who knows. They certainly have believable and large obstacles. I can’t help but be sympathetic to Drew’s position – children were something they had agreed on before they were married and Mallory’s been lying to him about it for 10 years.
There is an overarching storyline about whether Josh will stay in Whitfield and whether he will keep running the lodge which didn’t bog down this book but links the 3 stories together. Next up is Ryan’s carpentry assistance to get the lodge into tip top shape for the as-yet-unknown future.
The good news is that All He Ever Desired is out in October and All He Ever Dreamed is out in November, so we don’t have long to wait to find out what happens to the other Kowalksi brothers.
Favourite Quote:Â
“Men are a luxury, not a necessity.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, scowling as if the concept was totally foreign to him. Which it probably was.She moved away from the island and straightened the salt and pepper shakers just to give her hands something to do. “It means I don’t need a man in my life. And I have that written on a sticky note taped to my fridge so I don’t forget it.”“But you want a man, right?”She pretended to think about it for a few seconds. “Not especially.”“Who opens jars for you?”“I have a little gadget that does that.”“But…” He grinned. “What about sex?”“I have a little gadget that does that, too.”
Grade:Â B-
I’m over at AudioGals today discussing JD Robb’s In Death series in general and Innocent in Death in particular. So happy to be their very first guest reviewer. Stop by and say hello! 🙂
I’m over at the ARRA blog with a review of Beatriz Williams’ Overseas today. (They don’t grade there but I gave it a B.)
There’s even a giveaway for members. Come say hi! 🙂
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