Publisher: Siren Publishing
Date published: March 2013
ISBN: 978-1-62242-663-8
Genre: Contemporary erotic
romance
Book format: E-book
Obtained via: Publisher
Reviewed by Keldon
Corporate attorney Nelly
O’Malley is headed home for the Thanksgiving holiday, sans boyfriend due to her
recent breakup; she anticipates receiving a major dose of flak when her family
finds out their only unmarried member still has no prospects, but she can’t
stand to confess her yet-again single status until she arrives.
Unattached garage owner Jack
O’Dell carries a heavy load—the death of his family has left him alone for ten
years. He’s planning on spending the Thanksgiving holiday at a friend’s cabin,
by himself.
Jack had planned on closing
early on the rainy Thanksgiving Eve, but when an attractive single woman pops
in for gas after hours, he proceeds to fill her tank while she runs to the
restroom. Their eyes meet, there’s instant attraction, and Nelly departs for
the family homestead. Immediately thereafter, she loses control of the car and
crashes into a tree; Jack fortuitously happens along.
Without introducing themselves
to each other by name, they stand in the rain having a prolonged and
unrealistic personal conversation for two strangers, which ends in Jack
offering Nelly a ride to her folks’ house and Nelly inviting Jack to join the
family for dinner. Of course, the family assumes Jack is Nelly’s boyfriend, and
the trope plays out from there.
The family puts Nelly and Jack
together in the same bedroom. With barely more than twenty-four hours since
they met, Jack bares all and cries in Nelly’s arms. Nelly in turn bares all and
has unprotected sex with Jack.
The day after Thanksgiving, Jack
receives a phone call from his mechanic, who informs Jack and Nelly that the
car crash has a sinister cause and appears to be attempted murder. The police
peg Jack as a suspect and haul him in, and he’s rescued by Nelly, who claims to
be his attorney. The plot thereafter takes a sudden but brief foray into light BDSM
before ending abruptly.
Although the story is written
primarily in third person from Nelly’s point of view, Jack’s thoughts pop in at
intervals in the form of distracting head hopping. The stranger-playing-boyfriend-for-the-family
romance trope isn’t new and has been used successfully on many occasions, but
fails here. In this case, their relationship goes from nodding acquaintances
who fail to exchange names to intimacy at an alarming and unbelievable rate,
even for erotic romance. There’s a lot of sex, but zero sexual tension.
The attempt to introduce
intrigue with the car accident feels contrived and exceeds the bounds of what
is possible mechanically and historically. The novelette states Nelly drives an
80’s vintage Viper although the car wasn’t commercially available until
1992—and the source of the accident doesn’t wash either. The “murder case” is
solved with such alacrity that any possible resulting conflict is negated.
Overall the read was heavy on
sex, light on plot and characterization. A lackluster read, but at 22,000
words, mercifully short.
This is an objective review.
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