One keeper, One NWMT

The Keeper:

I picked up one of last month's INYIM books over the weekend. And I am so glad I did.

Dirty by Megan Hart may actually become a keeper. It takes me a while to decide whether or not I'll reread a book--rereading being the main reason I keep books.

Wendy loved it (I can't figure out how to pull out a single post from her archive, check under February 11th). Jane didn't.

This is what happened . . .

I met him at the candy store. He turned around and smiled at me and I was surprised enough to smile back. This was not a children's candy store, mind you—this was the kind of place you went to buy expensive imported chocolate truffles for your boss's wife because you felt guilty for having sex with him when you were both at a conference in Milwaukee. Hypothetically speaking, of course.

I've been hit on plenty of times, mostly by men with little finesse who thought what was between their legs made up for what they lacked between their ears. Sometimes I went home with them anyway, just because it felt good to want and be wanted, even if it was mostly fake.

The problem with wanting is that it's like pouring water into a vase full of stones. It fills you up before you know it, leaving no room for anything else. I don't apologize for who I am or what I've done in—or out—of bed. I have my job, my house and my life, and for a long time I haven't wanted anything else.

Until Dan. Until now.

After reading Jane's and Wendy's reviews I wasn't sure what to expect. Thanks to the cover the only thing I knew for certain was it would be erotic. Based on the blurb I thought it might be a somewhat light read, but Wendy's review said it's "too raw/too dark".

It's dark and raw and heartbreaking and worth the 4 hours I spent on my sofa Saturday afternoon.

Elle Kavanagh is one of the most damaged characters I've ever encountered. A childhood filled with all kinds of abuse has left her a shell of a person. In the past she's used sex as form of escape and she knows it doesn't work. She's simplified her life down to work and home, she hides from life. No friends, no lovers, no real contact, physical or emotional, with other people.

Until she meets Dan and he basically pulls her into life, forcing her to deal with her past and her present, I wish I could say it's kicking and screaming, she is so emotionally closed off there are no real outbursts, and it's at times heartbreaking.

For me this is erotica at it's best and on some level it's definitely a romance, maybe not traditional but it works.

After reading Dirty I decided to read the other Spice book I had on my TBR pile. And that brings me to...

The NWMT (not worth my time):

I picked up Kayla Perrin's Getting Even at the UBS without reading any reviews. I liked the blurb, I bought the book. I was expecting 3 strong women getting even with the idiot men they had been involved with. What I got was 3 idiot women involved with 3 losers, hoping beyond hope that they could make their relationships work. Poor Annalise is the biggest idiot... If you haven't had sex with your husband in 14 months it's pretty safe to assume he's getting it somewhere else, and honestly he's not even trying to cover it up, not even throwing in some token sex to cover his tracks and she's so slow she thinks he really is "too tired".

That was this weekend's reading.