Monthly Archives: September 2015

Review: It’s A Wonderful Wife by Janet Chapman

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Janet Chapman is an author I’ve been reading off and on for a while now, and although her heroines often nearly cross the line for me in adorable wackiness, I’ve enjoyed reading most of her contemporary romances. I read the first two books in her Sinclair Brother series back when they were on the Scribd ebook subscription service, and liked the premise of the beloved grandfather setting up his three single grandsons to find true love with the women of his favorite area in Maine.

Unfortunately this third and final book in the series – IT’S A WONDERFUL WIFE – takes all the wacky adorable charm of the others and turns it up to a level so high that it was all I could do to make myself finish reading instead of throwing the book (figuratively) against the wall in frustration. Everything I loved about the other books is made nearly unbearable here, especially the laughable attempt at a suspense plot which ended up being told more than shown, including its completely unsatisfying resolution which seems to be an offscreen afterthought.

Our hero Jesse Sinclair is jealous of his brothers’ happiness with their own adorably wacky Maine wives so he decides to build the perfect family home in an isolated wooded area in the hopes that he’ll soon find the perfect wife to fill it with the perfect family. This leads to his impromptu meeting with Cady Glace, her adorable wackiness attracting him instantly even as he discovers she’s already engaged. But all is not as it seems with that, and her supposed fiancé, and which one of them actually designed the house he’s having built in the Maine woods.

If this sounds at all convoluted, then you get an idea of how this book went for me, and how I became increasingly frustrated even when I was already making allowances for a certain level of unbelievability based on my experience with the previous books in the series. Add to that the need to keep track of dozens of secondary characters, some old and some new, and an extra dollop of magical realism at the very end, and it’s no wonder IT’S A WONDERFUL WIFE left me more annoyed than entertained. I would normally say that you should read the other books before attempting to read this one, but honestly, just read the other books and leave this one be. I’m not sorry I read it because I did like Jesse Sinclair and was happy to see the previous couples turn up one more time. But if you’re not prepared to constantly roll your eyes while keeping a spreadsheet updated with a constant parade of additional characters, then IT’S A WONDERFUL WIFE is probably not the book for you.

Review: Begging For It by Lilah Pace

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This review may contain spoilers for ASKING FOR IT. You could try to read BEGGING FOR IT as a standalone, but don’t. It won’t be half as good that way.

Earlier this year when I read ASKING FOR IT, I declared that not only was it the best book I’d read all year but that the only book that could possibly come close to being as good would have to be its sequel, BEGGING FOR IT. And it’s true. Everything I’d hoped to find in this book was there, and the ultimate happy ending for Jonah and Vivienne is even sweeter after they triumph over everything thrown in their path to stop them.

The story in BEGGING FOR IT picks up not long after Jonah has walked away from Vivienne to save himself from their shared need to act out the past violence in their lives as part of their sexual relationship. Still, the desire and love between them can’t be denied, and soon they’re back together with the understanding that they must proceed with caution and plenty of therapy to help them stay on a mentally healthy path. When sudden violence in their community drags Jonah in as a suspect, the national coverage gives Jonah’s evil stepfather the opening he’s been wanting to ruin Jonah for good. In an average romantic suspense, this plot device would be leveraged merely for final confrontation of the evil stepfather. But what elevates BEGGING FOR IT is how this development allows Jonah to confront his own emotional damage in the same way Vivienne did in the previous book. And in the same way Jonah helped save Vivienne in ASKING FOR IT, here in BEGGING FOR IT she saves both him and their future together.

If ASKING FOR IT was a time bomb ticking toward an inevitable explosion, then BEGGING FOR IT is a live hand grenade ready to go off at any minute. The knife-edge tension starts from the very first page and never lets up for a moment until the very end. Even early scenes that seem innocuous before the completely happy ending are actually anything but, especially on a second read. It’s rare that I completely love any romantic suspense story the first time through, let alone ever bother reading a second time. For me BEGGING FOR IT was that good – the exception that proves the rule. And together with ASKING FOR IT, it’s easily the best romance of the year for me so far.

Review: Crosstown Crush by Cara McKenna

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One of the things I love best about Cara McKenna’s books is that she is never afraid to tackle subjects that others might tend to shy away from, and always manages to provide insight along with a riveting read. CROSSTOWN CRUSH is no exception, as it tells the story of a married couple trying to embrace the husband’s cuckold fetish without endangering what they already have together.

Samira and Mike agreed when they were married that they would remain child-free so that the focus of their marriage would stay only on each other. When Samira discovered Mike’s deep desire to believe she was sexually betraying him, it nearly split them up. Now that she’s accepted his need, the next logical step is making the fantasy a reality. But when they find the perfect man to be their third, reality is more than any of the three of them are ready to handle.

The idea that a truly loving husband would find sexual satisfaction in his wife’s infidelity is not a mainstream kink (if such a thing exists) and reading about it is obviously not for everyone. Yet I thought CROSSTOWN CRUSH handled this touchy subject with respect and acceptance for its characters. The love between Samira and Mike is absolute, and what they do for each other made that obvious for me even when it seemed their relationship might not survive. And while the man they choose to bring into their lives might seem too perfect at first, he’s just as much a fully realized person as they are, with real feelings and conflicted emotions. As the three of them dare to embrace their shared need, we aren’t pushed to judge them for what they’ve done and how they handle it – only to observe their actions and understand their motivations as best we can.

If there’s any criticism I have with CROSSTOWN CRUSH, it’s that we didn’t get more of what happened between them from just after the moment of crisis to the Happy For Now epilogue. I would have loved reading several more chapters to see how they got from there to here. Without that, it made sense to me that there wouldn’t be a full-fledged HEA, simply because there wasn’t enough there to support one that soon. I’m still hoping that we’ll get more of Mike and Samira and Bern in a future story, even if it’s just a sentence in passing to let us know they’re still together and happy. But even if we don’t, I still recommend CROSSTOWN CRUSH for anyone ready to dramatically expand their notions about sex, love, and fidelity.