Vivid sex scenes with attention to the heroine’s pleasure, but characterization remains problematic.
A college sophomore and her professor conduct a steamy, forbidden affair in this contemporary romance novel.
It’s a new semester, and sophomore Penny Taylor, 19, meets a handsome young man when he collides with her in a coffee shop, spilling a cold beverage on her shirt. He gives Penny his sweater in compensation. The next day, Penny—a marketing major who dreads public speaking—slides into her seat for Comm 212—Oral Communication in Business. The good-looking stranger turns out to be her professor, James Hunter. Tyler Stevens, an attractive fellow student, invites Penny to a fraternity party, where she enjoys dancing and kissing him. But when Tyler ignores her “no” to sex and holds her down, she knees him in the groin, getting called a bitch in return. Leaving the party in tears, Penny is intercepted by Hunter, who offers her a ride home; when he assumes she’s a senior, she doesn’t correct him. The two soon begin flirting, sometimes in class. As the semester goes on, the dalliance between Hunter and Penny ripens into a full-blown erotic affair, featuring rough, often semipublic sex that she loves. Trust issues and miscommunication get in the way, but as the novel ends, hope remains alive for the couple. Their story continues in three more volumes. Smoak (A Whirlwind of Color, 2018, etc.) provides evocative, well-written (avoiding twee or overly crude phrasing) sex scenes for those who appreciate male dominance and the thrill of almost getting caught. For some, these pluses will be sufficient, but the book is filled with romance-novel clichés: accidental first meeting; obstacles that a moment’s communication could clear up; the hero’s enormous wealth; his reason for liking Penny (she’s not afraid to speak her mind). The main characters have puzzling flaws: Hunter is a terrible professor, running his class like a group therapy session and announcing proudly that he’s an easy grader who wants students to think of him as a “peer.” Penny, meanwhile, easily accepts Tyler’s apologies for her near rape and comes to consider him a best friend.
Vivid sex scenes with attention to the heroine’s pleasure, but characterization remains problematic.Pub Date: April 8, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5151-4688-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 5, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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