WARNING Somewhat Explicit Content Follows…
I recently signed up with NetGalley to be a test reader. Test readers read books while they’re still in the “galley” stage and I thought, “hey, what a great opportunity for me. That’s what I’m doing with this blog and this way I can read books for free. Wins all around.” It also enables me to push my boundaries and read new artists and new genres.
So I registered, filled out the profile and selected a few books to review. Two of the ones I selected were in the Harlequin Spice line which I knew mean they would be on the racy side. Well, there’s racy and then there’s RACY. My boundaries have been well and truly pushed out of proportion.
That said, here’s my first review for NetGalley.
No strings. No regrets. And no going back.--Naked by Megan Hart, Copyright ©2010 by Megan Hart, published by Spice Books/Harlequin
I didn't think he wanted me. And I wasn't about to get involved with him, not after what I'd heard. Sure, Alex Kennedy was tall, dark and unbearably hot, but I've been burned before. When I solicited him to model for my erotic photography book, I didn't expect such a heated, passionate photo session. And now that we've crossed that line, our bodies aren't the only things that have been exposed.
But I can't give my heart to a man who's so… unconventional. His last sexual relationship was with a married couple. It's enough that my ex-fiancé preferred men, I can't take that chance again no matter how much my body thrives on Alex's touch. I can't risk it, but I can't resist it, either.
Alex can be very convincing when he wants something.
And he wants me.
My Review
Naked is your basic girl-meets-boy story with a few hair-pin twists and turns. Photographer Olivia sees Alex for the first time at Patrick and Teddy’s (her former fiancée and his partner) Chrismukkah party. “He’s not into women,” Patrick warns her, and she sees the evidence of that with her own eyes before the night is over.
Patrick convinces her to stay the night in the guest room and when she awakens the next morning, she finds that Alex has also stayed the night. Before the day is over, Alex becomes her new tenant, much to Patrick’s dismay.
She figures she’ll get over her crush soon enough. After all, he’s not into women. But after a steamy photo shoot, Alex lets her know that Patrick doesn’t know everything about him and before long, they become lovers.
As their relationship progresses, Patrick becomes more and more jealous. He tries to convince Olivia that Alex is wrong for her, even telling her that he once slept with Alex. Patrick is obviously jealous, Olivia realizes, but does he want Olivia back, or Alex? And what about his relationship with Teddy?
Olivia must cope with her emotions surrounding the man she’s falling in love with, the secrets in his past, and her own mixed race/mixed religion past which she is still trying to come to terms with. Can Olivia and Alex remain together once the final, shocking secret has been revealed?
Patrick convinces her to stay the night in the guest room and when she awakens the next morning, she finds that Alex has also stayed the night. Before the day is over, Alex becomes her new tenant, much to Patrick’s dismay.
She figures she’ll get over her crush soon enough. After all, he’s not into women. But after a steamy photo shoot, Alex lets her know that Patrick doesn’t know everything about him and before long, they become lovers.
As their relationship progresses, Patrick becomes more and more jealous. He tries to convince Olivia that Alex is wrong for her, even telling her that he once slept with Alex. Patrick is obviously jealous, Olivia realizes, but does he want Olivia back, or Alex? And what about his relationship with Teddy?
Olivia must cope with her emotions surrounding the man she’s falling in love with, the secrets in his past, and her own mixed race/mixed religion past which she is still trying to come to terms with. Can Olivia and Alex remain together once the final, shocking secret has been revealed?
There’s a good story in here about a man and a woman, sexually and emotionally attracted to each other, trying to maneuver through the minefields of modern-day relationships and the ending, like good sex, was very satisfying. What Olivia went through trying to deal with her growing love for Alex and at the same time trying to shed the almost-obsessive control of her ex-fiancee Patrick was true to the heart and very emotional. I tried very hard to focus on that story and follow the characters development without getting lost in the sex scenes.
Yeah, I know…It’s like a guy that says he reads Playboy for the articles and not the pictures.
The sex scenes were very well written and, in a word, explicit. If you prefer your sex behind closed doors, do not, repeat, do not read this book. The sex is in-your-face and very contemporary for our time. Megan Hart deals with the sexual preferences of each of her characters in a mature, frank fashion. If you can handle that sort of thing, and you enjoy Harlequin-style romances, then you will thoroughly enjoy this story. If you can’t, then as I said, do not read this book.
But I enjoyed it, and will keep Megan Hart on my Favorite Authors list.
I give this story FOUR STARS.
Naked has been released and is available for purchase.
No comments:
Post a Comment