Saturday, May 28, 2016

Monique's Guest Review ~ Shameless (Playboys in Love, #1) by Gina L. Maxwell ~


Jane Wendall is having issues with the plumbing in her dilapidated building. Jane has been writing her masters thesis on social work for two years, which will finally permit her to get a good job. She has not been into fun recently; she just has no time, with school and work. But she finds time for internet porn, although no one knows. One evening, her friend Addison phones, and tells her she has the number of a great handyman; Addison paid for him; he’ll be there in an hour: seven pm on a Friday night. Said handyman is Chance Danvers; he works for a construction company, but he also strips for fun. He started in college, and along with some friends, simply continued. He likes his sideline, he enjoys seducing women with his dancing, besides the perks are fab: he can bed his clients when he wants to. That Friday, he’s not in the mood to dance, but he gathers he was hired by Addison for a fantasy, Jane thinks he’s a handyman. She’s not at all what he expected: she’s in yoga pants, slippers, and a hoodie, but she’s an attractive nerd nevertheless. Jane keeps studying, while he starts to dance; she is understandably flustered, and tells him to fix her sink. She might watch porn, but she’s not into strippers, although this one is pretty cute!

SHAMELESS was a very pleasant surprise to a point. The writing is really spectacular, flowing and quite witty, but a word of caution though: Chance likes rough sex, which for Jane is a fantasy, and although everything is unequivocally consensual, some readers might object to the politically incorrect language and the nature of the sexual acts. I did not quite like the mild “light choking”; it’s a personal thing, but still. There is a lot of said rough sex, and just as I was starting to get a bit bored by it, more story took place, so that was good.

The beginning was obviously predictable, but it was very well done, original without the usual annoying parts of the misunderstanding, and very amusing. Told in alternate POVs, I loved the two very different voices. The descriptions are very vivid: I had a crystal clear idea of what Chance looked like, and he was definitely scrumptious! He’s cocky, he knows what he’s got, he initially sounded really nice until the ending, which I did not like as much. While I understand that both Jane and Chance enjoy their rough sex and that it is what turns them on, I wasn’t too fond of how a conflict was resolved, and I felt that things were a tad too quickly settled. I wasn’t too sure what to expect, but I thought it was much better than I anticipated. SHAMELESS is a very sexy, quick read, and there is more to come – pun not really intended – in this series with Chance’s stripping co-workers. I hope that Ms. Maxwell can maintain her level of originality with the next instalments, because I’m not quite sure how different the trope can be varied, but we shall see. 


I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 


~MONIQUE~

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