(Contemporary Full length romance published by Samhain Publishing)
This review is done in conjunction with the author's virtual tour with
Goddess Fish Promotions. Erin is giving away a $25 Amazon GC to one randomly drawn commenter during her tour, so comment
today AND follow the tour (if you click on the tour banner above, it'll
take you to a list of her tour stops) -- the more you read and comment,
the better your odds of winning. You could be introduced to a great new
author AND win a GC!
Suppose the solution to all your problems is the one thing you never wanted…
It figures the one time Sabrina Cassidy is determined to do the responsible thing, karma kicks in. After four years on the road chasing her musical dream, she’s stranded six hours from home with no money, a ruined credit history—and morning sickness.
Out of options, she swallows her legendary independent streak and calls the only person who won’t hang up on her. Luke, the man she left behind.
Marc Sterling’s first instinct is to protect his business partner and best friend from another broken heart. That means letting her think she’s talking to Luke, then finding a way to send her in the opposite direction.
When he shows up at her hotel room, there’s something in the air beside their customary insults. Sure, her rebellious attitude, smart mouth—and purple panties—still drive him crazy, but now it’s a different kind of crazy. The kind that has him driving her home instead of to the nearest airport.
And when Luke offers to solve all her problems if she’ll only say “I do”, Marc realizes he’s just crazy enough—about her—to forget whose heart he wanted to protect.
Warning: Contains two people who don’t like each other very much, a Toyota that can’t quite handle the road trip home, and a spontaneous proposal. Or two. Or three. And foreplay with—what else—pie filling.
I've never read anything by Erin Nicholas, but this book sounded fun and I just couldn't turn it down. I'm glad I took the chance.
The author's voice is wonderful... fun, breezy, descriptive. I love her writing ability. She makes it look easy. The first few chapters of this book are absolutely fantastic and I have nothing at all negative to say about them. Sabrina had my sympathy, Marc made me fall in love with him and I could understand why they both felt the way they did about each other. Sabrina did break Luke's heart, and she knew she had, but I got why she did what she did.
Then I hit a bit of a stumbling block. You see, I loved the scenes with Sabrina and Marc. They melded perfectly, their chemistry was amazing, their dialogue sparkled. I couldn't get enough of them. They were fun, hot, interesting... but as soon as they added others to the mix, I struggled a bit. I didn't like Sabrina very much once she started trying to implement her plan of getting Luke to marry her so she'd have security for herself and her baby. Luke is a great guy, and he didn't deserve to be treated the way he was, so it made it hard for me to like the heroine of the story, which in turn made the story tough to read.
But I continued because by that time I was so completely invested in the characters (and madly in love with Marc) that I had to know what happened. It certainly helped that the author has mad talent -- she has me so won over by it that I have every intention of going back and grabbing copies of her backlist to read (it's pretty extensive) and ready to pounce on the next book in this series as well (because, didn't I mention Luke was a great guy?).
The author doesn't let anyone off easy in this book and kept the tension high right up to the end, a satisfying ending with serious cuteness that I grinned like crazy.
I know I had some issues with the book... it wasn't perfect. But it was really, really good. And every time I wanted to smack the heroine upside the head, something happened to make me smile again. Keeping things that emotionally charged, making me care as much as I did -- that matters.
Anything You Want is a book I can happily recommend, especially if you love fun, super sexy novels with seriously hot heroes and negligent (but creative) use of apple pie filling.
Rated: 4/5 Flowers
Erin Nicholas is the author of sexy contemporary romances. Her stories have been described as toe-curling, enchanting, steamy and fun. She loves to write about reluctant heroes, flawed heroines, sex with food and happily ever afters. She does not like to write dark moments, synopses or bios.
You can find Erin on the web at www.ErinNicholas.com , www.ninenaughtynovelists.blogspot.com, on Twitter (http://twitter.com/ErinNicholas) and even on Facebook (when necessary).
I loved the Warning & I'm glad I'm not the only one who wants to smack characters upside the head sometimes.
ReplyDeletemarypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Thank you for hosting Erin today.
ReplyDeleteThese are really great reviews. It makes you want to run out and grab the books right off the shelf.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this review!!
ReplyDeleteWhile deep down every author thinks they want 5/5 on every single paragraph of every single book :) (of course we do, right?) I think an enthusiastic, honest review is just as good! I love that you know exactly what worked for you and what didn't. Thank you. And, of course, thanks for reading it in the first place *G*.
I love that you like Luke, too. It's really funny, some readers and reviewers don't like him at all, others love him. (I'm in the "love him" camp... and had to write him his own book because of it!)
The great thing, as the writer, is to have created characters that make readers really feel something-- one way or another! :)
Again, thank you for reading, for the review and for hosting me today!
Creative negligence with pie filling piques my interest, what can I say?
ReplyDeletevitajex(at)aol(dot)com
Interesting review today...letting a cat or two out of the bag...just enough to whet my whistle for more!
ReplyDeleteQuestion for Erin: After you spend the time to develop your characters and start to write their stories, have they ever surprised you and taken a path you didn't expect, which changed your plot line either somewhat or totally?
Congrats on the new release and on the success of the tour. I have popped into a lot of the stops and really enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteJune
manning_j2004 at yahoo dot com
Negligent use of pie filling is a fantastic line! :)
ReplyDeleteHi, Karen, thanks for the question! The answer is simple: every single time! *G*
I'm not much of a plotter because of this. Every single book has a twist or turn, something someone says or does-- or doesn't do-- that causes the whole thing to take another path. I love that part! I'm excited to see what it is each time!
Rather than plotting, I spend a lot of time on character development-- who are they, why, what do they want, why, how would they react in various situations... and why?! :) Once I know them really well, I don't worry as much about what's going to happen in the story-- they take the lead.
This book was a great lesson in this. It had the most dramatic turn by far. The first draft was very different and had Sabrina and Luke together in the end! But it never felt quite right, I felt like I was forcing things and I was never happy with it. On the other hand, the scenes when Marc and Sabrina were together were so easy to write, so fun, something just clicked and *finally* I realized that I had the wrong guy! Once I let Marc and Sabrina have their way, everything fell into place :)
Erin
"A satisfying ending with serious cuteness"--A good review, MJ. The way you describe Sabrina and how she tries to maneuver Luke doesn't sit well with me either.
ReplyDeleteI just want to smack Sabrina. She thinks everyone should cater to her. Thanks for the review. This book sounds fantastic. Can't wait to read it.
ReplyDeletee.balinski(at)att(dot)net
A great, honest review. I will have to check it out.
ReplyDeleteGeishasmom73 AT yahoo DOT com
Very nice review. Sounds like a caring hero.
ReplyDeletebn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com