Review: Sheltered by Charlotte Stein

This review isn’t going to be pretty... you’ve been warned.

I just couldn’t get into this book for the life of me. The characters felt one dimensional and the story lacked… well… a storyline. I don’t mind sex in my romance novels, as long as I don’t feel like it’s either a constant filler, or on every turn of the page. Unfortunately for me, this book just had entirely way too much of it.

Van and Evie were just… well… awkward. It’s really the best and most accurate description I have for these two characters. I’m all about sweet and innocent heroines- they’re my favorite type to read about. But Evie… her naivety was to the extreme. The way she referenced Van’s… *cough* …certain body parts as a “thing” or a “bowling ball between his legs”…yeah, that just didn’t work for me. In fact, a lot of things she said were really awkward and just freaking weird. For example:

“Do you have any other tattoos I can’t usually see?” A sound came out of him— half-amused, half-not— and he turned his face away. Put a hand up to his mouth, and rubbed over the scratch of stubble there. “Yeah, but you’re not seeing them.” “...Are they in rude places?”

Rude places?

Is this a joke? Who says that! I was embarrassed for her, just by reading her conversations with Van. I can’t even count the number of times I zoned out while reading this book. I was reading paragraph after paragraph, yet not comprehending what it was I was reading, and not caring enough to even go back and try to grasp an understanding of what it was I had just read. The novel just spent entirely way too much time in Evie’s thoughts, taking away from the… well… lack of story.

I honestly have nothing good to say about this novel. If reading pages and pages of endless make-out sessions, step-by-step instructions on how to deflower a virgin, and listening to her vulgar thoughts in the process of it all, is your type of read... then this is the book for you. Otherwise, I would stay as far away from this novel as possible- you’d be doing yourself a favor. 

Mystery Man by Kristen Ashley

Sadly, this book was a DNF for me. I got half way through and had to stop. I really wanted to like this one since it has the kind of hero I love: a mean, over the top alpha jerk.

The story of how Hawk and Gwen met is not what bothered me. It's what occurred after that sent me over the edge. It was absolutely ridiculous and I just could not get past it.

Gwen has a one night stand with a man, who is presumably to be Hawk...but she's not quite sure and to be honest, neither am I. After that one night stand, this man appears at night in her bed for sex. Who in their right mind lets a man break into her house at any given hour of the night to have sex with them and then leave?!? This went on for almost two years! Gwen didn't even know WHO it was or HOW he got into her house either, hence the name Mystery Man. A little creepy and grotesque if you ask me.

Even though I could not finish this book, there are a few other books I've seen by this author that I still plan to read.

*sigh* This is one of those books everyone loved but me. I hate when that happens.

In the Flesh by Portia Da Costa

This book was reviewed for Under the Covers.

Beatrice Weatherly is the perfect heroine for a racy historical romance. She's smart, sassy and very strong willed....the type of woman who will pose nude for a photo and not cower in the corner.  In fact, I liked her even more after that. Since posing nude, men lust for her while wives despise her. After her brother gambles them into debt, she basically becomes shunned from the ton and loses any chance of marrying a suitable gentleman....until Edward Ellsworth Richie shows up.

Richie is a wealthy and tenacious business man. A focused goal driven man, he's the type who in the end gets what he wants.  One look at the nude photo of Beatrice and Richie decides he wants her. In his eyes, her vivacious figure and sexually provocative mannerisms are a must have.  Richie makes Beatrice an offer she really can not refuse. From her perspective, there really is no better alternative.  Her decision to pose naked has tainted her image, yet this is perhaps the one man who was willing to let that decision slide.  But Beatrice wasn't truthful to Richie in the beginning of their relationship or contract. Now she's harboring a secret that could possibly change their agreement and her future.

Sadly, I'll never know how or if Beatrice tells Richie her secret because this was a DNF for me...a did not finish book. This book has everything I like in a romance novel when it comes to the main characters. This story even had potential.  However,  the problem is that the story moved incredibly slow and there was hardly a plot. I tried for nearly two weeks to read this book but I just couldn't do it anymore. I could not connect with the characters at all no matter how hard I tried. What I wrote in the first two paragraphs is basically what happened- with constant repetitiveness. There wasn't any obstacle to overcome or challenge whatsoever. It was the offer Richie made to Beatrice and that's it. So you know how the story will end. One thing I enjoyed about this book, besides the cover, was the author's writing style.  While the plot did not intrigue me, I did enjoy her writing style very much and plan to read other books by her on my to be read list. Unfortunately, I just can not finish this one.