1) This did make the cut on the H&H piece - but it bears repeating....
THERE IS A CLIFFHANGER!
The second book, The Truth About Him is due out in November though, so the wait shouldn't kill you.
2) This is a departure for O'Keefe. The sex scenes are on par with erotic romance, but I'd label them Hot Vanilla. Some kink (hey, there's a voyeurism scene in a strip club), but nothing overtly shocking if you've been around the E/R block a time or two. Also, it's not a non-stop boink fest. The sex is hot, but it's not on every other page. This is part romance, part women's fiction and part suspense. I've seen some references to "New Adult" - but the heroine is 24, and the hero is 29 so.....yeah, I'm having a hard time with the NA label. Unless we're now labeling everything angsty as New Adult - in which case shoot me now and get it over with.
3) The heroine grew up on a farm, in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma and her mother had "issues." Hence the heroine was VERY sheltered growing up. Then she married her husband who is an abusive asshole. So she's inexperienced, naive and a little innocent. The hero is turned on by her innocence - which smacked of fetishizing (is that a word?) to me. This is a LOOOOOOONG standing pet peeve of mine (Issues. I Haz Them.) but I can recognize that other readers may not read it the same way, or have the same reaction that I did. So take this for what you will.
4) Motorcycle Club Ahoy! Sigh. But to be fair to O'Keefe, at least her MC guys aren't criminals masquerading as heroes. No, they're just criminals.
5) The writing style is....well it takes some getting used to. The heroine portions of the story are told in first person. The hero portions are told in third person. So you get this deep point-of-view for the heroine, but not the hero. It was....odd at times. That said, given the cliffhanger ending, I've already started my ARC of The Truth About Him and it flips. Hero = first person POV. Heroine = third person POV. So there you go.
6) I have no idea how to grade this. I'm pretty sure it's not an A, as I don't think I'll ever reread it. But it's really good - even with my quibbles. So probably a B+.
Head on over to H&H to read my entire First Look.
The book comes out on Tuesday, October 13.
2 comments:
Thanks for the heads-up. I usually steer clear of cliffhangers, but I really enjoy O'Keefe's books. I guess I'll be checking this one out.
Nikki: I'm so late with replying to comments! Anyhoodle, yeah I tend to hate cliffhangers too - but only if I have to wait a long time to get the next installment. Luckily it's only a month between publication dates for this book and the follow-up.
There's a lot of trademark O'Keefe in this book, although yes - it is a departure. She infuses more erotic elements in this one, but the strongly drawn characters, the angst - all there. And I really liked how she blended so many different elements into this story. There really is a little bit of everything (women's fiction, erotic romance, suspense...) and yet she doesn't shortchange anything and it doesn't feel bogged down. It wasn't a favorite by her (for me) but it was still a really strong read. Now I just need to find the time to finish the second book which I started last week!
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