Digital Review: Every Part Of You: Takes Me

Megan Hart wraps up her first serial, Every Part of You, with this fifth and final installment, aptly titled Takes Me.  Like pretty much all of Hart's work, I quickly got hooked on the characters and became invested in them finally, blessedly, working their way into a committed relationship.  This one has been bumpy, thanks to a hero with serious Daddy Issues.

When last we saw Elliott, he was being an asshat to Simone.  Takes Me opens up with Simone wallowing.  She's hurt, she's wounded, she's a shell.  She made the colossal mistake of falling for Elliott, who has turned tail and run.  Her ex, who cannot bare to see her like this, thinks that what she needs is a sex club - and off she goes to get some release.  Meanwhile, Elliott has a run-in with Simone at their office building that leaves both of them battle scarred and wounded.  Then his past shows up on his doorstep one evening and Elliott has to face the cold, stark reality that the best thing he ever had in his life?  He threw away.  Is it too late for him and Simone?

I'll be honest - I didn't love this.  Mostly because I'm so over the sex club "thing."  I get why it's here, but I still wasn't in love with it.  Simone's ex thinks a "release" will do her good - and while the encounter is hot, and she gets off on it - it only temporarily fills the hole that Elliott's departure has left behind.  In other words, sex is great, sex is fun, but sometimes not even sex can fix everything that is making you feel "bad."

But still.  Sex club.  Blah.

Anyway, where this story does work is with Elliott's grovel.  This serial has mostly hinged on Elliott being screwed up emotional (oh boy, is he!) and him being a jackass.  For the most part, Simone holds her own with him.  She's emotionally "strong."  Her mistake is falling in love with him, and bless her heart - she doesn't make things easy for him when he tries to apologize.  He does a fair amount of begging and pleading, which well he should!

I did feel things were a little rushed at the end, but I'm not sure if that's because they were, or if I'm such a sadist I just wanted a lot more blood and angst on the page.  Also, by this point, I was pretty well invested in Simone and Elliott as "real people" (which I know they aren't - but Hart's characters have that effect on me) and just wanted to spend a lot more time with them.  This hasn't been my absolute favorite thing that Hart has ever written, but it was so very good and did what I want all serials to do - which is to hook me, propelling me through the installments with a sense of anticipation and urgency.

Final Grade = B-

Overall Grade For The Serial = B

Digital Review: Every Part Of You: Taunts Me & Denies Me

As much as I love Megan Hart's books, I did have my doubts about how she would handle a serial.  I love serials, but honestly they're a different sort of writing.  Authors who excel at writing short, serials may be a good fit.  But I read Megan Hart's books almost exclusively for her characterizations.  She writes dynamite, fully-realized, flesh-and-blood characters.  And how is that going to translate to a fast moving serial format?  Turns out, pretty well.

Taunts Me is the third installment and Elliott comes to the realization that he can't stop thinking about Simone.  He's not looking for a permanent thing, he's terrible at relationships, but this woman has crawled under his skin and is driving him to distraction.  So he tells her, that yes - he wants to have steamy sexy times with her and then proceeds to lay out his ground rules.  Simone, for the most part, is highly amused and is ready to agree to Elliott's "demands" - just so long as her needs are being met as well.  And you know what?  It's going along swimmingly until Elliott breaks his own rules.  He gets jealous of Simone's former lover.

This is the installment that moves things forward by having Elliott stand his ground.  To stop running scared, which he basically was doing in the first two installments.  It's easy to see how he would be intrigued and scared of Simone all at the same time, and finally, blessedly, he's going to stop denying himself, and her, what could be a very fulfilling relationship - even if he doesn't want to call it that.

Final Grade = B

Denies Me is the fourth, and second to last, installment.  This is the entry where all the conflict finally comes to a head.  After his fit of jealousy in the last entry, Elliott has decided that maybe he and Simone should try dating.  Yeah, dating.  You know, dinner, dancing, drinks, maybe a show?  Dating.  It's pretty out of character for him, and Simone hasn't been on a "real" date in so long she thinks she might have forgotten how - but she genuinely likes Elliott.  As in, likes him likes him.  And that's her fatal mistake - because eventually everything Elliott said would happen?  Does.  He's an asshat and rips her heart to shreds.  Which sends Simone reeling and back to the one place where she knows she can seek comfort, even if it's only temporary.

Hart's genius as a writer has always been her characters.  She's so great with characters that when you get big, splashy, emotional angst from the plot you're left lying on the floor, gasping for breath, trying to stop the bleeding.  As in, you need to remind yourself that they're "made up" and "not real people."  The moment when all the conflict hits boiling point?  It literally sucks all the air out of the room.  It's bloody fantastic.

Final Grade = B+

Digital Review: Every Part Of You: Resists Me

Megan Hart continues her new Every Part of You serial with this second installment, simply titled Resists Me.  With a title like that, the bulk of this installment really shouldn't be all that shocking to the reader.  While Simone is sexy and confident, it's our hero, Elliott, who is holding himself back. He may be powerfully attracted to Simone, but he's not willing to follow her down the rabbit hole.  Yet, anyway.

At the end of Tempts Me, Simone challenges Elliott to a night on the town.  She ends up taking him dancing, where moving together on the dance floor leads to seduction - Simone seducing Elliott.  We already know from the first installment that Simone likes pain with her a pleasure, but since she's not into bondage or domination she has to be very careful when it comes to choosing partners.  She thinks she's got a read on Elliott, and the night they spend together only confirms her suspicions.  Now to convince Elliott of that.

Hart hasn't written anything revolutionary here, but I cannot tell you how refreshing I've found this serial thus far and it's all due to Simone.  Erotic romance has been flooded with unsure ingenues of late who suddenly realize they've been living pale empty lives once they hook up with a domineering asshole billionaire Dom.  Simone isn't aggressive so much as she is confident.  As she tells Elliott, she wants to keep having sex with him but she's not going to beg.  After all, she doesn't have to beg.  She's also the sort of woman who doesn't play games.  If she tells you the sky is green, it really means the sky has inexplicably turned green.  Elliott, used to a certain sort of woman, is totally discombobulated by Simone's frankness.  A spade is a spade for Simone and Elliott is unsure of what to do with that.  It would be easy to dismiss her if she was a flighty head case playing mind games with him, but instead?  She simply calls him out on his bullshit, walks away, and doesn't beg.

Not a whole lot happens in this installment, other than Elliott running scared and the author dropping a few more hints about his baggage.  The meat and potatoes are with Simone.  Simone is the kind of heroine who could turn a straight girl.  She's that magnificently wonderful.  Elliott is being a moron, for now, but that doesn't mean Simone is going to let him see her sweat.  He'll see her around their office building, but she'll look right through him.  And Elliott?  Naturally cannot stop thinking about her, even as he's trying to convince himself that she's wrong about him.

Final Grade = B

Digital Review: Every Part of You: Tempts Me

Yes, I'm the reason.  I'm the reason that so many readers out there bitch express dissatisfaction with the latest publishing trend of digital serializations.  I love them.  The urgency, the anticipation waiting for the next installment, even the cliffhangers from one episode to the next.  I blame it entirely on the soap opera addiction instilled in me at a very young age by my mother and grandmother - an addiction I have only been able to kick by trading it in for another, romance novels.

This all being said, I'll admit I am curious how Megan Hart is going to handle the format.  She's not a writer known for "soapy" plots, which lend themselves so well to serializations.  However, Hart is definitely one of my very favorite writers (period, regardless of genre), most notably for the skill she shows in creating authentic-feeling characters.  That was more than enough for me to give the first installment of her Every Part of You series, Tempt Me, a whirl.  And wouldn't you know it?  Now I'm hooked.

From her office, Simone Cooper has a direct line of sight into Elliott Anderson's office.  Elliott is a high-priced lawyer, devilishly handsome, who favors classically tailored suits.  He also favors willowy blonde women that he likes to take back to his office and bend over his desk.  Simone admits it, she's a wee bit of a voyeur, but watching Elliott doesn't so much scratch an itch as it does get her all hot and bothered.  Until, finally, one evening, working late, she finds herself sharing an elevator with him.  Before Elliott knows what hits him, he's inviting Simone to a party he feels committed to attending, even if he has no desire to.

That's pretty much the gist of this first installment, but don't let the simplicity of it fool you.  Hart's strength as a writer has always been in her characterizations - and she excels in laying the groundwork for both Simone and Elliott.  Simone is a woman with hidden depths, and a sexual kink towards pain/pleasure.  What I loved about her is that she's not a submissive.  She gets off on pain, but she's not the sort of woman who cottons to a man bossing her around, telling her what to do, basically thinking that "dominating" her gives him carte blanche to take over her entire life.  This was exceedingly refreshing, especially given that Elliott is, to put it bluntly, kind of a jackass.  Reading in between the lines there are definitely reasons for his tendency towards being an asshole, but the author isn't about to let the cat out of the bag this early in the game.  So yeah, while he's kind of a jerk?  It's OK since 1) the reader knows there's more going on behind the scenes and 2) Simone doesn't roll over and die.  Simone is just the sort of woman to tell him what an asshat he's being.

So while this first story doesn't feature any over-the-top soap opera shenanigans, it does feature the very best of what Megan Hart does so well as a writer - she hooks you with her characters.  And hell, Simone alone is enough to make me want to walk over hot coals to get my hands on the next novella.

Final Grade = B