Joey W. Hill

I wouldn’t really classify this book as erotic romance. It’s more women’s fiction, with some very well-done erotic scenes integrated at the proper times with the unforgettable hero, Harlan. Most of it is a first-person exploration of one th

I wouldn’t really classify this book as erotic romance. It’s more women’s fiction, with some very well-done erotic scenes integrated at the proper times with the unforgettable hero, Harlan. Most of it is a first-person exploration of one thirty-something woman’s struggle to decide how to reconcile her uninhibited view of relationships with her desire for a true companion to share her life and trust with her heart.

I say all that upfront, because otherwise, someone may read the first few chapters of this book and find themselves thinking, okay, this is an erotic romance; where’s the hero? He doesn’t make a significant impact on the story until we’re well past the point that usually happens in a romance.

However, if you view this more as women’s fiction, what we get instead is a deep internal reflection of the choices we make versus what we really want in life, and how to figure that out. Women are confusing even to themselves and Kelsey is no exception. She wants to have wild erotic encounters and refuses to entertain any kind of relationship with a man, yet the older she gets, the more often she finds herself morose and drinking alone, with inexplicable feelings of depression, isolation and loneliness. How does she reconcile her vision of herself as an independent wild child with her need for someone meaningful in her life? And how does she let down walls that are freaking thick as those on Fort Knox to ever let that happen?

Harlan sums up what she wants with one brilliant observation that I’m not going to share here, because the impact of it is too good to waste. And he starts to help her answer that question from their first encounter. I found pretty much any scene with him in it riveting. The only critical feedback I have for this book is 1) it needed a little less of the moment-by-moment detail of Kelsey’s daily life, and 2) more scenes between her and Harlan as they grew together as a couple. The scenes where he figured out how to help her lower her shields had a plethora of sexual and emotional tension, and I wanted more. More Harlan, period, please!

Sasha White went a different way with this book, ably demonstrating she can write not just a hot and steamy romance novel, but a sensitive and realistic look at one woman’s struggle to understand the difference between independence/empowerment and self-destructive isolationism. I think a lot of women who have reached the point in their lives that Kelsey has will relate to this story and appreciate Sasha White's beautiful articulation of the issues they face.

A unique and interesting journey into Kelsey’s head, and a nice-happily-ever after with a hero that, if she’d thrown him back, the rest of us would have lined up to have him. A book well worth reading.