Japanese art expert Megan Michiko O'Malley has many talents, but seduction isn't one of them. Yet after meeting a sexy stranger at a wedding, not only does she have an impromptu romp in the upstairs bedroom, but it's the most sensual sex she's ever had.
Meg might have slipped out of Rick Sokol's bed without leaving her real name or phone number, but that won't stop him from finding her. He isn't one of the best private investigators for nothing. Besides, he needs her expertise.
He's just discovered an erotic Japanese pillow book and is hoping Meg will be his study partner!
I nearly DNFed. The heroine is half Asian and has some trust issues due to an ex who only wanted her for her ethnicity. Here comes the hero who is basically perfect - except all the descriptions of them together focus on how "tiny" and "exotic" she is. Looks like she was right to be worried, and this time the offender is the author! No thank you.
I like the characters in this book, but I give it a 3 star because the subplot was in no way useful to the story whatsoever and I found it a complete waste of pages. I guess I'm looking at the craft of the romance novel more than the story.
Maybe closer to 3-1/2 stars. This was a cute premise. Meg O'Malley (half-Japanese, half-Irish) still has a bad taste in her mouth from her last relationship, which ended when she caught him with someone else. All Rick's ever seen of marriage is the constant stream of fighting from his parents, so he's pretty sure he'll never marry. But they're brought together by their respective best friends' wedding. Sparks fly, and Meg thinks it's the last she'll see of Rick since he doesn't live locally. But he's staying for the summer to fix up his grandmother's house, and he finds her (she wouldn't tell him her real name) when he wants to know more about a Japanese book he found of his grandfather's. She happens to be an expert on Japanese art working for the local college, and they reconnect when he brings it to her (not realizing beforehand who he was meeting). It's a "pleasure book", a collection of erotic artwork, that used to be given to new brides as ideas of how to tempt her new husband. And, of course, it's arousing, and Meg and Rick have this chemistry, so they enjoy the results of their viewing(s).
There was this weird side story about Meg's boss, who was a gambling addict. He wanted Rick to sell the book so he could give it to his loan shark as payment. But after he got caught padding department budgets (and embezzling maybe?), that whole story line fizzled out.
This is one of those books that really wants me to be able to give half stars. It's not really a 3, but certainly not a 4. Megan and Rick do make a really good couple and it was an enjoyable light read. As far as IR novels go, it is certainly worth a one-time read, but I'm not likely to be picking it up again any time soon.